Nothing more annoying than some guy looking at himself in the mirror. It just looks stupid, especially in the gym. Pose when you get home, mirrors aren’t that expensive.
Do NOT tell this guy to pose in the locker room.
The atmosphere in there is bad enough without some numnuts in his underwear flexing and posing while everybody is trying to change.
If you don’t want to look like a chump and need to practice posing, maybe wait until after your entire workout and then find a spot that is well out of the way – then practice your actual routine.
This would look like you are practicing your routine, instead of enjoying the look of your muscles in their pumped state like any other egotistical meathead.
This is all giving the benefit of the doubt with respect to competitive level.
dumb posers…if you’re gonna be posing do it in private, it looks stupid.
I would laugh at you.
Prof, it looks like a good crowd, how come they aren’t posing already?
[quote]vroom wrote:
Prof, it looks like a good crowd, how come they aren’t posing already?[/quote]
She is.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
She is.[/quote]
I noticed that… I’ve also noticed my breakfast is trying to escape!
I think it depends on two things. The gym you work out at and the level of fitness you’re at. When I was a member at Powerhouse they had a seperate room where you could pose and nobody could see you. I’m now at Lifetime and I could see it getting annoying because most people there are not hard core. Your fitness level would really have to be there to pull this off. I rarely see it these days, but when I do I can’t stand it.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Massif wrote:
It depends on the individual. If people look at you when you are posing and mentally go “Daaaaaaammmmmmnnnnn”, then you are allowed to pose.
If they look at you and think “what the fuck is chicken legs over there doing?” then you probably shouldn’t do it.
I think it works like that everywhere. No one is going to look funny at the 260lbs guy who is ripped to shreds if he poses other than in terms of being awestruck. My guess is, if someone has friends that think it is funny that he poses, he probably does not look all that muscular.[/quote]
My friend’s laugh b/c they always say…“Wow…you’ve got alot of confidence to be doing that with so many people around.”
Trust me bro…I’m pretty damn muscular and at about 8% I’m getting pretty ripped
It’s an important part of your workout to pose if you have a competition coming up soon. You have to know which moves and weights produce the best pump, you have to constantly tweak your form to take advantage of what you’ve been building up or cutting down to display. When you are practicing posing, the mirror is a tool for getting feedback, not a source of vanity. More often than not, you see things that are not right and need work than things that are so wonderful you must show them off. Sometimes you see flaws you must figure out how best to hide. But if you don’t have a competition any time soon, you shouldn’t be posing.
It’s kinda like someone singing at work: it makes you a little uncomfortable, but you really don’t mind too much if the person has a good voice. However, there are a lot of folks out there that think they can sing that cannot. In those cases you just think it’s too bad that someone doesn’t have the balls to tell them the truth.
I appreciate all the comments…
I’ve been competing for about 4 years and this will be my 8th show (I’m 24 right now).
When I pose, I never try and distract anyone from their workout. In fact, I try and find a spot in the gym that is pretty vacant, so that I do not distract anyone.
As far as looking narcissistic, it is no surprise to me that the “average gym goer” would get that impression. It’s funny because many of the people who felt that way, had a completely different impression when they actually talked to me. They realized I’m not a “meathead” who’s full of himself and trying to show off.
I pose quite a bit at home too, and I have mirrors. To me, the time in the gym is more valuable becuase my body is so beaten up b/n sets that it makes the practice that much more valuable. Try being on stage and holding a flexed position for 45 mins during mandatories. Anyone who’s competed knows what I’m saying…
Alot of people like to mock people who say they “compete”. Alot of guys talk the talk but never actually step on stage. I’m not that guy. I’ve been on stage 7 times in 3 different states. I don’t take steroids and I’m not overly huge, or razor sharp, but I’ve taken my physique to a new level each time I compete (which is alot having been a FFB in Shug’s words) so when I pose I know what the hell I’m doing.
Now, I’m off to the gym so I can distract the middle-aged housewife on the adductor machine by doing lat spreads 3 feet in front of her.
