50: 10 Tips For Your First Prep Part 3: How Much Time Is Needed To Learn Various Posing And Performance Skills

The #1 thing you need to do on stage at a bodybuilding show is present yourself to a judging panel for consideration on how well you meet the judging criteria for the category and organization. You aren’t doing a workout for the judges. You aren’t food prepping for the judges. You are 100% performing on stage. Making this connection from the beginning and preparing for the expectations of the show day itself will ensure that you avoid scoring lower than you should and instead you receive your highest possible placement at your show. Tune in as I elaborate more on what it takes to prepare your posing and stage performance for show day in part 3 of my new 10 part series, "10 Tips For Your First Prep."

Want to chat about the episodes with other listeners? Search for the group called “The ‘Everything Else’ in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders!” And come join the conversation.

Additional Resources:
-Getting ready for an OCB show and want to learn how to pose? Register for the next virtual posing clinic at http://www.learntopose.com/ocb

-Getting ready for a NPC show and want to learn how to pose? Register for the next virtual posing clinic at http://www.learntopose.com/npc
-Ready for the next level? Want to feel fully prepared on stage at your competition? Join my weekly posing classes at http://www.weeklyposing.com
-Justing starting to learn how to pose? Come to my beginner posing class on Sundays on Zoom (called Posing Mechaincs)! http://www.weeklyposing.com
-FREE posing tutorials for Figure, Bikini, Wellness, and Men's Physique competitors at www.learntopose.com
-FREE ebook “5 Things Every Bodybuilding and Fitness Competitor Needs To Know Before Preparing For A Show” at www.eeinbb.com
-Grab your “My Own Motivation” tank top at shop.killitwithdrive.com
-Want to WIN your next competition? I can help! Learn more at: www.posingwinsshows.com

Key Takeaways:
*Posing is an add-on service (3:08)
*Watching Posing tutorials vs creating the poses yourself (4:30)
*Standards in bodybuilding versus other sports (6:00)
*Four common posing and stage presence skills people want to learn and an estimated timeline on how long it takes to achieve these goals (7:20)
*Upcoming posing clinics (11:45)

--Transcript--

Welcome back guys! Today is part 3 of my new series called 10 Tips for your first prep and it’s all about the #1 thing you need to do on stage on show day…and that is to pose and perform in front of a judging panel for consideration on how well you meet the judging criteria for the category and organization.  Most people focus on the training and nutrition component to get their physique ready. And then underestimate the importance of presentation on show day.

When people first learn about bodybuilding and are encouraged to give it a try, it’s likely because they have a great physique or had a really great body transformation. 

It’s not because they randomly hit a front double bicep and someone said, man that front double was awesome man, you should give bodybuilding a try. Or you were standing in line at Starbucks holding a bikini back pose with your feet apart, glutes high, and ordering a triple grande mocha loca frappacino latte and someone tapped you on the shoulder and said, man you have amazing mobility in your lower back, you should give bikini competitions a try.

When you were introduced to bodybuilding it had nothing to do with posing and everything to do with your physique. In addition, if you are going to hire someone to help you prepare for a show, you are likely going to hire a nutrition and training coach first. Posing is the afterthought.  Your training and nutrition coach might offer some posing assistance too as an add on as well.

Like the last minute impulse purchase you made but didn’t know you needed after waiting for 15 minutes in the check out aisle at the TJ MAXX store. For me just the other day I grabbed socks that I didn’t know I needed. The time before it was chocolate with hazelnut pieces from Belgium that I never heard of but were freaking amazing and didn’t last long in my house.  I put the candy in a bowl on a table and every time I walked by the bowl there was a huge dent in the amount of candy in it. Apparently my husband liked them too. Who would’ve known. TJ Max check out aisles are full of things you didn’t know you needed.

So when you start in bodybuilding you are aware it’s a physique driven sport but when you look into things a little further you realize that there is a presentation component to bodybuilding too.  So you start looking up posing tutorials, you start following people that are actively competing, and you might even attend a show too.  Then it occurs too you that there is a lot more that goes into preparing for a show than just training and nutrition.  This epiphany occurs at different points for everyone.  I’ve had people attend my virtual posing clinics who are a week or two from their first show and think one clinic is going to be enough to prepare their posing and stage presence.

And then they learn that looking at a tutorial or a photo is a lot different than recreating the poses themselves.  Being able to move and shape our bodies in the unusual shapes required in bodybuilding poses requires a lot of mind body connection. Sometimes there are areas of our body that we don’t have a connection to, like for example, the lats. There are divisions that require you to have your lats engaged in a certain position in your poses. This engagement is absolutely critical. But sometimes people aren’t able to make this connection with their body and can’t recreate the pose. I always say there are two reasons people aren’t engaging their lats in their poses.

One is a simple fix and requires a specific execution style that they so far learned backwards. And the second requires a literal mind body connection change. In my 12 years of teaching men and women how to pose, the #1 most common reason people started coming to me was for this one thing, to engage the lats. I had some students back in the day nickname me the lat whisperer. I have it down to a science now and if you don’t have lat engagement it takes about 2-3 weeks to get it. And then after that it’s all about improving the engagement.  If you are showing up to a posing clinic a week or two before your first show and you are one of those people that needs to build a mind body connection to lat engagement, you are not going to be prepared on show day. Plain and simple. But now you know better for the next show.

