Elite Physique

Dan Kennedy

Educated at the University of Western Ontario, Dan employs his degree in Kinesiology as the foundation of his personal training business Elite Physique. He’s also a National level bodybuilder and judge. Dan’s earned a reputation for his knowledge and his tell-it-like-it-is approach to performance enhancement!

Contest Posing

QUESTION: At a recent OPA bodybuilding contest I entered, the judges said my posing sucked! I’ve got some good size and cuts but if you ask me to hit a “quarter turn to the left” and I’m thinking about quarter pounders! Just kidding Dan. I need your help to improve my posing but don’t know where to start. Any tips?

ANSWER: Well aside from training guys and competing myself, I’m also a provincial-level judge and I can tell you firsthand that some huge competitors have great physiques don’t have a clue when it comes to posing. They spend all year building mass but forget how to train their body to pose properly and thus they score poorly. In fact, Canadian IFBB Pro Paul Dillett was often criticized for being a bad poser when he was in his prime. He had tons of mass but couldn’t seem to flex all his muscles at the right time in the comparison rounds. Arnold Schwarzenegger is still regarded as one of the best posers to ever win a Mr. Olympia title. In his book “The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding” (a book every bodybuilder should own) he lists the following as the most common posing mistakes:

Failing to learn to do the poses properly.
Tensing the face while posing.
Looking worried or tired instead of energetic and confident.
Flexing so hard the whole body shakes and quivers with the effort.
Making a poor choice of poses for the individual posing routine.
Choosing inappropriate music.
Using too much or too little oil.
Losing balance while posing,
Doing poor transitions between posing.
Letting yourself relax while standing at the back of the stage, forgetting the judges are still watching you.

My advice for you is to avoid making the above mistakes! Most of the top placing bodybuilders these days hire a posing coach to prepare them in this area so that these mistakes aren't made. Over time, you'll get better and better with more shows under your belt but to avoid the "learning curve" hire a get yourself some help. If you're on a tight budget (who isn't these days) watch some of the posing routines of the top IFBB pros in the industry that are known for their posing capabilities. Guys like Tricky Jackson, Kai Greene, Shawn Ray, Darrem Charles are regarded as the best posers of all time. These guys also have tons of videos of their posing routines up on YouTube.com which you can view for free. Study these and adjust your posing accordingly.

Check out the below video of IFBB Pro Tricky Jackson in action!