Thoughts on Judging?

[the mighty stu]

I'm still fairly new at competing, and figure this might be a good place to get feedback considering there are a good number of more experienced competitors.

I was in a local natural show recently, and of course, being onstage, you never really look around and assess the other competitors, but after the fact, you watch videos, see pics, and hear things from people in the audience. Someone videotaped the overall posedown between the other class winners and myself, and while I will not comment, lest it sound like I'm just upset, I am curious what others think (this was only my 2nd show -lol)... honestly, and objectively.

YouTube- Overall Posedown Edited Length.wmv

Thanks guys.

S

[Mac]

The guy in the black trunks is my pick for 1st place. Is that you?

[Lunaris]

Yep thats him, he lost to the guy in the green trunks =O

[joelster]

Black trunks all the way. Look at the calves, separation in legs, etc, etc. The guy in green trunks is *slightly* bigger but not by much at all, and his conditioning isn't as close. The video is so-low-resolution though, so it's hard to really tell the conditioning. If the guy in green was overwhelmingly bigger I could see it going his way but the rear lat spread and side shots he looks the same size. He MIGHT be 5-10lbs heavier if that, and that isn't enough to justify a win, especially since he's a little taller too. If he was an inch taller and 30lbs heavier with decent conditioning then it would be a different story.

[Mac]

The guy that won had poor conditioning and love handles with lower stomach bulge/fat.

I thought Stu had some odd leg positioning in his posing with them being to far apart. His rear double-bi, back shots blew everyone else out of the water.

You were robbed.

[the mighty stu]

Yeah, I'm the guy in Black (light-heavy winner). The Heavyweight seemed to just have genetically lean looking quads, for as many times as I watch the video, I just don't see his actually 'winning' on anything else. I know it sounds horrible, but I really feel like there was no way anyone even had a fair shot at winning. A Judge from the same federation who I've been in contact with (head judge from my last show), called me after this contest (and after viewing the video and pics), and admitted that there was no way the other guy beat me...... Which doesn't really make me feel too good. There's no money on the line in Amateur Natty contests,... it really is all about pride and respect,.. and I do feel like something was taken away from me.

The foot stance thing was me just trying to offset what I did in my first show, where having my heel together was suggested (I learned to pose from an online competing manual -lol). When I watched the video of my last contest, (I won the Novice Overall and the Masters, but only took 3rd in the Open) the two bodybuilders who placed ahead of me both had a wider stance, and it just seemed to create the illusion of ore of an 'X' when they posed. Maybe I was a bit too wide this time? -lol

S

[joelster]

How old are you? The reason I ask this is that there are 2 INBF shows near me (Buffalo/Rochester) this fall, both of them are back-to-back. The one on the 2nd is awarding pro cards for masters men, masters women, and masters figure. The show on the 9th is awarding cards for mens open, womens open, and figure overall. Take one polygraph and do them both. I am going to make a thread about them in a second.

[MusclesMarinara]

the guy in the green had better legs, i would have thought u won.

all depends on what the judges are looking for.

[the mighty stu]

I get the whole size vs conditioning argument, but aside from the quads, I fail to see the other competitor as having 'size'. Again, I want some criticism, or even advice from you guys who have been at this game longer than I have, because in all honesty, even though I won my class, I left with a horrible feeling in my stomach, in fact I felt much better last year when I won 3rd, but felt that I really hung in there with competitors who were truly better than I was. In that first show, I fully understood the final placing. The guy in 2nd, beat me on size, the guy in 1st had size and conditioning, and I had good conditioning, but needed more size.

JOELSTER- I'll be 37 next week, in the USBF, the Mens Masters starts at 35, which is how I won the masters title last year and as much as I appreciate the heads up, I don't think I could deal with the car ride from Queens to Buffalo, that's actually why I competed in a couple of shows in Jersey instead of NY, they were just easier to get to :)

S

[Curt James]

^You should get someone to drive you to Buffalo.

Killed the heavyweight on triceps, calves, abs, chest, and in the posedown. I actually preferred the lightweight over the heavyweight. Better structure.

And you definitely should have won the overall, imo.

[BigM123]

totally agree i think you should have won after all this is a natty show that should be based more on conditioning rather than size thats just my opinion.

[AVBG]

I'm agreeing with Curt.

[Chris Pearce]

Green trunks has ATROCIOUS posing... aside from the quads, I'm going to have to agree with everyone else. Black trunks wins IMO

[joelster]

I get the whole size vs conditioning argument, but aside from the quads, I fail to see the other competitor as having 'size'. Again, I want some criticism, or even advice from you guys who have been at this game longer than I have, because in all honesty, even though I won my class, I left with a horrible feeling in my stomach, in fact I felt much better last year when I won 3rd, but felt that I really hung in there with competitors who were truly better than I was. In that first show, I fully understood the final placing. The guy in 2nd, beat me on size, the guy in 1st had size and conditioning, and I had good conditioning, but needed more size.

JOELSTER- I'll be 37 next week, in the USBF, the Mens Masters starts at 35, which is how I won the masters title last year and as much as I appreciate the heads up, I don't think I could deal with the car ride from Queens to Buffalo, that's actually why I competed in a couple of shows in Jersey instead of NY, they were just easier to get to :)

S

Take a plane for $99 one way. It's a 50 minute flight. The October 2nd show is literally 5 minutes from the airport, no kidding.

WNBF Masters Pro has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? lol, no pressure or anything!

[Jude2]

Yes you won. Poor judging.