Putting It All On Paper

Yesterday I wrote about the three main aspects of competition:  Symmetry, Muscularity and Conditioning

http://ivanribic.blogspot.com/2011/08/three-aspects-of-physique-competition.html

The question, in regards to judging is which of these three is the most important?  If you ask a dozen people this question you’re likely to get a dozen different answers.  The truth is that all 3 aspects are equally important.  The difficulty for judges is that every person in each class will have a varied combination of these three components so we’re rarely comparing apples to apples.  If a class of 10 competitors stepped on stage and every one of them had identical conditioning, it would be very easy to assess their symmetry and muscularity and place them accordingly.  Or if the entire class had the same symmetry and muscularity then we’d simply be placing them based on conditioning.  However, it’s never that simple.

Homework time - I’m going to give a few tips here that will guide you through the judging process if you’ve never done it before.  A lot of people who attend shows spend the whole time looking at their friend on stage.  They tend to ignore the rest of the class because they’re fixated on one or two competitors.  When placings are announced at night they suddenly become a critic and start throwing tomatoes at the judges.  Well guess what?  I like tomatoes and they’re FULL of antioxidants.  Next time you go to a show, take a note pad and a pencil and try actually placing the entire class.  I don’t mean just figuring out how you think your friend did, I mean placing 1^st through 3^rd or 4^th or 10^th or 12^th or however many people are in that class.  If you’ve already done that, you know how difficult it is.  Here are a few things to keep in mind next time that will make the process a little less difficult:

Every class is different but when you’re looking at a lineup, particularly during quarter turns, there are typically one or two physiques that will catch your eye instantly as being top of the class.  This is not to say you’ll instantly know who’s first but it won’t take too long to figure it out.  On the other end of the spectrum, you’ll have one or two physiques that are quite the opposite of those top couple competitors.  For the most part, what will noticeably separate the two ends of the spectrum is conditioning.  This is not to say that conditioning is THE most important aspect but it is quickly apparent who is dialed in for competition and who is not.  Someone with very poor conditioning is usually going to place low in their class despite their size.  Remember that neither symmetry nor muscularity will be well displayed if you’re poorly conditioned (sumo!). 

In a class with a large variance in conditioning, the top few competitors and the bottom few competitors will tend to create a curve for that class.  Once you’ve established who is first and who is last you can works backwards to place the rest of the class.  Who is the closest to the guy or gal who was first?  Who is closest to the guy or gal who was last?  In larger classes, placing the top few and bottom few tend to be quite easy.  Where it starts getting tough is placing the middle.  As you get closer to the middle of the pack, the physiques will be more similar to each other.  Now you get down to deciding what’s the most important to you in terms of symmetry vs. muscularity vs. conditioning.  This is subjective!

Personally, in bodybuilding classes, I tend to favor a little bit larger and more symmetrical physique over a smaller but slightly leaner physique.  It is, after all, bodybuilding . . . not body shredding.  Some judges prefer quite the opposite but it’s really just a matter of preference.  While that might sound haphazard, the scoring process tends to even the playing field as we’ll get into in just a bit.  To an extent, this also varies by class.  If you’re looking at a Super-Heavyweight class on stage, you expect that they’re going to be huge.  If it’s a Bantam Weight class and the heaviest guy on stage is 143lbs, they ought to be shredded.

One of the most ridiculous sounding, yet useful tips I ever received on judging came from Elaine Craig during a judging clinic in Bellevue quite a few years ago.  I still revert to this in classes where two competitors are very similar and the decision is a tough one:  

“If an alien came to Earth and asked ‘What does a bodybuilder look like?’ what would you show them?”

When I heard this I laughed.  Then I thought about it for a while and it actually made sense.  If you had to show someone who had never seen a bodybuilder or bikini competitor etc. what one was supposed to look like, which competitor would be the best example?  When I’m having a hard time deciding, I often revert to this statement to pick which competitor best represents that particular division.

