Maybe they should learn to pose more like men!
By Bill Dobbins
In 1979, Lisa Lyon entered a bodybuilding competition in Los Angeles promoted by Gold’s Gym. This was one of the first such contests in the area, so nobody really knew what to expect. Not the judges, audience or the competitors. But this one small contest was to have a long-lasting effect on the future of bodybuilding for women.
This was not the first bodybuilding contest for women by any means. But the few events that had been held since 1977 had not really set any lasting precedents. In staging the "Best In The World" contests, George Snyder (who went on to promote the early Ms. Olympia contests and now owns the Ms. Galaxy title) demanded that the women appear on stage wearing high heels and not hit actual muscle poses.
The confusion as to how women should present themselves in bodybuilding contests was illustrated by the difference in the posing styles of Claudia Wilbourne and Lisa Lyon. Claudia’s posing routine was nothing more than a lot of straight muscle shots, exactly the kind of posing a young, amateur male bodybuilder might do. It showed her muscles, but it wasn’t very pretty. Lisa, on the other hand, invented her own style of presentation. She did a lot of very slow, graceful, elegant dance-like movements — punctuated by her own variations of basic muscle shots. And this routine was to become the foundation for how female bodybuilders would pose ever after. At least, if they had any idea what they were doing.
Of course, lots of women in those days hadn’t gotten with the program yet and were doing very unimaginative, basic muscle-pose routines. But the good ones caught on fast. Rachel McLish posed very elegantly. Carla Dunlap also posed well, except for a tendency to make up her routine on the spot rather than working it out and practicing it thoroughly in advance. All through the early 80s — although the women still didn’t have very much muscle — it was accepted that their posing routines were much more interesting to watch than those of the men.
Of course, things sometimes did tend to go to the extreme. For example, in her later defenses of the Ms. Olympia title, Cory Everson started doing posing routines that were actually dance numbers that had little to do with bodybuilding. Trying to photograph these routines felt like shooting skeet. She never stopped moving, never hit any actual poses. Even though the "free posing" round is supposed to be a physique round like any other, not one in which the routine is judged as a routine, Cory’s still managed to impress the judges sufficiently to win the shows.
There have been a number of outstanding posers over the years. Lenda Murray, for example. Yolanda Hughes. Suzan Kaminga. Ann-Maria Crooks. But in the last few years the quality of posing in women’s contests has rapidly gone downhill. Perhaps the emphasis on elaborate routines in Fitness Competition has given female bodybuilders the impression that effective presentation was no longer required of them. But if that’s what some think, they couldn’t be more wrong.
"I certainly have noticed that women’s posing has gotten a lot worse in the past few years," agrees Sandy Ranalli, who judges or acts as head-judge in both NPC and IFBB events. "One thing they do wrong, for instance," she explains, "is to hit too many basic, compulsory poses during their own posing routines. We’ve already seen those poses, all afternoon in prejudging and for years and years in one contest after another. If you really want to get the attention of the judges, hit muscle poses — but invent some kind of variation, do something different so that we have have something interesting to look at."
Of course, posing plays a different part in NPC and IFBB events. In NPC contests, competitors do a brief, one-minute routine without music during prejudging and then most of the rest of their placing will depend on what they look like being compared to other competitors while doing the mandatory poses. "You would think an amateur competitor would totally master the mandatories by the time he or she reached the national level," Sandy says, "but that’s not always true. Some don’t do them correctly or don’t hold them long enough. It’s a shame to do all that work and then throw it away because you don’t know how to properly do a back double-biceps pose."
In IFBB contests, prejudging consists of a (largely misnamed) "symmetry" round and then a compulsory posing round. In both the competitors are evaluated at on their own, and then in comparison to others on stage. But there are no individual posing routines in prejudging. All the posing routines are done in the finals, they are performed to music and they are an important part of the overall round-by-round score. It is at this level, in contests like the Jan Tana, the Ms. International and the Ms. Olympia that the posing has become so noticeably lacking.
"In an NPC show," explains Sandy Ranalli, "your overall demeanor and attitude on stage during prejudging counts for a lot, along with how well you execute the mandatory poses. You are not judged when you pose in the evening show. The contest is over at that point. But the judges, the audience, the magazine writers — as well as the television audience — are watching you and what kind of impression you make could influence how people think about you in the future."
"But if learning to pose well is advisable in NPC contests," she goes on, "it is critically important in the IFBB. That round is ONE THIRD of your total score! After all the years it takes to get to be a pro, and with all the preparation it takes to get in shape for a given contest — all that training and diet — why wouldn’t a serious competitor make sure she is able to do an appropriate, impressive posing routine? Why on earth not?"
But it happens. All too frequently. Some women pros get up and hit a predictable, boring set of familiar muscle-poses. Some don’t even do these properly. Or, worse, they start hip-hopping around the stage looking like dancing bears, trying to be "cute," and ending up appearing ridiculous. A few try to impress the judges with sexy, undulating "strippers" routines. Some perform choreography that has nothing to do with bodybuilding or showing the qualities of their physiques Lisa Lyon, what went wrong? Why have these women forgotten the example you set for them?
What is really ironic is that many of the men are posing much better than the women — to the degree that the women would do well to watch and learn from these male bodybuilders. Women pose like men? You bet — if the man is Flex Wheeler, or Milos Sarcev or maybe Vince Taylor. Flex and Milos both combine drama, grace and muscularity in their posing routines. And Vince demonstrates a continuously creative approach in which he never forgets he is also showing off the development of his physique.
Of course, in pointing out the sad stage of posing in female bodybuilding, there are always exceptions. Some female bodybuilders are excellent dancers and it looks great when they incorporate this ability into their individual routines. But there are a lot more who think they are good dancers than there are those who really are. Yolanda Hughes is teriffic on stage, but few women are going to be able to emulate moves that come from a decade or more of gymnastics training. No, the answer is simple — women should study the best male posing routines, learn from them, and then invent their own variations.
Here is a list of suggestions for how to pose to score the highest possible placing: