They\u2019re also looking for a balance, flow, and proportion among\u00a0muscle groups, with each part contributing to the appearance of a unified whole. One athlete may have big, defined arms but less impressive legs; another may have big thighs but narrow calves; another may have a big chest and shoulders but also appear thick in the waist.<\/p>\n
Not, perhaps, the most body-positive pursuit. But at its best, physique contests can be exciting and motivating \u2014 a celebration of hard work and the beauty of the human form.<\/p>\n
One essential component of a typical show is the compulsory bodybuilding poses: five to eight poses that, together, allow the judges to see all attributes of each athlete\u2019s physique. The compulsories enable the judges to evaluate each athlete as thoroughly and fairly as possible. These bodybuilding poses come up repeatedly throughout a show.<\/p>\n
So if you\u2019re perusing the web for some #fitspiration, attending your first show as a spectator or competitor, or even looking for a way to track your own progress over time, you\u2019ll want to be familiar with the compulsories.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a rundown \u2014 along with our completely biased opinion on which bodybuilders through history did each pose the best.<\/p>\n
1. Front Double Biceps Pose<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
When you pose for a \u201cfitness\u201d pic, this is the pose you strike: arms outstretched, flexed at the elbows, contracting your biceps for all they\u2019re worth. That\u2019s a front double bi.<\/p>\n
Some athletes crunch down on their abs when they do this pose, emphasizing the six-pack. Others vacuum their stomachs in to create a more tapered appearance.<\/p>\n
Either way, the pose emphasizes the contrast between the width of the shoulders and the narrowness of the waist, as well as the size and shape of the upper arms and the definition and size of the quads and calves.<\/p>\n
Inspiration:<\/strong>\u00a0Brian Buchanan, Cory Everson<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve never seen this pose, prepare for a shock: The legs are together, feet turned out to showcase the quads, hands pinching either side of the waist \u2014 so far, so good. To perform the pose, the athlete lifts their chest up and out, then spreads the lats \u2014 the thick muscles beneath the armpits \u2014 to give the torso the appearance of a cobra with its hood flared, preparing to strike.<\/p>\n In addition to the lats, this pose highlights the shoulders (they should look wide, developed, and defined) and the size and definition of the quads.<\/p>\n This pose isn\u2019t required in most women\u2019s shows.<\/p>\n Inspiration:<\/strong>\u00a0Lee Haney<\/p>\n Next up, you\u2019ll turn to one side (usually up to the athlete), point your downstage foot to show the calf\u00a0and grab the wrist of the arm facing the judges. To complete the pose, you push your chest up and out flex the biceps of the downstage arm for all you\u2019re worth.<\/p>\n This pose demonstrates an athlete\u2019s\u00a0thickness\u00a0\u2014 the amount of muscle they carry, particularly in the chest, shoulders, arms, and thighs. It was a favorite of\u00a0Arnold Schwarzenegger,\u00a0whose chest was so developed he could reputedly balance a champagne glass on his upper pecs.<\/p>\n While many athletes look big from the front, this pose lets the judges see which athlete has the greatest mass. Well-defined athletes also showcase lots of detail in the sides of their waist in this pose.<\/p>\n Inspiration:<\/strong>\u00a0Arnold Schwarzenegger<\/p>\n Still turned sideways to the audience, you set up with your legs in the same position as the previous pose, then straighten your downstage arm. Reach your opposite arm behind your back and take hold of your downstage wrist. Finish the pose by flexing your triceps, squeezing your arm against your flank to make it appear bigger, and contracting the muscles on the side of your torso to showcase the definition in your waist and obliques.<\/p>\n While the side tri is a good pose for bigger athletes \u2014 like the previous pose, it\u2019s a good one for bodybuilders with thick legs \u2014 it\u2019s also a good chance for more aesthetic bodybuilders to show their lines, symmetry, and definition.<\/p>\n Inspiration:<\/strong>\u00a0Bob Paris, Alina Popa<\/p>\n This is the same pose as the front double biceps, only this time with your back to the audience. From the ground up, you contract your hamstrings and calves \u2014 pushing through the ball of one foot to show the definition in one calf. Then you raise your arms into the double bi position.<\/p>\n The key is to contract all the muscles in the back \u2014 from the traps and lats in the upper back to the\u00a0erector spinae,\u00a0the two snakelike muscles flanking the spine.<\/p>\n This pose takes some finesse:<\/p>\n This pose shows off the back \u2014 naturally \u2014 and also highlights the development of all three heads of the deltoids or shoulder muscles. Since a thick, defined back is difficult to build, the back double biceps pose often separates the show\u2019s top placers from the rest of the competition.