Figure Competitor Posing Tips: Perfecting Your Back Pose

Today I’ve got some great tips to share with you when it comes to your posing and presentation. Below is a photo from an online posing session with my client Dayna who is about 2 weeks out from her first figure show EVER – in Japan.

Can YOU spot what corrections we made in Dayna’s back pose? 

Dayna has a tremendous shape, but the one thing I noticed is that her back pose wasn’t showing off one of her strongest assets and angles… So as I do with all clients, we took to Skype to work on some posing. But more importantly, teaching her how to bring out her absolute best come showtime.

Figure Competitor Posing Tips

They say that shows are won from the back – so mastering your back pose is CRUCIAL as a figure competitor. And what we’ll discuss today are some common mistakes that I see when girls try to nail this pose.

So pull out your notebook, take some notes, and practice these corrections on your own!

 

Figure Competitor Posing Tips – Let’s Perfect Dayna’s Back Pose!

Notice how in the photo on the left her shoulders are slightly sloped. Well the directions I gave her was to stick the glutes out a tiny bit, and keep the lower back arched (it should hurt back there at first). Then for her to breathe in, expanding her rib cage. This set up the base/foundation for the shape of the V taper.

Next, I told her to really thing about keeping not only her back UP, but her chest up as well. Then – this is one of the most important tips – I told her to pull her shoulder blades APART, and to NOT squeeze them together.

In doing this, she really took her back from a more closed to position, to one that presented a nice wide V taper, exactly what the judges are looking for when you turn around to the back.

Next, I instructed Dayna to activate her shoulders by slightly shrugging them up, and rolling them back – as to open up the chest. The finished off the look of the rounded delts that you see in the right photo vs. the left.

And then finally, my last instructions to her was to keep her gaze UP and not look at the floor. Where you put your eyes is essential because it can mean the difference between a finished like – and one that’s not. I like to tell clients to gaze at the horizon, and still smile while facing back there.

Posing is an ART, and it must be practiced everyday leading into your show! Don’t skip out on it.

I always recommend clients spend anywhere between 30 to 60 minutes on posing alone. And always take videos during your posing practice. This way you can go back, analyze what you’re doing, and see what you can indeed do better.

 

 

 

 

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