That being said, I have to add this:  Sometimes a competitor will win or place high in a class that they don’t look cut out for, such as a super ripped bikini competitor or a HUGE men’s physique competitor or a very muscular figure competitor.  Although this person may not be the ideal vision that we hold for a particular class, if they’re the best representative of the group on stage they are still the winner.  Bikini competitors should not be super lean, but if a ripped gal is against a lineup of competitors who are way out of shape I would still place her 1^st.  Likewise for all other divisions.  Could a 400lb woman win 1^st place in bikini?  Sure.  If she’s the only competitor in her class she is automatically the winner OR if her competition is a 600lb woman of the same height.  The winner of any class will be the best option out of that particular lineup on that particular day.

Other factors

There are a handful of other factors that can play a role in placing.  Bodybuilding is pretty cut and dry.  Judges are looking for the best physique, period.  Skin tone (tan), oil, presentation, etc are components that can help show off a physique better but this isn’t something a bodybuilder will be judged on.

For all other divisions, the NPC rules specifically state that judges WILL take these factors into account.  This is still a physique competition before anything else but keep in mind that if two competitors have similar physiques, the other factors can play a big role in where they will place.  I was recently at a show where two bikini competitors looked almost identical but one kept falling off her heals.  Presentation is an essential part of that division!  The following is taken straight from the NPC website rule page:

Judges will be scoring competitors using the following criteria:

FIGURE

• Small degree of muscularity with separation, no visible striation

• Overall muscle tone with shapely lines, overall firmness and not excessively lean.

• Full general assessment

• Healthy Appearance

• Make-up

• Skin Tone

BIKINI

• Balance and shape

• Overall Physical Appearance including:  Complexion, Skin Tone, Poise, Overall Presentation

MEN’S PHYSIQUE

• Judges will be looking for fit contestants who display proper shape and symmetry combined with muscularity and overall condition.

• Judges are looking for the contestant with the best stage presence and poise who can successfully convey his personality to the audience.

The Scoring Process

So how do you take a subjective judging process and make it as fair as possible?  We use a panel of qualified judges and combine their scores to determine placing.  The panel will consist of an odd number of judges.  Typically there are seven judges on a panel though smaller shows will sometimes use five judges and in other parts of the country some panels will consist of nine judges.

A judge will score each class by assigning a placing to each competitor from the lineup.  So if a class has ten competitors, a judge will write in a place next to each competitor number, 1^st -10^th.  When the scoring is complete and the class is dismissed from the stage, judges hand their score cards down to the tabulator.  The tabulator transfers each score card onto the final scoring sheet and marks off the high and low scores for each competitor, adding up the remaining numbers to determine how many points each person has.  The elimination of high and low scores prevents any single judge from being able to affect a class outcome based on personal bias, etc.  In a seven judge panel, only five scores count toward the total score and in a five judge panel only three scores will count.  In just a bit I’ll provide an example of how this is set up and why it works so well.

Backwards to most other sports, what a competitor wants is the lowest total score of the group.  If you have a seven judge panel, the lowest possible score you can achieve is 5.  That would indicate that you had all 1^st place scores after the high and low score were removed (x5 judges).  Final results are awarded from the lowest total score being first to the highest total score being last.

Here’s a score sheet from Shawn and Cinzia Clapp’s show that I attended last week.  Shawn just posted this up, saving me the hassle of scanning in an entry form to use here (Thanks Shawn!).  This is a perfect example of how well the scoring process works.  Although not all judges scored this class the same, once the high and low scores were removed you will find that the placings are unanimous:

The larger the classes become, the more varied the scores will typically be but this system tends to produce very consistent results.  Sometimes the large classes will have a handful of scores that seem way out of line.  Once they’re marked off, the remaining scores will typically be within one or two places of each other.

Occasionally, competitors will be tied for the final score.  When this happens, those two competitor’s scores are compared directly to each other rather than to the rest of the class to determine the tie breaker.  The full panel of scores is used in a tie breaker (all 7 scores for a seven judge panel) and they are tallied on a win/lose basis, i.e. 4 to 3 or 5 to 2, etc.  The larger and more competitive the class becomes, the more likely it is that you will see a tie.

A Perfect System?

Perfect?  Not by a long shot.  The judging process is subjective and variable.  Judges can’t always see all competitors as well as they’d like to even with the class being moved around on stage.  We all have personal preferences in terms of what we like to see in physiques and although everyone judges based on the same guidelines, we all see things a little differently.  But the system that we use does tend to produce the most consistent and reliable results that we are able to offer.

