The Surprising Benefits of Bodybuilding Posing (for everyone!)
Posing practice with https://www.instagram.com/keith_torrey/
For many people, the thought of posing half naked in front of a mirror, camera, or (and especially) audience sounds terrifying. But there are a few surprising benefits that even the most casual gym goers can get from it.
Posing will enhance your workouts
If you are lifting to improve muscle mass than you’ve probably heard of the term “mind-muscle-connection” before. This concept describes the conscious portion of lifting weights. That is to say being mentally aware of your muscles as they work to contract and relax and using this mental awareness to target the correct muscles for each lift. Improving mind-muscle-connection yields better performance and results in the gym and perhaps one of the best ways to improve this outside of the gym is posing practice.
When posing you are aiming to arrange your muscles in a specific way with varying degrees of activation/flexing in each to achieve the pose. This requires concentration and excellent mind-muscle-connection to achieve. Posing in front of a mirror or with a posing coach teaches to you get into poses quicker and more accurately until hitting them becomes almost second nature. This type of practice will develop the connections between your mind and your muscles in a way that spills over to workouts.
If you’re having a hard time connecting with one of your muscles (e.g. any muscle on the back of your body, such as hamstrings, tends to be a tough one for most people) than posing practice can help bring mental awareness to it.
Posing is a fun skill
If you’ve ever tried to pose before than you know that it is not as easy as it looks! Many people’s first attempt at posing are stiff, awkward, and don’t look at all right. And that’s okay! I’ve coached multiple people with posing and I’ve yet to encounter an athlete that didn’t get better over time. Posing really is a skill and practice makes perfect. It’s a unique skill to have and really fun when you get the hang of it! It’s also a great way to cool off after a workout (and get some good gym selfies as well!).
It’s hard!
Posing is hard work! But anything worth doing should be a little challenging. Not only is it hard to pose with accuracy and finesse, but it’s a workout all on its own. Holding poses and transitioning from one to the next without breaks will get your heartbeat up just as good as any other form of cardio. After a solid posing session I’m usually drenched in sweat! It’s more fun than slogging away on a treadmill so find a mirror, turn up the music, and get that cardio in.
Broscience reasons to do some posing practice
If you’re not yet convinced that posing practice is a great thing to do even if you never plan to step on a bodybuilding stage, here are some more… ‘anecdotal’ reasons to do it (in other words I have no proof that these reasons are true, but they’re claimed by enough people that there’s good reason to believe it).
1. Posing helps develop muscle maturity (that drier, harder, more developed look that seasoned bodybuilders have).
2. Posing can help develop your abs (your core is active in almost every pose)
3. Posing can improve self image. Posing might seem like a vain thing to do, but it’s actually quite an honest way of assessing your overall progress and physique. Of course there can be differences in lighting and whatnot, but overall when you hit a pose what you see is what you get. It’s a great way to reveal weaknesses and strengths!
If you are a KJB Fitness client and interested in doing some posing practice, ask your coach! It’s easy to do over a video call and well worth it.