Body Shaping What?
There is currently no academic definition for "what body shaping is." The usage and meaning of the term "body shaping" differ among various industries, such as the trainer, aesthetics, and diet industries. It is also true that there is considerable variation in how the term "body shaping" is used even within the same industry.
In general, it seems that in a broad sense, it refers to creating curves and definition in the body, while in a narrow sense, it often refers to women achieving a slim physique with curves.
However, recently, many personal training gyms have jumped on the bandwagon of the term's popularity, calling staff who can only teach the basics of using equipment "body shaping trainers" and calling gyms that just involve moving your body a "body shaping gym."
Adding the word body shaping can make a business sound more professional, knowledgeable, and trustworthy, so if you don't want to fail at body shaping, it might be a good idea to be cautious.
The Difference Between Simple Weight Loss and Body Shaping
For example, what if your lower body is larger than your upper body?
Even if a woman who wears a size M on top and a size L on the bottom works hard to lose weight, her upper body will only shrink to a size S and her lower body to a size M, leaving the imbalance between her upper and lower body as it is.
In the case of dieting for women, that is meaningless.
What you really need is "body shaping"—changing your body so that both your upper and lower body are a size S, isn't it?
Regular dieting just makes you lose weight overall. It leaves you with the frustration that you can't lose weight in the areas you're concerned about or that you can't spot-reduce. Some women have more volume in their upper body, while others have more volume in their lower body.
Wouldn't you want to balance your asymmetrical body and lose weight in a beautiful, feminine way through body shaping?
The goal of women's dieting is to achieve a body that looks great in any clothes and fashion. What can meet this demand is called body shaping. Are you satisfied with a diet that only makes you lose weight?
Would you like to try body shaping in the truest sense of the word?
Women who want to lose weight not just by slimming down, but by doing it in a beautiful, feminine way must master the six essential elements of body shaping below.
What is Body Shaping? How to do Body Shaping?
Now, as a major prerequisite before searching for specific body shaping methods, such as what exercises to do or what tools to use, you must first understand the basic concepts of body shaping.
Therefore, we will first explain the six essential elements of body shaping.
In conclusion, for women to achieve a high level of body perfection, they must fulfill these six essential body shaping elements. And first, they need to firmly master elements ①, ②, and ③.
① Volume adjustment (increase/decrease in volume)
② Shape (joint angles)
③ Body function (torsional rebound, diagonal linkage, pelvic play)
④ Proportionality (visual psychology)
⑤ Texture?
⑥ A sense of trend?
Conversely, we believe that if even one of these concepts is missing, it cannot be called body shaping. This is because a diet that only makes you lose weight does not necessarily lead to a beautiful body shape. Just because you lose weight doesn't mean you'll look great in any clothes.
In order to view body shaping and dieting as a form of fashion that allows you to look great in any clothes, you must first understand what true body shaping is.
① Volume Adjustment (Increase/Decrease in Volume)
This stage is a general diet level, where you simply lose or gain weight. This is the level where you try to reduce the strain on your knees by losing weight, lose weight for health reasons, or go from a size L to a size M. For those who don't need to lose weight, this is the very foundation of body shaping. However, to achieve a change in overall shape (silhouette), you must also consider the element of ② Shape (joint angles) below. Otherwise, as shown in the figure below, a person with a bulky lower body will still have an unbalanced upper and lower body even if they lose weight. This is why you can't seem to lose weight in your lower body and can't spot-reduce.
② Shape (Joint Angles)
Body shaping requires creating a visible shape, silhouette, and body line. Simply put, the human body is made of bones and muscles. The way the bones are stacked, like building blocks, changes the external silhouette. Even with the same body volume, if the underlying bone structure is different, the body will look completely different. Look at the figure below.
The external silhouette (body shape) is formed by the direction of the stacked building blocks (joint angles), as shown in the figure above. In the figure on the left, the direction of the building blocks (joint angles) is "Wiggle" while in the figure on the right, the direction of the building blocks is "straight." This difference creates the external silhouette and body shape.
In a typical woman's body, when viewed from the side, the joint angles are uneven, tilting forward and backward in various places. In other words, they have a "Wiggle body" (left figure).
What is the secret to a top model's sophisticated body line? It's a straight-line silhouette from head to toe (right figure). In other words, they have a "straight body."
This means that to achieve a model's sophisticated body line, you must change a "Wiggle" body into a "straight" body. No matter how much you lose weight, you won't lose it beautifully unless you do this. If you don't make a "Wiggle" body "straight," you will only lose weight in your upper body, your legs won't become beautifully straight, or your stomach won't flatten.
So, how do you turn a "Wiggle body" into a "straight body"?