That being said, I think it’s important for competitors to keep in mind that their placing is merely the averaged opinion of a qualified judging panel, nothing more.  Where you place is not necessarily indicative of the time and effort that you put into stepping on stage.  From the front row we cannot analyze the journey that you took to get where you are.  We don’t know the countless hours of training, cardio, diet and sacrifice that you invested to get where you are.  All we can tell you is how you stack up against whoever might be standing next to you on that day.  Your motivation is to improve yourself each time you compete.  Your reward for all the hard work is the ability to step on stage and be proud of what you’ve accomplished.

Never let your placing define your success!

Three Aspects of Physique Competition

A while ago I wrote a little bit about what judges are looking for in competition.  Today we'll discuss the three main factors that are used to assess a physique in competition:  symmetry, muscularity and conditioning.

Tomorrow we'll look at how these aspects play a role in the judging process - http://ivanribic.blogspot.com/2011/08/putting-it-all-on-paper.html

Symmetry 

I pirated the following two definitions from Mr Webster as it really sums up the whole thing pretty nicely: 

• the proper or due proportion of the parts of a body or whole to one another with regard to size and form;    excellence of proportion.   

• beauty based on or characterized by such excellence of proportion. 

When we talk about symmetry in physique sports we’re referring to a balance, not just from left to right but from top to bottom.  This is what is commonly referred to as the “hour glass” shape or, as I prefer to call it, the “X” shape.  This shape is what tends to catch the human eye as most natural.  Because we view it as natural it’s easily taken for granted.  We don’t always realize that what we’re seeing is perfect because there’s nothing wrong with it.  But have you ever looked at something that just doesn’t seem right, but you can’t put your finger on why?  Our brains know when something isn’t balanced even if we can’t quite identify why.  If we could break physiques down to straight lines instead of curves, perfect symmetry or a lack thereof would become more apparent even if it was only slightly off.  Take a look.

What does this mean for competitors?  The cross of the “X” is the waist line.  For bodybuilding, figure and fitness competitors a well balanced physique should be small at the waist and flare out at the quads and lats.  The width of the quads should be similar to the width at the center of the delts.  Now you know why Phil Heath is smiling.

If the quads are small, a competitor will look top heavy and out of balance.  Likewise, big quads with poor upper body development will ruin symmetry as well.  Unfortunately, very few of us have perfect proportions but it’s important to keep in mind that judges are placing you based on what they can see.  As mentioned in a previous blog, posing can make or break you.  If you’re practiced when it comes to presentation, you can hide a great many flaws and create an illusion of perfect symmetry even if you don't have it.  Conversely, a perfect physique can look terribly out of proportion if not presented properly.

Symmetry is not just limited to front and back views.  A physique should ideally have the same symmetrical proportions when viewed from the side:  Small at the waist and flaring out at the chest and legs.  Hamstring development becomes critical here.  I’ve seen quite a few competitors who looked great from the front and back but when they turned to the side their legs disappear.  It can be a make or break deal for a lot of competitors.

Quarter-Turns are essentially a symmetry round for bodybuilding.  Many times an entire lineup can be judged solely off the quarter turns, depending on the size of the class and competitiveness.  The top 5 will almost certainly be called based on the quarter turns.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to make sure your ‘posing’ in the relaxed position and in the quarter turns is polished and dialed in.

Men’s Physique is judged in board shorts which cuts our “X” in half.  What are we left with?  “V-taper”.  It’s the same basic principle but I really feel this makes the waist line way more important.  A bodybuilder with a wider waist can work on a good quad sweep and wide shoulders to create the illusion of a small(ish) waist.  Men’s Physique competitors should not have extreme size like bodybuilding, so keeping a small, trim waist is essential to a great contest package.  Compliment that with good delts and lats and you will create an excellent V-taper.

Bikini may be a different set of rules but really is looking for the same basic shape.  Instead of looking for a big quad sweep to match the big delts, a competitor should looking for the same “X” proportions in the hips and bust with a tight waist.  Come on, do we really want to argue with Sir-Mix-A-Lot?  “36-24-36? Ha! Only if she’s five three.” 

Muscularity

Though this term applies primarily to bodybuilding, it’s important to understand what it conveys for the other divisions as well.  Figure is also judged based on muscularity, though to a lesser degree.  The bikini classes are NOT looking for muscularity but rather an athletic, in-shape build with good tone and proportions.  The Men’s Physique division is looking for muscularity but not to an extreme degree in terms of size.