Bango
[quote]Ladyjaine wrote:
It’s an important part of your workout to pose if you have a competition coming up soon. You have to know which moves and weights produce the best pump, you have to constantly tweak your form to take advantage of what you’ve been building up or cutting down to display. When you are practicing posing, the mirror is a tool for getting feedback, not a source of vanity. More often than not, you see things that are not right and need work than things that are so wonderful you must show them off. Sometimes you see flaws you must figure out how best to hide. But if you don’t have a competition any time soon, you shouldn’t be posing.[/quote]
That’s how I feel. I do not pose in the gym when I’m not in training for a competition (outside of a rare lat spread at the end of a session with by buddies). The mirror is an extremely important tool, and was even more important when I first started and really had no idea how to pose. Now that I’ve become more comfortable in all my poses, there are times where I won’t even pose in front of a mirror in the gym…because I don’t need the mirror. I’ll just hit the pose immediately after I drop the weights. Besides, there are no mirrors on stage…so this is good practice too
[quote]gojira wrote:
It’s kinda like someone singing at work: it makes you a little uncomfortable, but you really don’t mind too much if the person has a good voice. However, there are a lot of folks out there that think they can sing that cannot. In those cases you just think it’s too bad that someone doesn’t have the balls to tell them the truth.
[/quote]
Hahaha…so true. Well, I’d like to believe that I have earned the right to pose, so to speak, by my physique alone. Random people come up to me all the time and make comments on how my body is coming along, I’m getting ripped, etc. Let’s be honest, it always feels good to get some positive feedback.
And if you do it for that reason, i definetly do not think there is anything wrong with that. Just have some courtesy and try to pose in such a manner it does not affect the next guy’s work out.
I personally do not compete but I may hit a few poses for the following reasons. It allows me to see if a body part I think is lagging is catching up and I am getting the pump I am looking for in a particular area.
The other reason I occassionally pose that I have not yet seen in this thread is that a pose really allows you to effectively squeeze the blood into one particular area and feed the muscle. For example, after a serious of heavy chest excercises I may hit a chest pose and hold it there for about 10-15 secs almost as a finishing excercise.
Any thoughts on that?
[quote]Ladyjaine wrote:
It’s an important part of your workout to pose if you have a competition coming up soon. You have to know which moves and weights produce the best pump, you have to constantly tweak your form to take advantage of what you’ve been building up or cutting down to display. When you are practicing posing, the mirror is a tool for getting feedback, not a source of vanity. More often than not, you see things that are not right and need work than things that are so wonderful you must show them off. Sometimes you see flaws you must figure out how best to hide. But if you don’t have a competition any time soon, you shouldn’t be posing.[/quote]
[quote]jimmybango wrote:
Alot of people like to mock people who say they “compete”. Alot of guys talk the talk but never actually step on stage. I’m not that guy. [/quote]
No, people mock those who don’t even look like they lift but think that simply because they “competed” that this sets them above any other bodybuilder, even those much bigger than they are.
[quote]Amsterdam Animal wrote:
And if you do it for that reason, i definetly do not think there is anything wrong with that. Just have some courtesy and try to pose in such a manner it does not affect the next guy’s work out.
I personally do not compete but I may hit a few poses for the following reasons. It allows me to see if a body part I think is lagging is catching up and I am getting the pump I am looking for in a particular area.
The other reason I occassionally pose that I have not yet seen in this thread is that a pose really allows you to effectively squeeze the blood into one particular area and feed the muscle. For example, after a serious of heavy chest excercises I may hit a chest pose and hold it there for about 10-15 secs almost as a finishing excercise.
Any thoughts on that?
Ladyjaine wrote:
It’s an important part of your workout to pose if you have a competition coming up soon. You have to know which moves and weights produce the best pump, you have to constantly tweak your form to take advantage of what you’ve been building up or cutting down to display. When you are practicing posing, the mirror is a tool for getting feedback, not a source of vanity. More often than not, you see things that are not right and need work than things that are so wonderful you must show them off. Sometimes you see flaws you must figure out how best to hide. But if you don’t have a competition any time soon, you shouldn’t be posing.
[/quote]
That’s a great point. Anyone who hasn’t tried posing/flexing/squeezing whatever you want to call it b/n sets, give it a try. Your intensity will sky rocket and your pump will increase exponentially. Not to mention you’ll be on a fast track to huge and ripped in no time…
It may look alittle stupid to people at first, but if you got it you might as well flex it. If you are competing then I would have to say you’ve got it. Besides flexing after your sets is good for you anyway, I do it all the time but I work out in my basement and the only one who sees me is my wife. Who says I look too bubbly anyway, but if I was in the gym I would still flex after sets. I wouldn’t jump off the bench rip my shirt off and scream Oooh Yeeeeaaaayahh!! Or make it too apparent like I was showing off, but I do like to see how my muscles are pumping up with each set(see Pumping Iron as Arnold said it best).
So I wouldn’t worry about it, if someone is competing I think it’s cool to see them just to get an idea what competing size looks like. But if you are out there in your posing trunks…thats a different story. LOL!