Freak Fitness

WHAT DO THE JUDGES REALLY ASSESS?

At every bodybuilding show, there are always a few competitors who feel they deserved a higher placing. Many times, you see them moping around the lobby, looking for anyone to console them and hopefully provide an answer to the big question, “Why didn’t I win?” Friends, family, fellow gym members, teammates, coaches, and anyone else willing to offer an opinion will always come up with various reasons to make the competitor feel better. Quite often I’ve heard things like “All of the other guys were cranked up on tons of juice,” or “They only rewarded the skinny chicks with fake boobs,” or my personal favorite, “It was f#@%ing politics.” Even though these kinds of “answers” are meant to keep the blame away from the competitor, none of them truly address the real reasons why the competitor didn’t place higher.

So, I want to take this opportunity to help those competitors who are willing to be honest with themselves to make a real assessment of themselves using the following criteria that judges use, consciously or subconsciously, to determine who the best was that day.

Judges compare every competitor’s physical condition. This is an obvious one. In bodybuilding, the more muscle you have and the more defined you are, the more likely you are to place high. In bikini, how does your shape and tone compare to the other women in your class? If you’re too conditioned or too muscular, you will more likely be marked down. In disciplines such as figure and men’s physique, you have to have the right balance of both size and definition to be considered for a top spot. Unlike in bodybuilding, the biggest and most ripped figure or men’s physique competitor doesn’t necessarily win.

Finishing Touches
In all disciplines, judges assess each competitor’s posing and presentation, skin condition, skin tone and consistency of colour, suit/shorts fit and colour, hair, makeup, shoes, and jewelry. Even though you’re competing in a bodybuilding show, the beauty aspects (yes for both men and women) are being assessed and compared. Figure competitors, if your suit looks like your mom made it, this will affect your score. Bikini competitors, if you don’t smile and pose with confidence, you will be taken out of the running after your first pose. Men’s physique guys, if you have bad gyno, it’s time to take a break from the stage and get those eyesores removed.

Genetics, or the “It Factor”
This is the easiest element to see from a judge’s perspective, but it’s the most difficult element the competitor can admit to. Simply put, if it’s down to two bodybuilders of equal size and conditioning, it’s the bodybuilder who has the better structure (sometimes referred to as the “X-frame”) that will most often win. Or, in bikini, if one woman has more appealing facial beauty, more often than not she’s going to do better than others who don’t have a similar look even if they’re more conditioned. Makeup can only do so much, and this is a competition of physique and beauty. Thus, many times in a class of many well-prepared women, the more beautiful women will place higher.

As I hope you can see now, a lot of things are being assessed at once. And it’s never just one of these elements that will ensure you a win. It’s the ultimate balance of all of these that the judging panel takes into account to declare the winner on that day.

Now, after reading this and making an honest assessment of yourself when compared to the others in your class, was it really politics or can you see now the real reasons why you didn’t win?

For more insider info on the competitive side of the world, click here to read more from The Freak Maker!