Muscularity is really a combination of both size and shape.  Simply being big does not qualify.  Sumo wrestlers are huge and have a great amount of muscle but have virtually no muscle shape and posing suits that look like diapers.  A certain degree of leanness must be achieved to display proper muscularity but leanness in itself is not enough.  On the opposite end of the spectrum from the sumo wrestler we could take marathon runners as an example . . . extremely lean but not at all muscular.

A bodybuilder wants to be both as large AND as lean as possible to display the most muscularity they possibly can.  This means full muscle bellies, exceptional muscle separation and, hopefully, muscle striation.  The separation and striations give the muscle a hard, crisp look.  While this has a lot to do with conditioning, the muscle detail is also a product of the intensity of training over time.  Without intensity, a muscle will still grow but it will never achieve the “holy crap that’s the nastiest freakiest craziest thing I’ve ever seen and where can I get one?” look.  Yeah . . . you know what I’m talking about.

Figure competitors should have muscularity but to a much lesser degree than bodybuilders in terms of both size and muscle detail.  Muscle separation is good but judges are not looking for striation or ‘extreme’ size.  Bikini competitors will take it down another notch, training for muscle shape and proportion but not for size or muscle separation.

Men’s physique:  This division is still growing and will evolve as we get more competitors and judges involved with it.  The NPC specifically states:  “This is not a bodybuilding contest so extreme muscularity should be marked down.”  Based on contests and results I’ve seen, if you would do well in bodybuilding, you most likely are too big for physique.  The division is ideal for guys with good muscle shape and low body fat, but not for BIG guys. 

Conditioning

We don’t need to spend too much time on this topic as a lot of it is covered above as part of muscularity.  But really, this is going to be the essential component to getting ready to step on stage.  Losing the fat . . . this is the part that separates the 90% who plan to do a physique competition from the 10% who are dedicated enough to push on through to the end.  Looking conditioned is awesome.  Getting conditioned sucks.  It’s a combination of strict diet and cardio, peeling away the winter (or summer) coat and dialing your body in for contest day.  Conditioning is closely related to muscularity because it’s what makes the muscle visible to the judges.  The challenge is to become well conditioned without sacrificing hard earned muscle.  It’s also important to take into account the symmetry of conditioning.  Yeah, I’m all about the mix & match.  Keeping body composition even is sometimes very difficult.  A competitor with a hard, lean upper body and a softer lower body is not symmetrically conditioned, or vice versa.  Some people will have shredded abs and a soft back, etc.  Are you looking at your physique from ALL angles as you progress toward competition?  The judges are.

A well conditioned bodybuilder will display great muscle detail, hardness and separation.  Figure, as discussed earlier, requires excellent conditioning but to a lesser degree than bodybuilding.  Bikini competitors should not be extremely lean, so their challenge is to achieve a balanced composition in the upper and lower body.  This can be quite difficult as many women hold more fat in their lower body than their upper body.  Sometimes attempting to get the legs toned up can leave the torso looking super lean and/or stringy.  Men’s Physique classes seem to be trending toward VERY well conditioned competitors with a moderate amount of muscle.  Regardless of which division you compete in, you want to be as conditioned as possible for what’s appropriate to that class.

Vascularity

As a side note - A lot of people are concerned about being vascular when they're on stage so I figured I'd address this quickly:  These are physique competitions, not cardiologist conventions.  Vascularity is like hair.  If you've got it, good for you.  Competitors are not judged on whether or not veins are visible.  I have actually seen competitors who were so vascular that it was difficult to make out muscle detail.  While vascularity may be indicative of leanness it means nothing about the overall physique of the competitor.

More to come tomorrow . . .

What are the judges looking for?

In the world of physique competition, there seems to be a great amount of mystique about judges.  Competitors often talk about judges as though they’re part of some top secret underground club . . . the kind of group who dresses in robes and attends rendezvous at secret locations in the middle of the night to sacrifice baby kittens and protein powder to appease the ancient gods of muscle.  Ridiculous.  We quit doing that when the economy tanked and the price of protein powder went up.

