Larissa Anne Photography: The Photographer's Workout and Diet

For all my fellow photographers, I found these posts to be pretty humorous and true!

For all my readers, I often get asked what I do to workout and more often than not, I just hold up my two cameras and say, "These babies!" On a shoot, I most often have my two Canon bodies with battery packs, a 70-200 2.8 on one and a 24-70 2.8 on the other, and one flash. I find them very effective for keeping my arms toned and strengthening my back and shoulders (or so I say as I try to loosen the always present knots in my shoulders!)

Another great way I find that photography helps me keep in shape is when I bring my camera out on a hike with my non-photographer friends... I usually stop to take photos and than look to see that they are way ahead of me, so I sprint and catch up only to stop and take more photos! This repeat cycle is definitely something that keeps me in shape ;) And the photography exercise number 4 is definitely true when it says that those 2 mile walks turn into 10 mile journeys!!! I have had experiences like that starting with, "Hey, let's see what is over that hill!" Followed by trudging up and seeing another hill and saying, "Now let's see what is over this one!"

http://www.canonblogger.com/2010/06/21/the-photographers-workout/

5 Photography Exercises

1. Grab your biggest camera body and with nothing else attached, see how long you can hold it straight out in front of you unsupported. 5 minutes? 10? If you can hit ten minutes, proceed to add attachments: lenses, flashes, gobos, whatever. Repeat for right and left arms and you’ll bulk up quickly! Supposedly this will also increase your hand holding capabilities to slower shutter rates because the camera weight becomes less of a factor.

2. Take an appropriately weighted camera setup (body, lens, flash, etc.) and do arm curls with it – get a paper towel and hold it by the lens, with the camera on one side, then switch and do reverse curls. Your wrists will stay nice and strong for those long wedding shoots. 10-20 reps a day

3. Stuff as much of your gear as you can into a duffel bag or pack. Lie down on the floor and put the bag on top of your legs. Now slowly lift your legs until your feet are about 6-10″ off the floor. Leave in position for 30-45 seconds and rest. Repeat for 10-20 reps per day to keep your abs in shape after those morning lattes before each sunrise shoot!

4. Take that same bag and zip-tie it to your tripod (or conversely, attach your tripod to it with Vel-cro straps as applicable). Extend the tripod legs out and you have a weight you can raise and lower behind your back. Repeat as desired to keep your back and shoulders prepared for those 2 mile photo walks that turn into 10 mile journeys!

5. Buckle on that weighted-down backpack now and stand with your feet about shoulder width apart. Place your hands on your legs and proceed to squat down until you are almost sitting on the floor. (The “squat” part of squat-thrusts…) This is great for legs and lower back exercises.

There you have it – five tips for a photo-centric workout. As always, if you are concerned about your health, consult with a physician before starting any physical regimen.

http://www.iheartfaces.com/2011/06/photographer-workout/

The Photographer’s Diet is limited to:

Bottled water warm from sitting in the car while you are out on your Photographer’s Work Out.
Granola bar 6 months past the expiration date because you had the forethought 2 years ago to drop it in your camera bag.
Handful of nuts you snuck from the wedding reception table. Don’t tell about the fingerprint in the wedding cake icing.
Fruit moldy and dry from being left in your camera bag 2 weeks ago. Call it “dried fruit” and all the naturalists will buy it!
Candy….mainly chocolate, used after an especially stressful family shoot of 4 children, an inattentive dad, and a screaming mom. This should be taken in high doses.

I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did, and got a little laugh and insight into a photographer's life!