CRAIG PRODUCTIONS LLC

Alright athletes, you are now 6 weeks out from the Ironman…YES, just 6 weeks! It’s interesting how we bodybuilders live our lives in terms of how many weeks out we are from the show. At 6 weeks out, your show prep should be very well under way. Training and diet are on track, you’re cranking out your cardio, you’ve got your posing suits or trunks ordered, and getting all the little details taken care of. Question is, how much are you devoting to your presentation onstage? Are you practicing your posing at this point? Where is your focus…on your quarter turns and mandatory poses, or more on selecting your music and getting the choreography down for your free posing routine? Another question is have you “learned” to pose?

As a competitor and trainer, the advice I give the most to new athletes and even seasoned athletes is to hire someone to teach you to pose. It is money well spent, and you won’t regret investing the time and money. Von Ray Johnson, a familiar face to all of us at our regional shows and long time NPC judge told me a long time ago (way back in 1989 when I did my first show) how important presentation is, and how judges look at your stage presence. His comments and advice stuck with me all of these years, and I try to share the importance of that advice. It’s fine to look at videos and pictures to learn posing, but honestly there’s nothing like having an experienced coach/athlete help you learn the poses properly. They become your mirror and can critique you – to improve your posing and stage presence. My husband Dan and I “tag team” with our athletes’ on their posing sessions. We drill them through their quarter turns and mandatory poses,spend additional time on teaching them to transition through poses and “flow”, and work together choreographing routines to music that “suits” the competitor, and presents the physique in the best “light.”

We always start our clients on their posing no later than 8 weeks out from the show. If you’re “green” and have no experience with posing at all, you may want to start even sooner. Check around with other competitors and get references on who you can work with for posing. I recommend you spend at least an hour to an hour and a half per week with your posing coach. Find a coach that will have you pose without the mirrors. They will teach you to “feel” your poses and better prepare you for the stage – where your mirrors are the judges and the audience. For “homework” Dan and I have our athletes’ practice their quarter turns and mandatories every day, in addition to 8 minutes of “transition posing” and practicing their routine. Our expectation is that our athlete will show up to their appointment ready to show us what they have practiced. We continue to spend the entire time drilling them over and over again, and perfecting the posing and routine. Critiquing and finessing the posing continues right up until the show.

So if you haven’t incorporated posing practice as part of your contest prep regimen, and your training & cardio yet…start NOW! At six weeks out, you can still practice your way to being polished onstage and having excellent stage presence.

For more information about contest prep contact me through: www.gerridavis.com

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