The reality is that a lot of people don’t understand the judging process because they haven’t taken the time to do their research and really learn the ins and outs of judging.  Unfortunately, this often results in competitors who are disgruntled and will attribute their placing to ‘politics’ or a number of other factors.  The only one who always agrees with the judges is the first place winner.  This blog, along with next week’s, will hopefully answer a few of the questions that competitors often have about the judging process.

Judges

First things first:  Who are the judges?  Judges are people who have an exceptional love for the sport and have been trained to assess physiques in a competition setting.  By virtue of this, most judges are competitors or have competed in the past, though this is not a requirement to be a judge.  Before you say “How can you possibly judge if you don’t compete?” I’d like to mention that when I watch American Idol I can tell you who sounds incredible and I can tell you who needs to go home even though I don’t ever sing (even to myself . . . even in the shower).  I’ve seen people who have no desire to compete who have a phenomenal talent for judging and I’ve seen amazing competitors who can’t judge a lineup to save their life.

To become a judge, a person must attend an NPC judging clinic.  In the Northwest, these are held a couple times throughout the year and are free to anyone who is a current NPC member.  This means that the information and criteria that judges use is available to all NPC members.  There are no secrets when it comes to judging!

The next step toward becoming a qualified judge is to test judge a number of shows to display competency.  Test judge scores are compared to the final class results.  Test judges must score a minimum of 85% accuracy on a consistent basis to qualify to become a judge.  This ensures that the judge understands the criteria and has a good eye to assess it, keeping the panel consistent.

Judging is essentially a volunteer job.  A judge’s stipend is equal to the current cost of the NPC card.  As of right now, that’s $100 . . . not really a lot of money for a full day’s work, especially when you factor in travel costs, etc.  This is not something that people do to get rich.  As mentioned earlier, judging is done out of love for the sport.

“What are the judges looking for?”

Okay, time for me to rant a little bit:  When someone’s placing isn’t what they think it should be they tend to ask a common question:  “What are the judges looking for?”  There are several variations of this question I’ve encountered including “Do the judges even know what they’re looking for?” but the common denominator is that all versions subtly (or sometimes not so subtly) imply that the judges don’t really know what they are doing and can’t make up their mind about what they want to see on stage.  I’m going share a little secret about judging that not too many people know.  Are you ready?

EVERY JUDGE IS LOOKING FOR THE EXACT SAME THING IN EVERY CLASS AT EVERY SHOW!

Yeah, I just “e-yelled” because I want to make sure everyone heard it.  Judges aren’t looking for something different at every show.  A judge is always looking for the physique which is, in their opinion, the best of the group on stage.  That never changes, no matter what the show or class.

Competitors are often confused by or unhappy with their score sheet because not all of the judges on the panel scored them the same.  This is because even though we have guidelines for judges, the scoring process is still based on personal opinion.  The final score is the averaged opinion of a qualified judging panel.  There will almost always be variances in the scores.  If that wasn’t the case, we could save everyone a lot of time, money and work by just having 1 judge who decides where everyone places.  Make sense?

Let’s add some perspective to the judging process:  Judges do not place someone based on how they look.  Placings are based on how someone looks in relation to the other competitors in their class at the moment that they’re on stage.  This seems like a no brainer but a lot of times people forget this.  I frequently hear complaints about poor judging because “so and so won their class last week at another show but only got 4^th this week”.  How someone placed at a previous show is in no way indicative of how they will place in future shows.  This week will bring a new lineup of competitors to be compared to.  Changes in conditioning can occur within a matter of minutes at this stage of the game.   

A judge can only assess what they are looking at on stage at a particular moment.  Who you are or where you placed in the past makes no difference.  All a judge is looking for is the best physique standing on stage in front of them at that particular time.  I’ve seen seasoned competitors step on stage at their very best and still place last and I’ve seen some take the stage at their worst and still win.  In the end, it all depends on how you look compared to who you’re standing with.

Politics

Okay, time for a quick, brutally blunt blurb about “politics”.  This is a topic I hear mentioned at every show I’ve ever attended, judged, promoted or competed at so I figured I’d touch on this subject briefly.  I’m not going to spend too much time talking about politics in the sport because so far as physique competition in the Northwest goes, it’s non-existent.  I know people sometimes like to believe that the only reason “so and so” won a class was due to politics and the reason someone else placed low in their class was much the same.  I’ve got news for you:  We’re not that organized. 

