Posing tips

[HeavyDutyGuy]

It has to be 90 degrees Gman.. If I close past 120, I have no gap at all. Which by the way, limits my rom.. As to the poses, you're right, there's "relaxed" front, back and both sides. You end up being as judged on those as anything. Your legs are good. Point the toes and hence out just a tad more. The upper body- don't try to put your arms out so much. Try this.I stand relaxed, hit the legs, then suck in your gut, breathing in and expanding your rib cage., let your shouders rise and 'set' into position. Bend your arms at the elbow, put your hands by the top of your trunks. And pull up, as if you were puling them up at the top. Try it and you will look 100% better!

[esplendido]

Rick is there not a mandatory pose where you stand and do turns? Pardon my attempt here, but standing like this, and just doing quarter turns until you get 360 degrees? If it's not mandatory I am going to kill the person that made me do it! lol

Those are the mandatory 'relaxed' quarter turns, which preceed the mandatory poses in prejudging. You are holding your arms out too far and too straight and not flaring your lats. It appears you are pinching your shoulder blades together in the back.

Stand relaxed, then spread your lats out, which will push your upper arms out. Then bend your forearms at the elbow to bring your hands back towards your body.

Your arms should only stand off your body because your lats hold them off. Too many people hold them out farther, thinking it makes them look wider, when, in fact, it makes them look narrower. Even some of the pros overdo it.

[HeavyDutyGuy]

I can get 2 fingers between my bi and forearm. I have very long arms (I'm 6'-4&quot and even though my arms are 20", they still look a little undersized for my overall physique. I do have very long triceps, which is where most of my arm size comes from, as the picture in the previous post shows.

You are blessed with those biceps. You'll have a very good front dbl biceps shot and, as Arnold did, you should show them often to draw attention away from any weak points in your routine.

You have more room to grow I think, mostly in the tri. Really nice sweep in the back bicep pic. Maybe 21 is a possibilty? I know I was lucky with arms- biceps especially. To be honest,, I don't even train them much in the offseason, I spent most of my training time on larger muscles and weak points. I have been really pushing on arms lately though, since freaky bodyparts seem to score heavily and symmetry not as much as it maybe once did. Give em what they want, me thinks!

[gman]

Is there a secret to getting the lats to pop out, I know I have lats, but I can't ever get them to spread! I think it must be easier than I think, so once I figure out I will wonder why I never could get them to.

[Sledge]

Legs are looking pretty chunky there mate good work.

Rick is there not a mandatory pose where you stand and do turns? Pardon my attempt here, but standing like this, and just doing quarter turns until you get 360 degrees? If it's not mandatory I am going to kill the person that made me do it! lol

[Sledge]

Why not start with the standing relaxed, how to execute the 1/4 turns. Building the pose from the ground up etc etc etc

[gman]

Legs are looking pretty chunky there mate good work.

That was a couple years back when I got down to 192. It's amazing how thick 23 1/2" thighs can look without a lot of fat on them.

[GirlyMuscle]

That was a couple years back when I got down to 192. It's amazing how thick 23 1/2" thighs can look without a lot of fat on them.

Wow...really. They look bigger than that. Then I guess my 25 inch thunder thighs will still be ok when I drop the fat.

[gman]

Wow...really. They look bigger than that. Then I guess my 25 inch thunder thighs will still be ok when I drop the fat.

It's an illusion, isn't that what they say!?

The 23 1/2 was relaxed, I have never measured them flexed.

[GirlyMuscle]

To be honest I never measure anything flexed except my bicep.

[GerryT]

This is a great idea and will refer a few guys I'm coaching here.

[esplendido]

Is there a secret to getting the lats to pop out, I know I have lats, but I can't ever get them to spread! I think it must be easier than I think, so once I figure out I will wonder why I never could get them to.

Practice fexing them. Do it without moving or flexing any other bodypart. You can do it in your chair at work. Muscle control is learned....not instinctive. Once you can isolate your lats, stand in front of the mirror and flex them, again, without moving any other part. Then, pull your upper arms away from your sides a little to reveal the lats....opening them up more. Do this everytime you're in the gym until you have good control.

Practicing posing is as important as lifting. If you don't practice, you won't have any control. This goes for lifting, too. If you can't concentrate on the muscle group you're working, you can't build it to its potential. Sure, you have other muscles aiding when working a particular muscle. BUT, you have to be able to concentrate your effort in the muscle being specifically worked. If you can't independently flex it, you can't concentrate on it when working it.

Practice on all your muscles. Flex one pec at a time, for example. Learn the positions that maximize the peak on each muscle. You'll be surprised how it helps in your workouts. The MIND/MUSCLE connection!

[gman]

I will try this Rick. I just can't figure out what to do, it's easy to flex a bi or a tri, you just bend or extend your arm. The lat just sits there!

I just tried flexing one pec at a time. The right one worked, no luck on the left!

It's going to be a long process to figure this part out, probably harder than the lifting and dieting to get right!

[Sledge]

Practicing posing is as important as lifting. If you don't practice, you won't have any control. This goes for lifting, too. If you can't concentrate on the muscle group you're working, you can't build it to its potential. Sure, you have other muscles aiding when working a particular muscle. BUT, you have to be able to concentrate your effort in the muscle being specifically worked. If you can't independently flex it, you can't concentrate on it when working it.

Practice on all your muscles. Flex one pec at a time, for example. Learn the positions that maximize the peak on each muscle. You'll be surprised how it helps in your workouts. The MIND/MUSCLE connection!

All so true. I find trying to pose (I suck at it) exhausting. I feel like I've run a marathon after trying to practice all the compulsories.

I tried to get GM to teach me some stuff and I'm so bad I thought she was going to go find a pick handle and beat me with it. (and that was just front lat)

I know all the theory behind it. Have watched all the videos, read a few books. I can even pick out and correct faults in others posing quite well.

But when I try and do it myself, it just doesn't happen. So Esplendido is 100% correct practice practice practice.

[Sledge]