Posing Information

Mandatory Poses: In the standing relaxed round, the individual classes shall stand together in a line facing the judges, and will be in a relaxed position. The head judge will call for a series of simultaneous quarter turns to the competitors' right. The judges will look for the competitors' degree of perfection for perfect symmetry, overall muscular development as each muscle group relates to the total appearance, as well as the degree of body fat and water retention. The most outstanding competitor receives a score of one (1).

Note: All pictures below, depicting mandatory poses, are acceptable for the NANBF pre-judging. Please click here for a PDF file of this page.

Side to side, are the left side and right side proportionate to one another. Standing on balls of feet gripping floor with toes. Elbows out, hips back slightly, chest held high. Are the quads in proportion to the hamstrings. Are the calves in proportion to the upper leg. Both feet on floor, elbow turned in, looking straight ahead, no twisting and no bringing right shoulder around.

Top to bottom. Is the lower body in proportion to the upper body. Is there an evenness of development. Stay tight from top to bottom. Keep the fingers tucked under. Is the tricep in proportion to the bicep. Is the back in proportion to the chest. Are the arms in proportion to the legs. Chest held high, keep abs vacuumed, and stay in position, don't move around or flex.

In the mandatory posing round, the class shall remain in the line up facing the judges. The head judge shall call out each pose on the official list of mandatory poses. Judges may shift the order of the line up for the comparisons. The official mandatory pose list is arranged to follow the series of quarter turns to the competitors' right. The judges will view the competitors body part by body part, and will look for the degree of hardness, the muscle separation and definition or cuts, the striations and relationship of each body part to its adjacent components. At the end of the mandatory poses round, each judge should define a summation of each competitors total ranking as to the degree of perfection of the development of each body part in comparison to all other competitors in the class. The most outstanding competitor receives a score of one (1).

FRONT DOUBLE BICEP: Fingers tucked under, position elbows even with shoulders or slightly above. Lats down and out to keep width. Feet positioned heels together toes pointed at 45 degrees, one foot to side or one foot forward.

FRONT LAT SPREAD: Feet heels together, toes pointed out at 45 degrees, hips slightly back, start with thumbs in middle of back, draw hands around pulling out lats. Keep chest high and abs vacuumed. Don't roll shoulders forward.

SIDE CHEST: Set leg by spiking calf. Bring right arm into bicep with palm up. Grasp wrist of right arm with left hand. Bring left shoulder around slightly squeezing the chest. Don't bring shoulder too far around. Keep upper and lower body tight. Keep chest high and abs vacuumed. Bend right hand back and out.

SIDE TRICEP: Bring right foot around exposing hamstring and calf. Expose tricep bringing palm down of left hand and pulling up with right hand. Slightly rotate at waist to show all judges. Keep abs vacuumed.

REAR DOUBLE BICEP: Right leg extended back, spike calf. Hit biceps. elbows parallel or slightly higher than shoulders. Push down on lats, roll shoulders slightly forward bring out the lat flare. Fingers tucked under.

REAR LAT SPREAD: Extend left leg back, spiking the calf. Start with thumbs in center of lower back and bring the hands slowly around waist bringing out the lat flare. Keep chest high and abs vacuumed. Do not bring shoulders up. Don't bring elbows and shoulders too far forward or you will loose the width and your back will look rounded.

REAR DOUBLE CALF RAISE: Set your upper body in the pose that is most comfortable for you. Point toes straight ahead. Raise up on your toes two or three times pumping the calves. Hold on the third time staying high on your toes. Keep both the upper body and lower body tight.

HANDS BEHIND HEAD ABDOMINAL: Set lower body by bringing leg of your choice forward and flexing. While bringing hands up and behind head, slowly fill your lungs with air. With lungs full of air, hands behind head and chest fully expanded, slowly release the air pulling slightly forward on head and slightly crunching down on the abs. Tighten abs and release all the air. Don't bend too far forward and create skin folds.

LEFT LEG FORWARD FLEX & ROTATE: Set upper body by placing your hands on hips. Flare lats to keep width and roll shoulders slightly forward to squeeze chest. Extend leg keeping it flexed and tight while slowly rotating so judges can see all angles.

RIGHT LEG FORWARD FLEX & ROTATE: Same as with the left leg. Remember to keep upper body tight. Look at the judges and not your leg.

CRAB MOST MUSCULAR: Set lower body by extending leg of your choice. Bring the traps up and forward, squeeze the chest and flex the biceps all in one motion. set the pose and hold it. Don't bend too far forward. HANDS ON HIPS MOST MUSCULAR: Mandatory for women and an optional pose for men. Set lower body by extending and flexing leg of your choice. Place hands high on hips with fingers pointed down. Slide hands down along hips just a bit as you set the pose. At same time, flare lats and roll shoulders slightly forward squeezing the chest.

The individual free style posing round is designed for the competitor to highlight his/her most favorable development in the fashion of their favorite poses and should be choreographed to music of the competitors choosing. Music should be in good taste. In the free style posing round, each competitor takes the stage alone and performs for a period of 60 to 90 seconds at the discretion of the promoter. NANBF national events limit free style posing to 60 seconds. Mixed pairs competitors may pose free style for up to three minutes. The judges will look for the competitors ability to display his/her most favorable part as well as the ability to favorably present his/her weak parts.

HANDS ON HIPS MOST MUSCULAR: Mandatory for women and an optional pose for men. Set lower body by extending and flexing leg of your choice. Place hands high on hips with fingers pointed down. Slide hands down along hips just a bit as you set the pose. At same time, flare lats and roll shoulders slightly forward squeezing the chest.

INTERCOSTAL WITH TWISTED CRUNCH: Set leg by spiking calf. Place right hand on left side of head and left hand on left hip. Twist at the waist and at the same time as you come around to the judges, crunch down to flex serratus/intercostal.

HAMSTRING: In this case it is the right hamstring pose. Set the upper body in a pose that you are comfortable with. While maintaining your balance, flex and pump the hamstring.

Mandatory Figure Poses: Here are some mandatory figure poses. FRONT POSE: The Front should have the competitor facing front with hands near their side and the heels together. Toes can angle out slightly. Hand should remain at the side. SIDE POSE: Hips should face the side of the stage, upperbody can have a slight twist enough to show the rear shoulder. Eyes and toes and should face the side of the stage. Both feet must be flat on the floor. Hand should extend away from the body. The head judge can correct over exaggeration. REAR POSE: Same as the front except the competitor is facing the rear or back of stage. Competitor may want to move hair as not to block the judges view of the competitor's back.

Optional Figure Poses: FIGURE WALK: Here are some optional figure poses that can be used for individual figure walking routines. In this routine the competitor will do a figure stage walk in both the prejudging and the night show. The competitor will do poses to accent their physique and enhance their presentation. The NANBF Figure competitors will walk in a T for the figure walk and will use 5 poses for this round.

The figure walk will start in the middle of the back of the stage. They will walk to the front of the stage and turn left (without stopping) and walk to the end of the stage for a pose. Competitors will then walk across the stage to the other end, without stopping in the middle, and once they reach the other side of the stage, they will stop and pose. They will then walk to the center of the stage, stop and pose. Tthis is the only time the competitor stops in the center of the stage. Finally the competitor will walk to the back of the stage and exit.

Promoters will have each of the 4 stops clearly marked on the stage for ease of convience for each competitor.