Judges do not sit around conspiring to hand someone a first place trophy that they didn’t deserve.  We don’t meet up before shows to discuss who is on the roster.  We do not discuss placings while we’re judging.  We do not make changes to placings or scores after a class is complete.  We do not let a judge who has close personal ties to a competitor on stage judge that class (we’ll discuss alternate judges more next week).  If a judge did happen to let personal bias sway their scoring either against or in favor of a competitor it would be irrelevant to the final score anyway as the high and low score are both discarded.

We take great pride in providing a professional and fair environment for all competitors.  Nothing discredits someone’s hard work faster than assuming the only reason they got where they are was due to “politics”.  Every person on stage worked hard to be there but in the end, there can only be one winner.  Don’t take that moment away from them by attributing their achievement to politics.  Sometimes, success is just the result of a lot of hard work.  ;-)

Check back next week when we discuss some of the basics of the judging criteria along with the actual scoring process.

You want me to wear what???

      Last week we discussed the importance of posing.  On a somewhat related note, I’m going to throw this out there:  Ladies and gents, buy your competition suits early and practice in them.  I very rarely ever get this from women but for every show I’ve promoted I’ve had at LEAST one male call me 2 days out from the show wanting to know where to get a posing suit.  What???  These aren’t something you can find at your local Macy’s and my own personal preference, I’d rather not borrow a used suit.

      The whole misadventure of trying to find a suit last minute aside, if you’ve never worn one before you’re in for a heck of a surprise.  For guys, these suits sport about a third the material of your favorite Fruit of the Looms.  You’ll suddenly find that you need to shave places that you didn’t even know hair grew.  If you’re not used to it, you’re not going to be comfortable wearing it.  If you’re not comfortable wearing it you’re REALLY going to feel awkward standing on stage in front of 1000+ people all covered in oil.  How much fun will you have on stage if you’re not well prepared?  Get your suit early and wear it for your posing practices.

      Women’s suits are not much more forgiving.  If you haven’t spent a good amount of time practicing in your contest suit, are you certain that everything is going to stay where it should or are you rolling the dice for a Janet Jackson Superbowl mishap?  Practicing in your suit will give you time to figure out if you need to make any alterations, if you need to use bikini bite, etc.  Also, for figure and bikini classes, practice quarter turns and walking in your shoes so you’re comfortable on them.  For women who don’t wear tall heels on a regular basis these shoes can be tough to walk in.  The more practiced and polished you are on stage the better!

      Some people don’t see any need for this but personally I also recommend that everyone does at least 2 practice sessions with oil on.  I know it sounds funny, but you might find that poses feel different with oil than without.  For bodybuilders, getting a good hamstring sweep on side poses takes a little more practice with oil on, as can side chest and others.  Even if you don’t notice anything different, it’s an excuse to have someone at the gym oil you up.  Hopefully you have some good looking friends at your gym.  If not, you can also try asking a stranger.  What’s the worst that could happen?

      If you do not have a local shop that offers suits, there are a lot of great online stores for bodybuilding, figure and bikini competition suites.  Keep in mind that if you choose a custom suit, it may take a while to make.  Order as early as possible so you don't have to stress about your suit right before competition!

Just a few great suit resources off the top of my head:

www.cynthia-james.com

www.jagware-posingsuits.com 

www.competitionsuits.com

Posing

Last year Erin and I were wandering the streets of Las Vegas when we got pulled in to a time share presentation (I’m a sucker for freebies).  An enthusiastic little man spent 2 hours telling us about what a fantastic offer he had for us.  He explained the benefits, explained the savings and told us of the wondrous times we’d have if we just signed on the dotted line.  But of all the things that he could use to pitch the sale, he never actually showed us the inside of the hotel or any of the rooms that he was trying to get us to spend a small fortune on.  We took our free gift cards and left.

If you’re going to sell to an impulse buyer it’s not enough to just tell them what you have to offer.  You need to show them and present it in a manner that will impress them enough to seal the deal.  Think of judges as your impulse buyers.  When you step on stage, you’re selling a product.  No matter how much work you put into your physique or how good it looks, if you can’t show them, they’re not going to buy it.  I’ve seen so many competitors with great physiques place lower than they hoped to only because they didn’t know how to pose.  A fantastic physique with poor stage presentation can sometimes be surpassed by a mediocre physique with a fantastic presentation.  Judges assign placings based only on what they can see.

