Competitors Edge by Vanessa Prebyl

A Weekly Blog By Nationally Ranked Bikini Competitor Vanessa Prebyl

Hello to my readers!!!! Alright ladies, this week I would like to talk about the importance of practicing your poses.

First of all posing is YOUR FRIEND. You should WANT to practice your poses as much as possible. Thin about it, this is a part of the competition that you CAN control. You can make sure the judges are seeing the best angle of you and you are showing them all of your strong points. Posing allows a competitor to essentially "show off" their best assets. Please note, for ALL competitors posing is just as important as diet and workouts.

If you need help with your poses, I would recommend that you research past Pro contests and see which poses or styles work with your body and personality.

As for Bikini competitors posing is even more important when it comes to the competition and presentation as indicated by Sandy Williamson "The judges can only judge what is on stage and in front of them"

Also in Sandy's interview www.youtube.com/watch?v=scTnzy1sCUs.

Figure competitors may purchase a posing manual from Jenny Lynn at www.jennylynnfitness.com/eshop.html or from Gina Aliotti, Monica Brant, and Amy Peters who have posing sections as a part of their training DVD's.

I pose as much as I can. i also think of being in front of the judges and looking at each one of them while I hit my poses. I did just see on Shannon Dey's Facebook page that the Bombshell's headquarters has just put up a practice stage. I think that would be AWESOME to practice on!!! Think of that for a second, they are practicing on a full stage so that they are completely prepared for the stage and know exactly what their poses look like from the judges view points. What a smart idea! So guess what, that means I have to practice even harder to make up for not have a practice stage :-)

1. Presentation/Poise
a. Walk: be very comfortable in your heels. Tip:to look comfortable in those 5" crystal-clear heels....practice, practice, practice.
b. Poses: Hold that pose at least 5 seconds. Do not fidget or move around too much.
c. Turns: Try to turn and keeping your eyes on the judges as much as possible.
d. Hand placement: Tip: Find what works with YOUR body.
2. Personality: Many may feel that this should be under the heading Presentation; however, I noticed that the women that really thrived on stage had a great personality that you were able to see above their stage presence. Competitors such as Monique Minton light-up-the-stage with her AMAZING smile even when she was waiting on the side of the stage for her turn to pose. Another competitor to mention is Amanda Latona with her very relaxed and confident demeanor on stage. My eyes kept going back to these girls. Tip: Learn from these ladies' presentation any way you can :-)

If you ahve any questions please post a comment to this blog or feel free to email me at vanessaprebyl2000@yahoomail.com.

Quote of the Week:
"The entertainment is in the presentation"
-John McTiernan

Talk to you all next week,
-Vanessa