Things like this happen because no one emphasized to you the importance of learning how to pose. Posing was an add on to the service you were given so it is perceived as being of less importance. You wouldn’t find this in any other professional sport. Football or baseball there are different coaches for different aspects of the game. The needs of a linebacker are different than the needs of a quarterback.  The needs of a pitcher are different than the needs of a catcher. There are different coaches that specialize in these different positions of the game because the level of competition is that much fiercer in these sports. Every little detail and skill can make or break you even being considered to be on a team. 

In bodybuilding, the stakes aren’t as high as they are in other sports. In bodybuilding when you win a pro card the only thing most people earn are the opportunity to spend more money to compete. Even as a pro you pay entry fees to compete.  In other professional sports you get paid to play. In bodybuilding you might get some free supplements or become an affiliate for a company you purchase products from versus in other professional sports you can earn major endorsement deal opportunities.  You have to be that top 1% in the bodybuilding industry with a million followers to get any paid endorsement deals. And you don’t even have to compete to get these endorsements if you have the following and industry reach. 

When the stakes aren’t as high, the standards aren’t as high.  In bodybuilding posing, which is the #1 most important thing you have to do on show day, it is still an add-on service for many coaches.  Which means you will learn the basics, but you won’t learn how to be great.  You will learn average skills. 

My students learn skills from basic to advanced and there is an order in which they learn these skills. Let’s take four example goals that students have come to me with and I’ll break down the timeline on how to achieve these goals.

In fact, I’ll take four of the most common reasons people have stated they are attending my virtual posing clinics. I ask every person that attends my clinics why they are there and here are four of the common answers and an estimated amount of time it will take to learn the proper skills to achieve the goal.

First one: I don’t want to look like an idiot on stage

Well, you are at my clinic so you are already not going to look like an idiot. So BOOM done.

Second one:  I don’t know how to make the poses look flattering on me.  No matter if you are a bikini competitor, classic physique, figure, wellness, women’s physique, men’s physique, or bodybuilder, you will learn the poses for your category and proper execution that day of my clinic.  That is step one. Making them look flattering requires more practice and refinement and that happens at my weekly classes just by coming to them and practicing with the rest of the students on a consistent basis. You can do a lot in 4 weeks, but a good 8 weeks of practice will help you feel much more comfortable in your poses. And then to become really good, you need consistent practice year round, like what we do in my weekly virtual posing classes, where you build upon what you already know and learn more advanced skills.

Third reason people say they come to my clinics: I don’t know how to transition from pose to pose and make it look flowy and natural. The first thing you need to do is learn the proper execution of the poses first and stop focusing on all the fancy stuff right away. When building a house, you pour the foundation first, don’t you?  Learning the basics on poses is building your foundation first.  Learning improper execution of poses in the beginning is like building a foundation that cracks right away. Take the time to learn the poses with proper execution.  Only when you are confident and consistently doing the poses correctly, only then start to focus on the transitions. You can learn the footwork pretty quickly so don’t stress about it.

Most of my students laugh and joke with me when I show them how simple the footwork really is with my signature style of teaching footwork. Transitions are less complicated than you think. Plus, making the poses look flowy and natural also comes with more consistent practice.  Give yourself 8 weeks minimum of structured practice to get confident at posing and moving in and out of the poses.  Get through your first show.  And then keep going so you can learn some more advanced skills for your next show.  You will be good your first year of competing, but you will be unrecognizable on stage in your second year of competing from learning and practicing more things.

And finally, the last reason people say they come to my clinic is: I want to win and earn my pro card.  If you really want to earn your pro card and actually be competitive as a pro then your journey to the stage is going to be different than the average person.  Students who come to me to learn to pose and be a stand out on stage, need 8 weeks minimum for a posing overhaul.  However, someone with only 8 weeks is going to be provided a different path of skill development than someone who comes to me 6+ months out from show and wants to be undeniable. 

I can do a complete posing overhaul in 8 weeks, but with more time, you’re gonna learn more skills, and skills build upon skills, and it is only with time do skills become engraved in you to become exceptional. One of my students has been in my virtual Classes for 10 months.  She competed in the bodybuilding division a couple weeks ago on a world stage and her individual posing routine was so captivating, she had people coming up to her after the show at the hotel wanting to take pictures with her.  There were hundreds of people that competed at that show but SHE was the stand out. That didn’t happen from 8 weeks, that happened from 10 months. 

So in summary, you can never start too early when it comes to learning how to pose. Most people underestimate how long it really takes to become good at posing. Many of my students tell me that they wished the started sooner. If your show is in the spring starting to learn how to pose NOW is an emergency. If your show is summer or fall next year, starting now will ensure that you build a proper posing foundation and have enough time to build some of your own unique style and personality on stage. If you are a pro, you should never stop practicing and learning new things. When you stop practicing posing, just like when you take time off from exercise, you will get rusty and out of shape, so plan accordingly.

Alright guys, I hope this episode sets your expectations up a little better on when and how to learn how to pose before a show. If you are an ocb or npc competitor I have virtual posing clinics coming up that you should attend. The ocb one is an official one and they run monthly.  The next one is this Saturday. Go to learntopose.com/ocb for info and register. The next virtual NPC clinic also runs monthly and the next one is the following Saturday. Go to learntopose.com/npc for info and to register for that one. You can also just go to learntopose.com where I have free posing tutorials, info on my clinics, and keep scrolling and you will find my weekly virtual posing classes too.

Thanks for listening! I’ll be back again soon with another weekly gathering episode I did with my husband vassilios followed by part 4 of this series of 10 tips for your first prep. Talk soon