Anyone who’s ever been to a physique show is probably thinking to themselves “Thank you for wasting 2 minutes of my life Captain Obvious!”  I know . . . it seems basic, right?  It’s as easy as practicing your posing.  The problem is that for the majority of competitors, posing is an afterthought.  So much time and energy is focused on training and diet that posing seems to get kicked to the curb until the last week or two.  This doesn’t seem like a big deal until you watch a competitor who’s barely worked on posing standing next to a polished competitor who has practiced daily for the last 3 months.

There are 2 critical components to good posing.  The first is the form of the posing, which I’ll get into more here in just a bit.  The other is the conditioning of the person posing.  Posing is hard work to start with as it’s essentially a static hold.  Compound that with depletion, dehydration, the heat of the stage lights and nerves and you’ll develop a new respect for how effortless some people can make posing look.  Remember that posing involves more than just the actual poses that we normally associate with bodybuilding.  What we refer to as the “relaxed pose” is anything but.  Quarter turns are tightly held poses as well.

Every minute that you’re on stage you are (or at least should be) posing.  This is the case whether you’re lined up in the front or standing in the back.  You don’t want to be the guy or gal who is shaking uncontrollably every time they hit a pose or who is cramping up constantly.  Depending on the class size, you could be up there for a long time.  Are you prepared for 10 or 15 minutes of posing under hot lights if need be?  My advice would be to practice the “relaxed” pose, quarter turns and mandatory poses for a MINIMUM of 15 minutes a day for at least 8 weeks before competition.  As an added benefit, bodybuilders will find that spending ample time on posing will help bring out more definition in the muscle.

Practice makes perfect.  Or does it?

Everyone knows the old saying and everyone says it.  But as a correction, I refer to one of my all time favorite quotes from Vince Lombardi:  “Practice does not make perfect.  Only perfect practice makes perfect.”  If I do something wrong 1000 times today, the chances of me doing it right tomorrow morning are slim.  In all reality, I’d be better off not practicing at all than I would be to teach my body how to do something incorrectly over and over.  It’s far harder to break a bad habit than it is to form a new good habit.

Posing should be perfectly practiced to the point that it becomes natural and requires no thinking.  But it’s important to make sure that you’re doing it correctly from the beginning.  There are 3 things that every competitor should use to help dial in their posing:  A coach, a mirror, and a video camera.

Posing coaches:  If you’re using a trainer who is experienced in competition they can most likely help you with your posing.  If not, then it would be worth your time to consult an expert for some pointers and help with posing.  There are a lot of little tricks that can turn good posing into GREAT posing.  A good posing coach can teach you how to maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses when you’re on stage.  This outside perspective helps achieve a better understanding of what judges will see and will set you on the right track for proper posing.

 The mirror is obvious and I have yet to see a competitor who doesn’t spend ample time in front of one.  I like to think of mirrors as training wheels for posing.  Eventually, you want to get away from them but they’re a great place to start.  When you’re posing in the mirror, pay attention to all the details.  If you’re hitting a front double bi are you just looking at your arms or are you also making sure that your lats are flared, your quad separation is coming out, etc?  You’re showing the judges the entire package when you hit these poses, not just one muscle group.  Make sure you present it all as well as you possibly can.  Are there any problems with posing in front of a mirror?  Only one:  You won’t have a mirror on stage.

Video cameras . . . they’re everywhere and they’re a dime a dozen.  I have 2 on my cell phone.  Why the heck would anyone need 2 video cameras on the same phone?  Never mind that, back to the topic at hand.  I’m amazed at how many competitors never video themselves posing.  They’ll get video of their dog doing something clever or of uncle Bob getting racked in the nuts at their nephew’s birthday party but it never occurs to them to video their posing sessions.  This is, in my opinion, the best tool we have for learning to pose.  Sure, you can practice front poses in front of a mirror but what about the back?  Watch closely next time you attend a show and you’ll see how many people look great on front poses but can’t manage to make a lat spread or a rear double bi look good.  Often times the poses will be non-symmetrical, arms will be turned down, etc.