<\/p>\n Inspiration:<\/strong>\u00a0Ronnie Coleman, Lenda Murray<\/p>\n Like the previous pose, this one is the posterior version of an earlier pose. Here, though, the focus is on the width of the back, so instead of lifting your chest high and forward, you round the spine back a bit to enhance the appearance of size from behind, again, looking for that \u2018angry cobra\u2019 appearance.<\/p>\n The legs are in the same position as in the previous pose. This pose, like the front version, isn\u2019t required in most women\u2019s shows.<\/p>\n Inspiration:<\/strong>\u00a0Franco Columbu<\/p>\n The compulsory round ends with two dramatic bodybuilding poses. In the abs and thighs pose, you face the audience and hold your arms, hands interlaced, behind your head. You extend and flex the quads on one leg and contract your abs as hard as you can, showcasing your six-pack muscles and the smaller muscles around them. Skilled posers can also contract the pecs in this pose, adding some additional detail.<\/p>\n This pose is all about\u00a0conditioning\u00a0\u2014 how thoroughly you\u2019ve managed to shed as much body fat as you can while holding onto as much muscle as you can. The more conditioned you are, the more detail shows in your midsection and thighs.<\/p>\n Inspiration:<\/strong>\u00a0Berry DeMey<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever seen clips of the old\u00a0Incredible Hulk\u00a0show, this is the pose that the eponymous Hulk made his own: arms hugging downwards in twin arcs, chest and biceps contracted as hard as possible. Some bodybuilders perform the pose in a more upright posture, chests up and shoulders square.<\/p>\n Of the compulsory bodybuilding poses, the standard version of the Most Muscular is the most \u201cfreaky.\u201d Most athletes showcase a lot of veins in this pose, and their traps and necks tend to flare and swell, giving them a slightly distorted shape. But the hardcore fans eat it up.<\/p>\n Inspiration:<\/strong>\u00a0Lou Ferrigno, Shawn Ray<\/p>\n Along with competing in the comparison round, each athlete is also required to perform an individual routine, set to music, consisting of their favorite bodybuilding poses strung together in a coherent sequence that highlights their best features and downplays their weaker ones.<\/p>\n A great individual routine emphasizes the athlete\u2019s personality and the qualities of their physique: A big, thick athlete might pose to more dramatic music, while a lighter, more aesthetic athlete might use something classical. A great routine can win an audience over \u2014 and sometimes the judges as well.<\/p>\n At the end of the evening, the athletes \u2014 or the ones in the running for the top six to 10 spots \u2014 then perform a group \u201cposedown,\u201d each running through their best poses in a final effort to impress the judges and the audience. This round isn\u2019t scored \u2014 it\u2019s usually just a way for the judges to stall while they tally the final results and a chance for the audience to show their appreciation for the athletes\u2019 hard work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thinking about attending \u2014 or entering \u2014 a\u00a0bodybuilding\u00a0show? There\u2019s a lot more to it than random sweating, straining, and standing around looking crazy-fit. You need to know your bodybuilding poses. To the average viewer, everyone on a bodybuilding stage looks like a living statue \u2014 lean, muscular, poised \u2014 and separating winners from losers in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[83,91,184],"class_list":["post-3680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-exer","tag-fitness","tag-weight-lifting"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}2. Front Lat Spread<\/h2>\n
![\"front](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/19101528\/bodybuilding-poses-600-front-lat-spread-1.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n3. Side Chest<\/h2>\n
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/17114807\/bodybuilding-poses-600-side-chest.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n4. Side Triceps<\/h2>\n
![\"side](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/19101520\/bodybuilding-poses-600-side-tricep.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n5. Back Double Biceps<\/h2>\n
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/17114731\/bodybuilding-poses-600-back-double-triceps.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n\n
6. Rear Lat Spread<\/h2>\n
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/17114800\/bodybuilding-poses-600-rear-lat-spread.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n7. Abdominals and Thighs<\/h2>\n
![\"abs](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/19101535\/bodybuilding-poses-600-abs-and-thighs.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n8. Most Muscular<\/h2>\n
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/17120035\/bodybuilding-poses-600-most-muscular-scaled.jpeg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n9. Individual Posing and Free Posing<\/h2>\n
![\"Bodybuilder](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/17114738\/bodybuilding-poses-600-free-posing.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n