Businesswoman and former Bolshoi ballerina Natalia Mamciur is offering a unique way to maintain a youthful appearance, without the use of needles or surgery, through her unique Lifting Gym programme.

Looking for a natural alternative to costly trips to the dermatologist or plastic surgeon to smooth out wrinkles or lift sagging facial muscles? This may just be the solution.

Natalia Mamciur, a former soloist ballerina for the Bolshoi Opera in Moscow, then principal actress at the legendary Moulin Rouge in Paris, has created and developed a series of exercises for the face, which she calls Lifting Gym, intended to strengthen muscles and improve the look of ageing skin.

Her methods became popular with those looking to stay away from needles and the knife, and she slowly gained a reputation as a go-to person on the subject. This led to her leading conferences, lectures, consultations, seminars, and educational experiences at medical, aesthetic, sport and theatrical centres in Paris, Nice, Rome, Milan, Munich and Monte-Carlo. Among her clients are actresses, politicians, and celebrities as well as regular people who prefer a holistic approach to aging. She is now looking at franchising her business.

Her programme includes a series of more than 50 exercises. The method consists of movements of contraction, relaxation, and stretching lasting for various intervals of time.

Though others have used similar ways to obtain results, she claims the ingenuity of her method lies in the way the hands are positioned to manipulate the face in order to prevent new wrinkles forming. This, she says, “guarantees that the method is not only effective, but safe and makes Lifting Gym incomparable to any other”.

Monaco Life speaks to her about her unique approach to beauty.

Can you tell us more about your philosophy?

Today, people’s demands are to go more and more natural. Whether it concerns food habits or their beauty care, face fitness Lifting Gym is the way to naturally rejuvenate the face to keep a younger appearance with your unique personality without any facial mutations.

How does your system work?

We exercise our faces just the same as we do our bodies. We have 57 facial muscles, 15 of which are mimical. These are the ones that form the wrinkles and those are where aesthetical medicine is injected, like Botox, with the well-acknowledged side effects. Instead of this, Lifting Gym is in an unprecedented alternative technique that creates new and correct muscle memory.

This consists of well-planned controlled, and alternate movements of contraction, relaxation, and stretching. The longest exercise lasts two minutes and the shortest just 15 seconds. Each exercise starts with a yoga phase, followed by more dynamic face fitness. After that is the “lifting fixation”, which is a muscular vibration to eliminate the excess of lactic acid.

This fills in the lips, cheekbones and nasal labial folds with a new developed muscle mass, just like in bodybuilding. Bear in mind that, as with any sport, the results depend upon a client’s effort.

Can you explain the theory behind this method?

The skin is attached to the muscles and because of this, when the muscles become more tonic, the skin naturally gets a lifting effect. You can see the ingenuity of the method in the way the hands are positioned on the face (during the exercises). This guarantees that the method is not only effective, but 100% safe.

What type of liftings do your centres offer?

We offer individual or group lessons. Each client is given a massage table to practice lying or sitting exercises. There are three levels: basic, advanced, and master class. The master class includes face training, body training as well as cosmetic peptides for slimming and toning. Results with the master class are visibly different, and obviously, this is the ideal choice, especially for the busiest clients.

How is it done?

We have to use our fingertips to help keep the skin in place. Muscle movement resistance will result in avoiding wrinkle formation. Most people don’t know that they can train their face muscles. Being thin, these muscles react quickly to exercise and visible results come quickly.

Can men do this too?

A lot of men already do Lifting Gym. Everyone has the same 57 facial muscles.

Do you use a range of topical products as part of your process?

Of course. Some of these specially formulated products help to get quicker and more efficient results. Using the latest generation of nano-research, these are incredibly efficient products.