First, you need to adjust your joint angles. Specifically, since the joint angles are determined by the balance of muscle strength, a person with the body type on the left in the figure above, for example, will have stronger muscles on the front of their thighs than the back, and stronger back muscles but weaker upper abdominal muscles. Therefore, to meet the needs of those who are unhappy with still having bad posture or a bulky lower body even after losing weight, this issue must be considered. This also applies to issues such as pelvic tilt, bow legs, knock knees, and pelvic distortion. It's easy to understand from a mechanical perspective that adjusting the joint angle at just one point, such as the front-to-back tilt of the pelvis, is not only insufficient but can also lead to a worse body shape. Naturally, the key is to adjust multiple joint angles in a complex way, including the ankles, knees, and neck.
Furthermore, the straight joint angles of a top model's sophisticated, linear silhouette—the "straight body"—are composed of model muscles. Therefore, you should do training to strengthen the specific model muscles you need.
Of course, without combining this with ① Volume Adjustment (increase/decrease in volume), you won't lose weight by only doing these joint angle adjustment exercises. Conversely, if you don't need to lose weight or decrease your body volume, then just this element ② and element ③ below are sufficient.
③ Body Function (Torsional Rebound, Diagonal Linkage, Pelvic Play)
Even if a top model goes jogging every day to prepare for a marathon, the shape of their legs will not get worse due to the development of strange muscles.
Why is that?
The reason is that in addition to the joint angles mentioned in ②, they also have proper body functions, known as "model body functions."
There are many cases where people don't look like they've lost weight even after they have. No matter how much you reduce your volume (①) and align your joint angles (②),
・Torsional rebound
・Diagonal linkage
・Pelvic play
Without these body functions, you unfortunately won't look like you've lost weight. In that sense,
・"I lost weight and dropped a size, but no one told me I looked slimmer..."
・"I lost weight, but I don't look slimmer in photos..."
There is a reason for this. From an anatomical perspective of body function, it's because your movement is rigid, like a robot.
If you work hard to lose weight but don't look slimmer in the final stage of body shaping, your efforts will have been for nothing. Are you in that state?
To avoid this, you need to add body functions that allow for flexible movements, just like a top model, to get out of that rigid, robot-like state. Specifically, in addition to the training for ① Volume and ② Joint Angles, you add three body function improvement training elements:
・Torsional rebound
・Diagonal linkage
・Pelvic play
It can be said that not having a body functional anatomical concept of these three body function improvement trainings—torsional rebound, diagonal linkage, and pelvic play—that directly affect body shaping is a fatal flaw in body shaping. This is because even if you work hard to lose weight, you won't look slimmer in the final stage of body shaping.
④ Proportionality (Visual Psychology)
For example, a person with a large face likely has a large skull. However, if they lose weight overall, their head will appear even larger, and that imbalance will become more noticeable. While it would be great to make the skull smaller, it's not possible to shave down bones. So, the goal is to make the head less noticeable. For example, you can focus on making the abdomen or collarbone area look beautiful and impactful to draw attention away from the head. Also, if you have broad, powerful shoulders that you're concerned about, you can intentionally make your waist appear wider to make them less noticeable. These are all concepts of proportionality (shapeliness). In terms of makeup, it's like adding shadow to the sides of your nose to make it look taller. In art, it's similar to the concept of perspective. While ①, ②, and ③ are practical elements like volume, shape, and body function, ④ can be considered a psychological element.
⑤ Texture (Bone Definition and Skin Tone)
Some people don't look slim even after they've lost weight. Conversely, some people look incredibly slim and beautiful even without losing much weight. What's the difference? It's texture. In body shaping, texture refers to two things: bone definition and skin tone. With meticulously calculated body shaping training, you can bring out bone definition and improve skin tone through exercise.
Haven't you noticed that the prominence of your collarbones or the definition of your knees and elbows can make a huge difference in your impression?
This may seem like a small detail, but these small details are crucial for women's body shaping to lose weight beautifully.
⑤ A Sense of Trend
The body shape trends of the 1960s, when Marilyn Monroe was popular, are completely different from today's. Trends also vary by country and region. For example, in the 1960s, a large, protruding hip was the trend for women. Women with flatter hips were desperate to add volume to them.
What about today? The trend has reversed, and a body with a voluminous hip no longer suits the cuts of today's popular clothes. The current trend is for a flatter hip. And of course, the hip line is determined by the body's joint angles, and adjusting it with a simple diet is impossible. "Joint angle training that fits the trend" is essential along with the concept of joint angle adjustment.
In other words, if you don't grasp this trend and do body shaping, your efforts will unfortunately lead to a sad result where you don't look good in trendy clothes.
