Building a Better Body: 4 Tips From a Top Doc on Looking and Feeling Your Best While Stuck Indoors

As we all spend more time indoors than ever before, it becomes harder and harder to maintain your best body and optimal health. You stop feeling your best, and, if the video on your Zoom call is to be believed, you stop looking your best.

But you shouldn’t have to give up on the idea of being your best self, or resolve to try jogging for hours in the cold, fad diets or invasive procedures. According to Philly’s top plastic surgeon, Dr. Louis P. Bucky, there are plenty of ways to achieve the body and level of wellness you’ve always wanted from the comfort of a private room.

That’s the theory behind Bucky’s innovative new venture—the Bucky Body Center, an aesthetics and wellness facility in Rittenhouse. The 5,000-square-foot facility offers a wide variety of treatments and individualized care to improve the body’s appearance, athletic performance, physical recovery and overall wellness, without invasive procedures or group settings. Bucky builds his approach through three tiers of treatment—RESTORE, REFINE and RESHAPE—and according to Bucky, through the right process, anyone can remove stubborn fat, tighten skin, enhance muscle definition, reduce inflammation, boost the immune system, and heal optimally. Pick one, or mix and match, but altogether, the set of prescribed treatments are more than the sum of their parts.

Here, we spoke to him about the most asked-about ways to safely better your body right now.

No Gym? No problem.

You may not have access to a gym, and you may not have the space or time to workout at home. Fortunately, modern technology offers new ways to get a six pack without having to lift a finger or even break a sweat.

“Our world today can put limitations on how we maintain our best bodies and sometimes, simply due to genetic factors, routine diet and exercise isn’t always enough to achieve the body you’ve striving for. Now, people can strengthen and achieve more visible muscle tone with our EVOLVE Tone device,” Bucky says. “This technology stimulates ongoing contractions, which are essential for building muscle,” Bucky says. “You simply put it on your stomach, lay down, and when you’re done, you feel like you’ve done thousands of sit-ups without actually sitting up!”

It can also be applied to the buttocks and will reveal improved muscle tone and strength in as little as two weeks. “Exercise is still important for your general health,” says Bucky. “But EVOLVE’s Tone technology is a great add-on to your typical routine, or a great solve for someone who wants to maintain or improve their physique in a private setting.”

Inflammation Frustrations

The idea for the Bucky Body Center originally stemmed from Bucky’s pursuit to create an effective recovery program for his surgical patients. With three plastic surgery offices already in the area, Bucky has seen the benefits his treatments have on people’s appearances and confidence levels.

“When I first went into practice, I realized there was a void for patients after surgery to recover in a better fashion,” Bucky says. “Over the years, there has been a steady influx of technological advancements that allow patients to heal and optimize results, that also have general health and beauty benefits for a whole other group of people looking to better themselves without surgery.”

It quickly became apparent that these same technologies – cryotherapy, red light stim, compression therapy and manual lymphatic drainage massage—had tremendous physiological benefits that could treat symptoms like inflammation, soreness, and bloat, and could also simply be used routinely to maintain optimal health for daily life.

“More than ever, we’ve become incredibly attuned to the way that our body feels. Aches, pains, bloat—they’re all symptoms of inflammation within our body. We offer the most effective technologies to treat these symptoms—like our CryoScience Arctic Chamber for cryotherapy and our BallancerPro Compression Therapy Suit—and, with routine use, will keep these feelings at bay so that we’re constantly feeling well,” Bucky explains.

Sayonara, Stubborn Fat

Despite routine diet and exercise, there’s a big group of people that still struggle with stubborn pockets of fat on the lower stomach, hips, arms and back. These individuals often feel relatively healthy, maintain an active lifestyle and don’t necessarily feel that they need surgery since the fat deposits are minor. Fortunately, modern technology allows these areas to be corrected through noninvasive treatments—and may hold up better long-term with the right aftercare.

“Because of the growing availability of technology, and because we offer this variety of treatments in one place, you really can create your ideal body without surgery,” Bucky says. “It’s why I created the Bucky Body Center—I wanted to create an approachable space that would allow people to achieve their body and wellness goals, whatever they may be, all in one place, powered by medically-proven technologies and medical professionals. That’s what differentiates us.”

Issues with love handles or other undesirable fat build up can be treated with a series of non-invasive and minimally-invasive treatments to shrink the skin and remove fat—like CoolSculpting, Morpheus, BodyTite and Microsuction (water-based micro liposuction), the latter of which Bucky and his associate surgeon, Dr. James Smartt, personally perform.

“After reducing the fat and shaping the body to a place of satisfaction, we’re able to continue care for these clients’ bodies through our RESTORE treatments like lymphatic drainage massage and compression therapy. As medical professionals, we wanted to create a safe space for people to return to maintain their results. It’s not a one and done. Beauty and wellness are ongoing for all of us,” Bucky explains.

Knowledge is Power

According to Bucky, the key to looking and feeling your best begins with knowing your body.

Your body’s enhancement journey should begin with using DexaScan Body Analysis—a body fat, bone density, symmetry and muscle measuring device used primarily in hospitals or professional sports facilities—combined with 3D imaging. From there you can determine where and what you need to work on, whether that’s muscle strength, structural alignment, fat elimination, etc.

“We can use the Dexa Scan routinely throughout the year to track progress. Whether you’re working with us at the BBC or putting in the work on your own, we offer the ultimate tool in tracking improvement,” Bucky explains. “As a doc, I’m very science oriented and results-driven. We want people to look, feel, and perform their best year-round.”

The Bucky Body Center is located at 1915 Sansom Street and appointments can be booked at www.buckybodycenter.com or by calling 215-273-3000.

This is a paid partnership between Bucky Body Center and Philadelphia Magazine