Understood, thanks for continuing to follow along.
@ Thoughts
Glad I could wake you up!
On a serious note, dang, tried the rear knee into the hamstring idea before, very hard to get the hang of.
Any pointers?
@ ebomb
Thanks for the feedback.
It will be a priority for me to get a video up relatively soon of me doing the mandatories.
I’ve practiced them, but just now, reading your feedback, I realize that I haven’t practiced them enough. I practice my posing routine nightly, but I have only practiced the mandatories a few times in the last month. Time to get serious about the mandatories.
Along with the knee-smash-hamstring thing, you’ll find a lot of subtle variations and positions to better show your physique if you dedicate some time each day to posing in front of a mirror. I know it sounds narcissistic (sp?! -lol), but you won’t have a mirror onstage, and you’ve got to nail each pose as perfectly as possible.
Also, Big-E is right about focusing more on your mandatories. I’ve never heard of any show that actually awards any merit to the posing routines. Heck, in the INBF/WNBF unless you make the top 5, you don’t even get to do your posing routine.
I understand, not narcissistic, just practical when you plan on getting on stage.
Point taken, mandatories will be my main focus. I am pretty comfortable with my night show routine currently. I’ll put that on cruise control, maybe practice once a week and focus on hitting the mandatories and quarter turns nightly.
I’ve seen competitors do it before. Sometimes it works better for you, sometimes not. When I screwed around with it a while back, I thought it made my overall leg thickness look better. Until I was really closer to the contest and the conditioning really came in. Then I just decided to go with the traditional method and not worry about it.
Personally, I don’t like the placement of the guy in the video’s hands. I held my clasped hands lower by my hips in my first show thinking that it allowed me to show ‘more’ (ie., my abs, intercostals etc), but it actually just made me look smaller, and hunched over. Besides, look at those empty spaces under both of this guy’s arms when he assumes the pose. Doesn’t look very dense and thick to me. My current approach (been using this since '10) is intended to make me look larger, thicker, and more imposing in this staple shot that is always asked for. When you try to show everything with every pose, you end up not showing off your strengths to their best effects IMO.
I will play around with it as well to see which one makes me look better.
Regarding the “knee into hamstring” idea, as I practice I think I am starting to get the hang of it, still awkward, but there is some hope for me, lol.
I appreciate your feedback about the hand placement on the video. I wasn’t too fond of the lower placement either. But otherwise, his video’s have seemed decent to me.
Another question:
During prejudging, I am assuming they call out various poses, do you then assume a front relaxed position between poses?
Tested strength levels since I’ve been training light/explosive with the HFS.
Hit a PR on bench and squat
Bench
285x3
Squat
315x7
Nothing to right home about, I am not a strong individual, but the important thing is making sure I am gaining or maintaining strength while I cut down. So, I was pleased to hit two PR’s. Let’s me know I am heading in the right direction.
Pretty happy with this considering lower back was a bit tired from yesterday’s bench and squat PR’s. Not to mention I did CT’s prowler leg protocol yesterday afternoon after my regular workout…and did some sled sprints. So my legs weren’t exactly fresh. I’d like to think I am good for 10 reps. Form was still solid on the 8th rep, no grinding, no rounding of the lower back, but speed was slower and it was time to shut it down for the set.
Wow, my body was sore from the max rep attempts, but in a good way. No tendon/joint soreness, just good old DOMS.
E-mailed the promoter about advance tickets, he said I was the first one to order. Guess that means the seats for my family and friends should be awesome!
Did CT’s Prowler Leg Protocol last night (along with some upper body sled work).
It started snowing and didn’t stop the entire time I was dragging it (30 minutes in total). I got frustrated, not because I mind the snow, but rather, because the snow reduced the friction on the road and made my sled work slightly easier.
I had brought my sled to my son’s indoor soccer practice and worked out in the parking lot so I didn’t have access to extra weight once it got wet out. I had only packed exactly what I thought I would need.
Oh well, it’s not like it was easy, I still got a good workout.
Been practicing the mandatory and relaxed poses daily. It’s going fairly well. I will put on picture and/or video (most likely video) when I have time.
OK, took a video of me doing the mandatory and relaxed poses (actually I took two videos, first one I didn’t realize the camera angle and I completely cut off my shoulders and arms in the front and back double bicep, ha, ha).
One thing I realized (I think, correct me if I am wrong) was that I pulled my shoulder blades together in the rear relaxed pose. I need to spread the lats more.
Please give feedback.