Furthermore, the preferred body shape trends and popular clothes cause these joint angles to change subtly with each era. They were different even two years ago. For example, a line that was flat two years ago may now be a slightly three-dimensional line that is the new trend.
Wouldn't it be the smart choice for a smart woman to do body shaping that fits the trend?
High-Quality Personal Training Cultivated Through Pro Model Body Creation
Professional models do not exercise or train to lose weight. Our high-quality body shaping personal training is cultivated through pro model body creation and is for the sake of fashion.
Personal Trainer
At Models, Toshiaki Ozeki, a personal trainer with 30 years of experience, provides personal training. "Body shaping = Fashion" — Models' personal training is a world apart from sports training and body shaping contest-style training.
Personal Training
for the General Public
- ✔︎ For women who want to achieve a sophisticated posture
- ✔︎ For women who want to move their bodies without strain
- ✔︎ For women who want to improve their physical stamina
- ✔︎ For women who want to build balanced muscle
- ✔︎ For women who want to change their body line
Please click here for information on the process, fees, and rules for Models' personal training for the general public.
Personal Training
for Professionals
- ✔︎ For women who are often seen by others
- ✔︎ For women in professions that require them to be in the public eye
- ✔︎ For women who aspire to be a fashion model
Please click here for information on the process, fees, and rules for Models' personal training for professionals.
Body Shaping Methods
Many women think they should do more lower body exercises to slim their lower body! Are you also focusing blindly on lower body exercises because you want to slim your lower body? However, if the form doesn't match your skeletal structure, your hips and thighs might actually get bigger with muscle development. This is the dilemma of lower body exercises - even though you're doing body shaping...
From the extensive model guidance experience of personal trainer Toshiaki Ozeki, who has the #1 track record in model body shaping, it has been discovered that top models have developed what are called "model muscles" - muscle areas that ordinary people don't have. If you develop model muscles, you can achieve a model skeleton and automatically get a model body type. With model muscles, you can achieve the same straight, linear model body lines as top models.
Does doing lots of abdominal exercises remove fat from the waist? If you think so, that's a big problem! To conclude, body shaping is not that simple. Conversely, belly fat can be removed and the waist can be slimmed without doing abdominal exercises. To change a body that's hard to lose weight, you need authentic women's body shaping that produces results.
Slender, straight, thin stick legs - so-called model legs - have become essential not just for models but for all women in today's fashion-forward world where showing legs is mainstream. While model leg body shaping tends to focus only on making legs thinner, the key point of model leg body shaping is creating the straight, linear appearance of the legs.
In model body type body shaping, we reduce overall fat, change the shape of areas of concern, adjust posture and skeletal silhouette to straight joint angles, and organize body type lines. We polish the model body type by developing the same model muscles as top models. Finally, we add model body functions to achieve perfect finishing - this is true model body type body shaping.
To slim and beautifully shape your calves, you first need to objectively determine the cause of your thick calves. Causes of thick calves include: ① fat accumulation causing thickness, ② muscle causing thickness, ③ a combination of both. For cases ② and ③, body shaping that reduces calf muscle is essential.
While "pelvis" has become a standard term in women's body shaping and women's diet training, there are endless consultations about pelvis body shaping: "I didn't lose weight in a feminine way," "I didn't get a slender model-like body type," "I didn't lose weight at all"... Aren't you fed up with body shaping that uses the plausible-sounding word "pelvis" to obscure what's really happening?
Women with good posture are beautiful and cool. Good posture alone makes you look slimmer. Everyone surely thinks so. Even if you work hard to lose weight and diet, if you don't have beautiful posture, you won't look slender and your body shaping efforts will be wasted, won't they? In authentic body shaping, we don't leave posture to conscious effort - beautiful posture is achieved through body shaping training that changes the underlying skeletal joint angles.
Have you experienced doing upper arm exercises to slim your upper arms but finding that your upper arms don't get thinner? Or dieting but your upper arms don't look thinner? You might hear that you should do lots of upper arm exercises because your upper arms are a concern, but you've probably already realized that doing only upper arm exercises has almost no effect on reducing upper arm fat or slimming them.
Do you really understand the body mechanisms for weight loss and the systems that enable dieting? Is not eating the best way to lose weight? Is exercise unnecessary for weight loss? Can you lose weight by going to diet gyms or women's exclusive body shaping gyms? Does cardio burn fat? Foods introduced on TV one after another and exercise books lining bookstore shelves... The honest truth is you don't know which ones are really effective!!
"Body Shaping = Fashion" - We shape your body to a type that can wear any outfit like top models, allowing you to freely enjoy fashion as you shape your body. This can only be achieved through authentic body shaping. Instead of being chosen by clothes, you shape your body for the clothes. Why not freely shape your body type to enjoy fashion?