How to sizzle this summer

If this season’s must-have facial treatments, fitness fads and celebrity diets have you stumped you’re not alone.

With an explosion of health fads finding their way into our psyche every year ­— ranging from disturbing facelifts to bizarre diet pills — it’s anyone’s guess how to get yourself looking sexy for summer.

But Surry Hills Vision Personal Training director Deni Curtis believes you can’t go wrong if your focus is on weight training and nutrition.

Curtis, 24, has never had love handles and doesn’t believe in instant fixes.

“There is no miracle diet. There is not one thing that will give you the body you want,” he said.

“You need a holistic approach — it’s a mix of nutrition, good lifestyle, weight training and some guidance and goal setting. If there were a miracle someone would be very rich.

“We do see celebrity fads come through — they take your money and leave. If those magic pills on TV really worked everyone would be really fit.

“But there isn’t one thing that will give you the body you want. You need a holistic approach.”

Curtis said a bit of cake is okay if you have earned it, but I am ashamed to ask him about midnight Chiko rolls and sambuca shots.

“I think all bodies are attainable, whether it’s Brad Pitt or Angelina. You just have to ask yourself if you are willing to make the sacrifice to get there,” Curtis told Sydney Star Observer.

“What I tell people to do is get a training program that fits with their life and just do your personal best.”

But keeping the cake at bay is only half the battle. Ivan Abrahams, the managing director of Rosebery’s CrossFit Gym, said looking hot also requires a bit of sweat and more than a few tears.

“I once had this short guy tell me he was disappointed he didn’t grow an extra foot after training — but you have to know what your body can do,” Abrahams said.

“The human body is quite a cruel animal and it adapts, so if you take your body through a series of exercises it will learn to do that exercise comfortably. The secret is to surprise the body and make sure every time you train you introduce something out of left field.”

Abrahams has been in the fitness industry for decades and at 52 is almost Madonna-esque thanks to his almost spiritual connection to exercise.

He said there has been an evolution in the fitness industry in the last decade.

“I was a competitive cyclist when I moved to Australia 20 years ago. I started my gym with spin classes and at the time that was enough,” he said.

“People looked at fitness as just being good at one thing. If you were a runner, all you did was run. Now we know more about how to train the body so you have to look at fitness as an entire package.”

While working out and eating well will make you sizzle, no beach body is complete without glowing skin.

MANKiND managing director Paul Anderson said a simple approach to skin care works best, and won’t break the bank.

“The best thing people can do for their skin is a full scrub, cleanse and moisturise,” he said.

“It’s probably the cheapest thing you can do and it really does help. Then water, diet as well as not smoking is essential.’

Anderson swears by his own technique, having developed an interest in good skin care from a young age.

“I started pretty early at 13 as a surfer, taking care of myself from the sun. I started with a moisturiser and then moved on to getting facials from the age of 14, and the results are tangible.

“My skin has changed so much, it’s incredible. Being on a constant regime of cleansing, scrubbing and applying eye cream has made the biggest difference to my skin.”

I didn’t have the heart to ask his opinion on midnight Chicko rolls and sambuca shorts.

By TEDDY ROSE