It’s funny how lighting plays with you. I looked leaner in the last video (the night show practice video) which I filmed in my living room (higher ceiling, more overhead light) but less lean in this video (more light from the side, lower ceiling). It’s good to see the fat though, keeps me focused on the goal.
Layne Norton’s Peak Weak Posing article is where I read the advice to stagger the legs on the side relaxed.
What’s the forward lean for?
Oh man, that mashing the hamstring thing. I am trying I swear. It’s hard to do, especially because the hamstring you want to mash is up higher because the calf is spiked. I will keep trying. Also, will try to be more upright, thanks.
I’m trying to build from the ground up, but sometimes as I come up and contract upper body muscles, I lose a bit of focus on the legs.
I really appreciate all the input.
@ Colin
Glad you and BBB think I look lean at this point, all I saw was chub in that video (I’m being a bit dramatic of course). : )
Tim, you’re looking in real good condition. Keep pushing even if you think you’re ahead of schedule.
As far as your posing, I’ll agree and disagree with some of BBB’s points:
In the Front and Rear relaxed, you should make yourself look as wide as possible. Flare your lats. This holds true for Front/Rear Double Bi as well.
Legs in Front and Rear relaxed look locked. For front poses, I think you should keep a slight bend in the knee and try to spread the ground. For rear poses, try to pull the floor together.
For side relaxed, I keep my legs staggered like you did in the video. I prefer it that way and if you mash your legs together, it makes them look bigger. However, I twist my upper body more towards the judges to make myself appear larger.
Side Chest/Tri: Mash your back knee into your front hamstring. I know it’s hard but keep practicing. I also “sit down” on my legs a bit more, so give that a try.
It’s going to take a lot of practice to feel comfortable with your posing. I saw that Layne Norton video and thought it was alright. You should take a look at the Posing section from Skip Hill’s Longevity DVD offered free online. It’s over an hour of how to pose and really taught me a lot.
We can give you tons of tips, but what might help best is going to a posing class as well. I went to one that Joe Franco offered for free in NJ. Heck, if you’re near NYC I wouldn’t mind working out together and going through some poses.
Got it, makes sense, from what I’ve read, the bend in the legs greats a lower body V-shape (albeit, upside down) for a total body x-frame.
I think I like the staggered better, maybe next time I post pictures or video I will do both so everyone can compare.
I will keep trying. I actually sat lower in previous pictures if you check out the “mock” contest thread. I was experimenting with standing taller. I will probably go with whatever pose allows me to mash the hamstrings the easiest since that is difficult for me.
I searched and found the Skip Hill video and will be watching that this week, thanks for the tip.
Unfortunately I’m no where near NYC, but if I ever am. I’d hit love to work out. If you are ever near Pittsburgh, same goes to you.
Had a sore throat on Friday, didn’t think anything of it. A single morning of sore throat and I generally attribute it to sleeping with my mouth gaping open or nasal dranage, etc.
However, sore throat again on Saturday morning left me thinking I was beginning to get a cold. So I turned to this article:
I did the hydrogen peroxide in the ears and also began taking additional vitamin C. Saturday was my day off so I rested (well, kind of, I took my boys sled riding, so let’s say ACTIVE rest).
Took additional Vitamin C on Sunday and had a deadlift workout.
Monday morning I felt fine as can be. That meant a lot to me, because usually when I am starting to get sick, a deadlift day will put the nail in the coffin so to speak and knock me out.
I felt a little sore throat again this morning, but I can hopefully attribute that to being out in the cold and rain all day yesterday in Washington DC.
If this protocol works, i.e. either shuts the cold down, shortens its duration, or lessens its intensity, I will be very excited.
It’s funny how lighting plays with you. I looked leaner in the last video (the night show practice video) which I filmed in my living room (higher ceiling, more overhead light) but less lean in this video (more light from the side, lower ceiling). It’s good to see the fat though, keeps me focused on the goal.[/quote]
Looking good, man.
All I know about posing I’ve learned from my own trial and error, so I can’t really contribute like these other guys can. Although they did mention some things that also occured to me, so maybe I know more than I really know. Not that it matters, I’m not getting on a stage. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
Anyway…regarding your comment on lighting (I take a lot of shit over at the Indigo section because I have a little basement nook where I’ve really optimized the lighting): I agree that seeing the fat can be a good thing.
If you think you are lean enough, go to a department store and try on some clothes in their fitting rooms. They seem to have arrived at a formula for lighting and mirrors that adds about 10 pounds of pure fat to any physique.