NEW YORK CITY - This is a guy that a number of men would gladly switch day jobs with for a few hours. After all, most of the stunning women featured in Sports Illustrated or on the Victoria's Secret catwalk have one thing in common: Justin Gelband, nicknamed 'The Model Whisperer.'
The personal trainer from New Jersey sculpts the bodies of over twenty top models in New York City. Yes, gentlemen, he let me into one of his training sessions.
"We all go to Justin," is what you heard backstage at the Victoria's Secret fashion show last month. The girls seemed to swear by him, saying he helped them get their nearly perfect physiques.
On a chilly December morning, the elevator doors open onto a private gym on Fifth Avenue near 14th street. It's the same gym where Quebec UFC star Georges St-Pierre trains when he's in the Big Apple.
And it's where Gelband performs his magic on the likes of Australian model Miranda Kerr, British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and U.S. model Lily Aldridge.
Now, sprawled on an exercise mat, is Sports Illustrated model and girlfriend to Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine, Anne Vyalitsyna. She's finishing up a workout session, her face covered in sweat.
As I speak with Gelband, she comes over, hugs him, plants a kiss on his cheek, tosses a fur coat over her shoulders and heads out the door.
"I'm very close to these girls, they are my best friends," says the 37-year-old trainer. So close in fact, that he sometimes gets uncomfortable when he sees their photo spreads in magazines.
"When they are not wearing much, it's embarrassing. They're like family," he says.
Just like mortals, models also have their insecurities.
"Listen, they are born beautiful but that doesn't mean they don't feel fat. I see it every day," maintains the man who was in charge of preparing eight girls for the Victoria's Secret show in November.
"Every single one of these girls is insecure. The number one insecurity is they think they are never good enough."
Models need to be trained differently from other clients because the standards are different.
"Inner thighs are probably the number one concern in the business," says Gelband. "Everyone talks constantly about the gap between the girls' legs."
His success, he says, is not only due to the variety and diversity of his training methods, but also in knowing what exercises to avoid.
"I don't want to take away anything from the style of my competitors, but I don't do lunges, jumps, crazy weights and dance moves - these girls can't afford to bulk," he says. "They are supposed to look like models."
And it certainly sounds like he's proud of his results.
"When I started this job in New York five years ago, I said to myself: 'I will break the trend and bring sexy back on the runway,'" he says.
He explains that the high fashion androgynous look created models who deny themselves a balanced diet, smoke like chimneys, and in some cases, take prescription drugs like Adderall or OxyContin to suppress their appetite.
"The pressure on them to be very, very, very skinny is constant. I'm fortunate because all the girls I train are Victoria's Secret and Sports Illustrated models."
Justin got his start training model Angela Lindvall.
"She had just given birth to her second child and had to lose 20 lbs in three months for a fashion show," he says.
She did, and from there his skills spread through the fashion world by word of mouth.
There was Bridget Hall and Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha. In 2007, Miranda Kerr came to see him to add curves to her tomboy frame.
"They wanted her to gain five to 10 pounds to look more voluptuous," says Justin.
And what does his girlfriend think of all this?
"I'm lucky to have a woman who is comfortable with who she is, but I have to say for a long time, the dating was really hard. Every woman was comparing themselves with the girls!"
The personal trainer from New Jersey sculpts the bodies of over twenty top models in New York City. Yes, gentlemen, he let me into one of his training sessions.
"We all go to Justin," is what you heard backstage at the Victoria's Secret fashion show last month. The girls seemed to swear by him, saying he helped them get their nearly perfect physiques.
On a chilly December morning, the elevator doors open onto a private gym on Fifth Avenue near 14th street. It's the same gym where Quebec UFC star Georges St-Pierre trains when he's in the Big Apple.
And it's where Gelband performs his magic on the likes of Australian model Miranda Kerr, British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and U.S. model Lily Aldridge.
Now, sprawled on an exercise mat, is Sports Illustrated model and girlfriend to Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine, Anne Vyalitsyna. She's finishing up a workout session, her face covered in sweat.
As I speak with Gelband, she comes over, hugs him, plants a kiss on his cheek, tosses a fur coat over her shoulders and heads out the door.
"I'm very close to these girls, they are my best friends," says the 37-year-old trainer. So close in fact, that he sometimes gets uncomfortable when he sees their photo spreads in magazines.
"When they are not wearing much, it's embarrassing. They're like family," he says.
Just like mortals, models also have their insecurities.
"Listen, they are born beautiful but that doesn't mean they don't feel fat. I see it every day," maintains the man who was in charge of preparing eight girls for the Victoria's Secret show in November.
"Every single one of these girls is insecure. The number one insecurity is they think they are never good enough."
Models need to be trained differently from other clients because the standards are different.
"Inner thighs are probably the number one concern in the business," says Gelband. "Everyone talks constantly about the gap between the girls' legs."
His success, he says, is not only due to the variety and diversity of his training methods, but also in knowing what exercises to avoid.
"I don't want to take away anything from the style of my competitors, but I don't do lunges, jumps, crazy weights and dance moves - these girls can't afford to bulk," he says. "They are supposed to look like models."
And it certainly sounds like he's proud of his results.
"When I started this job in New York five years ago, I said to myself: 'I will break the trend and bring sexy back on the runway,'" he says.
He explains that the high fashion androgynous look created models who deny themselves a balanced diet, smoke like chimneys, and in some cases, take prescription drugs like Adderall or OxyContin to suppress their appetite.
"The pressure on them to be very, very, very skinny is constant. I'm fortunate because all the girls I train are Victoria's Secret and Sports Illustrated models."
Justin got his start training model Angela Lindvall.
"She had just given birth to her second child and had to lose 20 lbs in three months for a fashion show," he says.
She did, and from there his skills spread through the fashion world by word of mouth.
There was Bridget Hall and Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha. In 2007, Miranda Kerr came to see him to add curves to her tomboy frame.
"They wanted her to gain five to 10 pounds to look more voluptuous," says Justin.
And what does his girlfriend think of all this?
"I'm lucky to have a woman who is comfortable with who she is, but I have to say for a long time, the dating was really hard. Every woman was comparing themselves with the girls!"
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