to feel them squeezing together …. WRONG!
You really need to do the opposite, think about scooping and spreading the lats out so that they are fully displayed, thus making your x-frame more impressive. Another posing error I see in the back double bicep is when an athlete straightens their leg out behind them. It also creates a crease under the glute and shows no shape in the leg. We’ re inclined to do this to show the hamstring but there’ s no way of engaging it in this position. Instead, bend the knee, rotate the quads out and try to pull the heels together. This will switch the legs on and display a more balanced figure.
The Lat Spread. From the
3. back for the bodybuilders … I see a lot of competitors presenting the wide lat spread which shows the width and thickness, but don’ t forget bodybuilding is about the finer details as well, and the back has a lot! Don’ t miss an opportunity to show this to the judges. You only get three compulsory poses from the back. For a lot of athletes this may be their strongest shot, so display not only the width in the first pose, but also the detail and condition in a second lat spread pose. Do this by lifting the chest upwards and pulling the lats out and showing off the shoulder cap, rear delts, v-taper, lower back, glute condition, hamstring development and calf fullness. Give the judges the full x-frame.
This one is for the bikini
4. girls … another back pose blip. The biggest don’ t for all the females, do not display TOO MUCH!
Be mindful of the angle your being judged from, keep the feet just outside of shoulder width, no wider!
Don’ t bend over too much to display your hamstrings and glutes, all you need is a slight tilt backwards in the hips to lift the glutes, switch on the hamstrings by pulling the heels together, engaging the inside thighs to show off your hamstrings all the way to the glute tie in. Also, keep the chest and back lifted and don’ t lean forward as you’ ll lose the shoulder to waist proportions.
Now the Men’ s Physique
5. competitors. One of the main requirements for this category is a small waist. I’ ve seen so many athletes posing straight on to the judges, exposing their thick / blocky waistlines. If this is you, then you need to master sitting into the hip. Here’ s how you need to do it. Slightly angle yourself to the diagonal, this
will make the waist appear smaller from the front, make sure your upper body is still presented to the front with a strong top line and v-taper to present your most flattering angle. Also, try not to swirl your arm around on stage, it can be very distracting to your physique and ruins your presentation.
6.
Lastly, if there’ s a pose that doesn’ t work for you, but it’ s a required compulsory, then do your best to work your angles or spend as little time in it a possible. If you’ re super confident on stage and not afraid to stand out from the rest, then just don’ t hit it!
APRIL 2018 | FLEX 87