Male Bodybuilder Competitions

Body building competitions are where body builders get to see if all of their hard work sacrifice and dedication will pay off. There are several organizations that sanction body building competitions and the largest is the National Physique Committee (NPC). Body building competitions through the NPC are also the only way for body builders to get to the ultimate goal for most body builders which is the International Federation of Body Builders (IFBB) competitions.

The two rules to compete in the NPC sanctioned body building competition include being a United States Citizen and being a member in good standing with the NPC since body builders will be representing the United States.

For body builders who make it to the IFBB competitions there are three rounds of equal importance in the competition. Contestants are placed with the placement system in the pre qualifying scoring round. There will be seven judges and the highest and lowest score are discarded, with the remaining five scores added together. The lowest score wins and the rest are placed accordingly.

If there are more than fifteen competitors in a weight class an elimination round is done. Within groups of eight, contestants will do the relaxed quarter turns and the eight mandatory poses so the judges can rate the overall level of competition. The top 15 will then go on the next round of competition but placement does not occur in the elimination round.

The next phase of the competition involves the top fifteen competitors posing for sixty seconds with no music while judges look for how well a body builder presents his physique. Be aware if you aren’t already that the “moon pose” is banned and you will be disqualified if you use it. Another insider tip- it is important to show your confidence when you are at any level of the competition so don’t lose it here.

Competitors then go on to the next stage of competition the mandatory comparison round where they perform the eight mandatory poses in groups of three to five while the judges look for balance, size symmetry and muscularity in comparison to the group they are in.

The mandatory eight poses are as follows:

• FRONT DOUBLE BICEP

• FRONT LAT SPREAD

• SIDE CHEST POSE (either side)

• SIDE TRICEP EXTENSION (either side)

• BACK DOUBLE BICEP

• BACK LAT SPREAD

• ABDOMINAL POSE

• MOST MUSCULAR

The final stage of the competition will allow contestants to poise individually for 90 seconds to their own music. Here’s an insiders tip that will help you when you have reached this stage. Make sure your music is judge friendly. The last thing you want to do after getting this far is play music that the judge finds inappropriate and lose points. At this point if there are a lot of competitors still in the running the posing may be limited to the top five at the judge’s discretion.

One winner from each of the five weight classes will then go on to compete in the overall pose down. The head judge will guide each contestant through a series of quarter turns and mandatory poses followed by thirty seconds of free posing with background music. The judges will then tally up their scores and the lowest score will be the overall winner of the competition.

The Arnold Classic is the biggest prize package for body builders in the IFBB competitions with a top prize of $130,000, a Hummer and an Audemars Piguet watch. This body building competition rivals Mr. Olympia for prestige and popularity with the winner separated by a slim one to two points from second place. The Arnold Classic has become one of the most high profile events for body builders with 17,000 athletes competing in the forty different sporting events that take place in the course of the three day event that continues to grow in size and popularity every year.