Schwarzenegger Arnold, Dobbins Bill The New Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding Book four

COMPETITION

Chapter one

Posing is vital because after years of hard training, gym work, and a strict diet for one0-one2 weeks, you can win or lose no matter how good your muscles are! At competitions, it’s not just your muscles that are evaluated, but your ability to demonstrate them in front of the judges.

A lot depends on how you show it. I remember looking at the paintings in the auction house's storage room - hundreds of paintings, from Andy Warhol to Roy Lichtenstein. They were shown one after the other, without frames and in poor lighting. Under such conditions, it was difficult to assess how good these works are. Later, when the paintings were framed and displayed in an aesthetic setting with excellent lighting, the effect was quite different. You could immediately understand why people respect and admire these artists so much. Like a gem set in a beautiful setting, these canvases could only be fully appreciated because someone had put in a lot of effort and prepared them for display in the most favorable light. This is exactly what you should be doing with your muscles in preparation for a bodybuilding competition.

The key to success in professional bodybuilding, as in many other sports, is painstaking and long-term preparation. Skaters need to prepare their skates and judge the quality of the ice correctly in order to perform well in competition. Skiers choose the right ointment and check the route of the track before the race. Bodybuilders, on the other hand, need to prepare in order to look their best on stage, and their result certainly depends on the ability to demonstrate their muscles to the maximum benefit in front of the judges.

I once helped commentate the Arnold Classic World Championship for a TV show. After seeing how one of the bodybuilders held himself on stage, I said to my colleague: "This guy has no chance." But then I looked at the picture of the rear monitor and was amazed at the abundance of muscles that suddenly jutted out all over the place. “Where did all this muscle come from?” I asked. “He seems to be much better than I first thought.”

Of course, it happened the other way too. When I first saw the giant figure of Paul Dilletta on stage in Columbus, he made a very strong impression on me. But while posing, it became clear that Dillett did not know how to show off his massive physique in the best possible way. When I mentioned this to Joe Weider, he told me that Dillett was a very late starter in competition and was already a pro the second time around; he simply did not have enough time to develop stage skills worthy of his excellent muscles. “Remember one thing,” Joe said. “When Frank Zane won his first Mr. Olympia title, he had been competing for about fifteen years. His stage presence was the result of many years of work, and it is almost impossible to pose at this level without having a lot of experience."

This is a very important consideration. Training requires certain skills, but posing requires completely different skills. To learn them, you will not only have to spend many hours in front of the mirror, but also gain enough experience in competitions, get used to the competitive spirit on stage. Of course, many beginner bodybuilders have no idea how much they need to learn about posing. This art seems much simpler than it actually is. For example:

You must master all the compulsory poses required for the competitors. You must practice these postures until you have complete control over every muscle involved in the demonstration. You need to gain a lot of experience in the practice of posing in order to hold the poses for a long time without showing signs of fatigue, without trembling and muscle cramps. You must develop an individual posing routine that best reflects the qualities of your physique. You should practice your routine regularly until you can smoothly and naturally transition between postures. You need to apply all these skills on stage, because only experience can teach you how to pose properly in the intense atmosphere of a competition. In addition to working on the poses, you must work on the facial expressions. The impression made on the judges depends partly on the feelings that are reflected on your face.

The ability to pose correctly in front of the judges is important, but remember that you must pose for everything the time you are on stage, not just when you come forward and show off your muscles. I don’t remember how many times I have seen bodybuilders who looked great while posing, and then went back to the back of the stage and suddenly began to hunch over or stick out their stomach, and as a result completely ruined the good impression that they were trying to create before.

Once at the Mr. Olympia contest, Franco and I stood at the back of the stage and looked at another contestant not far from us: his stomach was sticking out so much that he looked pregnant. "What a pity," I said. "When he steps back, he looks like a different person." "No," Franco replied. "When he steps back, he looks like he's swallowed another person!"

So, it doesn't matter what kind of musculature you have if you can't show it properly. A well-known bodybuilder came up to me in the locker room backstage at the Arnold Classic, showed me some poses and asked me what I thought about it. "You look great," I said. "With that kind of muscle, I'd win the show right now." He left and began to tell everyone that I assured him of victory. But I meant something else. I wanted to say that if I had such muscles, then I could win. But since I knew that his posing skills left much to be desired, I doubted that he would be able to demonstrate his best qualities. And I was not mistaken: his result was far from being as good as it could be if he knew how to pose properly.

In addition to the art of posing, you need to carefully monitor your overall appearance. Judges don't just look at your muscles and posture: they look at you—the way you stand or move, the tone of your skin, your hair, your demeanor. That's why it's so important to watch your facial expression. Do you appear confident, as befits a winner, or anxious, as if afraid of defeat? Does your face distort when you pose, when you tighten your muscles, do you start to grimace, or have you learned to pose "from the neck down" when the face remains calm regardless of muscle tension?

Think about how the singer uses his facial expressions to better communicate the emotions of his song to the audience. When you are on stage, you must be not only an athlete, but also an actor. Professional bodybuilding is a sport that has a certain theatricality. You not only need to be in great shape, but also to convince the judges that this is indeed the case. The point is not to imitate certain emotions, but to really believe in yourself and convey this belief to everyone who looks at you.

POSING HISTORY

Bodybuilding competitions began as physical education events, and in the one9twentys and one930s, participants demonstrated their athletic abilities in a variety of ways, from gymnastics and strength athletics to boxing. In the early days of competition, bodybuilders did not perform the posing routine to music as they do today. They alternately tensed all the major muscles and muscle groups, pulled in the stomach, and sometimes made their muscles squirm like snakes under the skin, demonstrating complete control over their body.

The program of the first competitions also included gymnastic tricks like balancing on the hands; John Grimek, the first Mr. America, was especially famous for this skill. Former Mr. America and Muscle Beach veteran-turned-writer Armand Tanney recalls that Grimek could spend hours captivating audiences by performing complex gymnastic routines. It is simply amazing how athletic, flexible and well-coordinated were the massive, muscular bodybuilders of that time. Can you imagine today's refined champions trying to do the same?

THE ART OF POSING

First you learn the basic poses, then you individualize them and adapt them to your physique, and finally you combine your best poses in a posing routine. Each champion has poses that are especially good for him and allow him to successfully compete with his rivals. Some bodybuilders like to take certain poses to demonstrate the outstanding development of one or another part of the body. Others avoid direct demonstration of individual muscle groups, but invent different options that reveal other qualities, such as shape, symmetry and proportionality.

When I decided to study posing, I started with a critical assessment of my abilities. I had to be realistic. It would be foolish of me to try to copy the style posing Steve Reeves, who liked to throw his arms over his head. Reeves had broad shoulders, a flat chest, and a very narrow waist, so poses with arms above his head suited him very well. But they didn't work for me or John Grimek or Reg Park because of our bulkier builds. By the way, when it comes to creating your posing style, if you're a fan of bodybuilders like Dorian Yates, Flex Wheeler, or Shawn Ray, make sure you have a similar body type before trying to copy their poses.

Posing can be a tool to draw attention to your strengths and divert attention