CRAIG PRODUCTIONS LLC

Los Angeles- Golds Gym Venice

So, I call myself a professional traveler which leads me to get comfortable with traveling and a bit edgy when it comes to giving myself enough time to get to the airport. The main reason for this “edge” is that “my time is valuable to me, I wish I had more of it, and I really don’t want to spend time waiting in an airport”. So I tend to play this game of maximizing my time as much as possible and then gambling to give myself just enough time to make the flight. I know this is crazy, but it has become a very bad habit. Most of the time, I win! And you know how great that feels, relishing over the extra hour of emailing I got in, or that meal I got to eat at home, or the extra sleep that my body needed. With this being said, I notice that I have been giving myself less and less time to catch my flight.  I can typically arrive at SEATAC 45min-1 hour before my flight and still catch it…barely. J I am one of those people who prefers to wait until EVERYONE else has boarded before I get on…which is why I can usually make the flight in 45min…LOL! Most of the time! So this particular time I showed up 35min before my flight (This wasn’t intentional but I had trouble finding the parking garage I chose. No wonder it was cheaper…it was WAY further away. Geesh!) So of course I check in and the lady at the counter looks at me like I’m an idiot and informs me that the bag check in cut off time is 40min prior to take off. So, like a 5 year old with an upside down smile, I walk away and proceed to stand in another line to get my flight rebooked. Consequence: I had to cancel my gymnastics session with my coach Richard who is in Pasadena CA. Bright side: I got to go home and spend more time recovering from my last trip. Not sure how much I recovered though….I ended up getting a work out in and answering more emails. I have gotten pretty good at making the best out of any situation. If I could sell this ability in a bottle my friends, I would! J

So, that night I get into LAX, grab my rental car and proceed straight to my favorite gym in LA…Golds Gym Venice…the mecca of bodybuilding! IFBB Pros train for free in this gym but this time, I didn’t recognize the guy at the front counter. I’m thinking “Great, how do I let this guy know that I’m kinda a big deal (special quote from AnchormanJ) without sounding like a schuck! So, luckily the moment I walked in I saw Shawn Perine (writer for Flex and Muscle & Fitness) and Max Carlisle who is also from WA and did the music on my Posing and Save Fitness DVDs. They approach me and we share in our excitement of seeing each other as I sign in. The front desk gentleman asks me if I’m a Pro and if I had my IFBB card on me. Does anyone really carry this? I will now! LOL! I felt bad that I couldn’t prove that I was a pro. But I think one subtle flash of the guns did the trick.

So, for my workout, I enjoyed running on the treadmill for about 20 min while enjoying the breeze from the side opening of the gym. I love people watching at this gym. I could probably do cardio all day long. There’s always someone interesting to watch. One time, I saw this lady in her 70s (maybe 80s) working out or maybe she was just walking around saying hello to everyone. She had quite the array of fashion going on with her workout outfit. I was thinking “You go girl! You don’t need to care what anybody thinks! Not even me!” Lol! Fun stuff, truly!

Then I hit a good back and leg workout. I train my back with weights doing rows, pull downs and then burn out my legs with some plyos. There was this super tall bench (I have no idea what It’s for) so I got excited and started doing box jumps onto it. This is my favorite thing to do btw. Trying to find the highest surface whether it’s a bench, giant tire, or box in the gym and see if I can jump on it. I love when people look at me like I’m crazy. J My tuck jumps are getting better with this hobby!

I head back to my hotel to prepare for my photo shoot with Muscle & Fitness Hers the next morning. This entails exfoliating, shaving, body butter, deep conditioning for the hair, moisturizing the face and a good night’s rest. But before I sleep, I pray. I ask the Lord to give me peace about my physique. I think every model wonders if his/her physique is going to look good enough for the part. I ask him to wake me up in the morning fully aware of the beauty I possess. The beauty that HE, the mighty one bestowed in me. I pray that I am able to embrace every ounce of my sprit and soul and allow that energy and beauty to emanate at the shoot. I thank God for giving me this ability to connect and rely on Him. And with that, I get my beauty rest. J

Los Angeles- Muscle & Fitness Hers Shoot, Iron Gym Santa Monica

Gorgeous day! I arrived at the gym and have a mini reunion with the staff since I’ve shot with them several times. I have a new make up artist that I’ve never worked with before but she was great. Cindy, the stylist and the one responsible for picking out my wardrobe is a hoot. I love her. She is so fun to work with and had a great personality. So, just so you know…hair and make up usually takes about 45 min to an hour, shorter for this kind of shoot b/c it’s more of a natural look and the hair’s going up in a ponytail. I always love invading Cindy’s wardrobe rack. It’s amazing. She brings a rack of about 20-30 sets of workout outfits and we, ok “they” pick one. They bring everything…socks, shoes, outfit, and sometimes chicken cutlets J for people that need ‘em like me.

Once I’m dressed, a group of them….stylist, make up artist, asst, photographer, fitness editor all get together and look me up and down to determine if I’m good to go. This is always alittle uncomfortable b/c Im thinking “Great, I’m not lean enough” but they’re actually scrutinizing my hair, make up and wardrobe. LOL!

Of course I do my best to deal with this by turning on the charm with my fantastic bikini poses and put on a good show for them to get their approval to begin the shoot. J

So, we begin. We had to shoot 8 different exercises. This shoot actually went pretty fast and only took 4-5 hours. Most models are amazed at how long it takes to shoot a spread. But there is a lot of detail necessary to capture the right image with positioning, lighting and waiting for celebrities to get out of my shot. I can’t remember his name but there was an actor working out at the gym and he was always in my frame. He’s already famous, yet he HAD to try to steal my little bit of glory! Kidding! He WAS there, but I doubt he cared about being background in our spread. Lol.

Modeling for a TRAINING shoot is no cake walk. For this particular shoot “Intense Training Techniques”, they actually wanted me to use heavy weights. And then, of course, hold each rep for a few seconds. We did this several times because my body positioning had to be right, my facial expression had to be appropriate (ya know, intense but not quite the gas faceJ) and the lighting had to be on! For example, they shoot me doing a Pull up. So I’d have to hold at the top of the pull up for a few seconds. Side note: Being in shape and strong comes in handy at times like this J.

We had to make me look like I was sweating so the stylist was always spraying water and rubbing oil on me. They don’t even let you pull your own shorts down. They do all that for you. You really feel pampered sometimes, lol. The cool thing about technology now is that we can shoot a bit and then go straight to the laptop, put the zip drive in from the camera and view the shots we just took to figure out what we need to do different.

I was pretty exhausted when it was over so I went to my hotel to nap. I mustered up the energy to meet my good friend Mohamed Mohsen for dinner. Mo is the founder and owner of DreamTan. We had a great time discussing some new projects he has coming up and some that he would like me to be involved in. It’s always inspiring to be in the company of peers who are motivated to make a difference and contribute something great to our society.

Tags: Determination