Content published by Lindsay Boechler Fitness - 778-583-3345 in Kelowna, BC, Canada

"OK, now spread your legs and play with your hair"

Now you're wondering, what the hell have I begun to read? But this is a clean story and no one gets naked, I promise you that. When I began my journey in the fitness industry, I had never done any serious photo shoots. To me, those were meant for models and professionals. The pictures you are taking must end up in a magazine. Otherwise, why would you spend money to have them taken and what's the purpose? I had a social media account for FB, But I wasn't on Instagram. I posted photo's of friends, and family events. During my first bikini prep in 2013, I took countless photos for my coach of my physique progressing, but it never occurred to me to share it with anyone via social media. If the topic came up and someone I was close with asked to see photo's, I would show them. Progress photo's to me are private and personal and I didn't feel like anyone else would care about my progress. I also felt that was somewhat “showing my cards”.

My girlfriend and I were shopping one day in the grocery store for "zero calorie foods" (desperate times) and she wanted to snap a photo of us with "hashtags" of bikini and bodybuilding. I said "A what?" she said "A hashtag. For Instagram!” I was clueless. She then described to me what Instagram was and told me I should download it because there are a lot of bikini pro's who have it and you can "Follow" them for motivation. I still didn't understand, why isn't Face Book enough? She explained to me that Instagram is all photos. Like a photo album of peoples lives. I thought that was a little creepy, but I would download it anyways. Initially I downloaded the app, but never bothered to search anyone or post many photos. I went through my entire 2013 prep with out posting a single progress photo or looking at any other competitors. I focused on myself and stayed in my lane. That year I had gotten engaged. Any photos that I posted were of me and my fiancé, or mostly of our corgi. Closer to our competition, that same gf that I had previously mentioned, offered to take photos of me with her professional camera. Nothing fancy, just simple photos of my progress, striking bikini poses. She wanted to get more experience behind the camera, and I just wanted some memorabilia of my first and possibly only bikini prep.

In 2014 I was in my second year of prep, getting ready for provincials and my goal was first place. I also had a wedding to plan. My Instagram or social media photos were of my wedding, my honeymoon or family events. I decided as a gift to my husband to hire a professional photographer to take boudoir photos. During our session, I brought up the idea of taking a few fitness like shots to mark the memory for me. I kept the majority of these photos and posted 2 out of the hundreds that were taken. One was of myself running and the other was of myself setting up in blocks to take off for a sprint. Very fitness/bikini competitor themed.

As time went on and I became more familiar with Instagram and "fitspo's". One of my friends suggested that I follow a very famous fitspo. I looked up her Instagram account and instead of seeing work out videos, or fitness photography. Her profile was photos of her half naked in lingerie striking extremely racy poses. My original thought was "How is THIS fitness?" I was confused and messaged my friend about the profile. "What does this have to do with fitness? she's in her bra and panties bending over..." But this is something that is so common now in the fitness industry. If you want to be noticed in the industry on social media and get followers, you have to be willing to show some skin. Because sex sells in any industry. Most of the big names in the industry strike saucy poses and wear lingerie in their pictures and hashtag the photos with something fitness related like #bootygoals. I can appreciate a great physique and a beautiful woman as much as anyone else, but I appreciate the photo a lot more when the caption has a deeper meaning than the photo. I also believe there is a lot more to fitness than being in your underwear for photo shoots, and posting pictures of your ass in a thong on a daily basis.

I feel like because there are photos such as these on social media that are taken by popular fitpo's, I as a fitness professional and bikini competitor am stereotyped into this category. If I'm sponsored, I must post half naked pictures all the time. If I am a competitor, I must share my progress photos weekly and show off my ripped physique. But most of all, I must be willing to wear certain outfits in photo shoots and strike the "basic fit girl poses". showing your side boob, covering just your nipple and bending over in a teeny tiny bikini.

During a photo shoot, I was getting my outfits ready while the photographer was expressing their visions. 'I think we will start you here in a bikini and -" I cut them off and said "I didn't bring a bikini.." The photographer looked at me in shock and said "You what?.." I replied and said "I don't shoot in bikini's. It's not my thing". The response was utter disappointment. "A bikini competitor who doesn't shoot in bikini's.." You can imagine how that set the tone for the first half of the shoot. At one point I was sitting on the ground and instructed to spread my legs and play with my hair while smiling at the camera. I'm not one not mince words, so my reply was "That's not the type of image I'm trying to display. So I won't be doing either of those things." After saying this statement, the photographer seemed to have gotten the point I was trying to get across. I don't blame the photographer, I blame the stereotype that's been set for us as females in the fitness industry. If I choose to post any photo of myself from any shoots, I'm immediately wondering who is thinking I'm full of myself or categorizing me in with the rest of these women.

I’m not ashamed of any of the photo’s that I have posted, because to me they are beautiful and meaningful in some way. I do however believe that a photo in lingerie, perhaps laying down on a bed should be saved for something that's not related to fitness photography. We are selling ourselves short by categorizing photos such as these into a fitness category. Break the mold!

One moment please...

Taking too long?

My Lists

My Registries

My Cart

My Profile

My Business