The video camera is also a great way to say your goodbyes to the mirror and pose without any visual feedback just as you will on stage.  This feels very different from posing in a mirror where you can see what you’re doing and make adjustments as needed.  Now you’re posing based on feel but you have the ability to analyze the video and make sure everything is looking the way you want it to.  For a new competitor, I’d recommend using video every time you pose until you feel that your posing is consistent and dead on.  Once you get to that point, use the camera 1 day a week to keep an eye on things and track your progress.

Chance may favor the prepared mind but a judge's score card favors the prepared body.

Trainers vs Trainees

Throughout the year I get a lot of questions from competitors (and potential competitors) about whether or not they should use a trainer and which one would be best for them.  As we approach the Night of Champions I’d like to mention a few things in regards to using a trainer for competition.

Trainers . . . would I recommend them?  Absolutely!  Even the best trainer would be well served by an expert pair of eyes and an outside perspective if they themselves were competing.  Having all the knowledge of diet and training in the world still will not be enough if you cannot look at yourself objectively and make appropriate changes.  This is hard to do when you see yourself every day.  This is not to say that you can’t compete without a trainer and still do well but in my experience, the vast majority of competitors who step on stage and look phenomenal used an expert to guide them through the process.

While there are literally thousands of trainers at our disposal, it’s important to remember that different trainers specialize in different disciplines.  While your local gym personal trainer might have some experience in competition, the vast majority don’t specialize in it.  Taking an average overweight, out-of-shape person and getting them moving is a whole different game than taking an in-shape, active person and whittling them down to contest condition.  Before you settle on a trainer, ask them to provide a portfolio of other clients who they’ve trained for competition.  If their previous clients looked great on stage then you’re on the right track.  If not, you may want to reconsider.  Stage competition goes beyond just conditioning as well.  A good competition trainer will not only be able to assist with diet and training but also with posing, stage presence, suits, tanning and all of the other little details that make a winning physique stand out on stage.

Timing is everything.  If you plan to compete, I recommend contacting your potential trainer as far out as possible.  A lot of times trainers are called 10 or 12 weeks out from a show.  That doesn’t leave them much time to figure out how your body responds and what they need to do to get you where you want to go.  There’s nothing wrong with getting in touch with a trainer a year out from competition.  Get a consultation, have them evaluate your weak points and give you some direction on what to work on.  While the last 12 weeks are going to be the most critical to your conditioning, the proceeding year is important for building a solid foundation.  If you're thinking of competing next spring or even next fall, now would be a great time to start talking to trainers about starting a program.

The most important thing!!!

. . . if you skipped past everything else I wrote, I hope you’ll listen to this:  If you’re paying a trainer to train you then do EXACTLY what they tell you to.  A good trainer has an entire plan that comes together to produce a final result.  Changing any part of that equation, no matter how insignificant you might think it is, will change the final result.  This means eating exactly what they tell you to, when they tell you to in the amounts they tell you to.  This means doing the same type of cardio for the same amount of time on the same days that they tell you to, etc.  If you’re not following part of the program, then you’re not following any of it. 

If you let self discipline slip and do something that is not part of the plan then you owe it to your trainer and yourself to tell them what you did so they know what’s happening with your body.  I’ve seen trainers pulling their hair out because a client’s body isn’t responding the way that it should only to find out months after the competition that their client was off doing their own thing and not following the program exactly.  If you don’t understand why your trainer has you doing something, ask them.  If they know their stuff they’ll be able to tell you exactly why. 

Keep in mind that people’s bodies respond differently to diet, water, etc.  If you are following the plan 100% and step on stage and are retaining a little more water than you’d like to, chances are your trainer will know just what changes to make for the next show and can dial you in even better next time.  But what if you’re retaining a little water and your trainer didn’t know about the half bag of Doritos you used to sodium load on Friday?  Do you think they’ll be able to improve your condition on the next go-around?  Probably not.

Once you’ve found a trainer you want to work with and established a plan, be consistent with it and be honest with your trainer.  You’re paying them to help you but they can only do that if you follow the program and are up front with them about the details. Over time, your trainer will understand your body and habits even better than you do and be able to help you achieve a top notch physique.