How to Work Out Like a Romance Novel Cover Model

By Staff Report
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Updated: January 10, 2015

By Jason Aaron Baca – I often get the question from those interested in my career as a romance cover model “What do you do to stay so fit to be a cover model?” Since it’s not just a one-line response, I am going to share with you what I do. My secrets to achieving a cover model body.

The Vision – When the idea first came to me that I wanted to become a cover model I knew that I had my work cut out for me. I had a good body but needed a “great” body to get on a cover. This would be Tough, really tough! Which meant that I had to become totally dedicated to myself, my body, my health. It meant that from this day forward, I would have a concern for every piece of food that passes my lips. I had a picture in my head of what I wanted my body to look like, how it would feel inside to see myself on a book cover and what I’d have to do in order to reach this goal. It was in my heart and in my eyes that I wanted nothing more then to be a romance novel cover model!

I made sure to study the best of the business. It meant learning all I could about what the leaders did.. Of course for the romance novels, the guy was Fabio. I studied whatever information I could about what he did for his workouts, what he ate. How much did he sleep? Did he drink alcohol or was he at the gym getting one step ahead of his competitors?

The Workouts – I knew the workouts would not be basic or ordinary. These guys on the romance novels were built like bricks, which meant that I needed to push it. My gym workouts became pure enjoyment because of the fact that I had a goal in mind. No longer was it a workout of just “getting in shape.” It was my newfound passion. When I got to that point in a set where normally I’d put the weights down, I didn’t. I would push out a few more reps! I realized that by going through this pain period was what would then make the muscles grow. I wanted muscles all over my body. I started taking my amino max (BCAAs) to help my muscles recover from the wild workouts I was having day and night.

My workouts consisted of one body part per day along with abs every day. I work out 6 days a week. I’m in the gym for no longer then 1 hour per day. I have discovered that my best workouts are those when I have a schedule to keep. It keeps me moving, pushing hard cause I know I got to be somewhere soon. I try to keep my rest breaks under 1 minute.

This also would mean that I would need to work out each body part with equal amount of enthusiasm as the other body parts. I used to love to exercise my arms until they were going to fall off. But now I realized, it wouldn’t look right. I needed my legs to get thicker, stronger.. I needed my chest to puff up! All of it would come together by the time my shoots would occur.

[Editor’s note] When you’re looking to get the most out of your workouts, you need to implement some unique fitness concepts and utilize them to your advantage.

The Diet Plan – When I first started out modeling many years ago, I had no idea of how important diet is in how a body will look. I didn’t understand what foods fed the muscles and what foods made you look puffy. For romance novels, you needed to be shredded, ripped, cut. In order to get those cuts, that separation, you have to eat lean foods , high in protein! I made sure to eat chicken breast, egg whites, tuna from the can, Greek yogurt, salmon, and many of the different protein bars Max Muscle offers.

I also supplied my body with plenty of spring water to flush out any impurities. I wanted my skin and hair to look natural , fresh.

The Bad Days – There will be those days along the journey when you hit that road block, that day when you had little sleep the night before and the whole day feels like you are crawling along. The days when you get to the gym and your goals aren’t as clear as you want them to be so as a result, your workouts lag. These are the days you can learn about yourself. There will be a tomorrow where you can jump right back into the swing of things and into that routine again.

I never once felt like I had to do a double workout, I don’t believe in it. If I ate an entire pizza one night, I know that I don’t regularly do that. It was a mistake, a cheat meal. I know not to get depressed about it. These things happen sometimes and are the exception not the rule. You know that you normally don’t do things like this. I knew that I didn’t.

The Good Days – One my days that I did get a good night’s sleep. That my goals were clear in my head. I knew that on these days I would get that much closer to getting there. On my drive to the gym I would go over in my head exactly what I will be working on when I get there. I go over what exercises I’ll perform, what music I’ll listen to and how far I’ll push those muscles. I’d step it up!

I believe this is where a lot of people fall short in their workouts. They arrive in the gym and figure out from there what they want to do. They don’t have a strategy! They just figure, oh it’s just a workout, it will all come together. I don’t buy it! Just like building a home, there has to be a blue print, a plan of attack!

The Finish Line – Getting on that First romance novel was the hardest one for me but became the most fun! Over 300 book covers later I’m still approaching my gym workouts the same as I did in the beginning. I know there are a lot of authors out there that want their hero to look his absolute best. I am there to provide them that look. I feel it is my responsibility and duty to maintain the best possible body.

For more information on Jason , visit http://jasonaaronbaca.deviantart.com

Photos/covers courtesy of Jason Aaron Baca