NPC AND IFBB PRO LEAGUE CRITERIA FOR JUDGING FEMALE PHYSIQUES

[Old Surehand]

BIKINI COMPETITOR JUDGING CRITERIA VIDEO
https://streamable.com/9lm80



        Bikini athletes should display-

    A foundation of muscle which gives shape to the female body
    Full round glutes with a slight separation between the hamstring and glute area

    Small amount of roundness in the delts

    Conditioned Core
    Overall look- hair, makeup, suit, and tan

        Bikini athletes should NOT display –
    Muscular density seen in a figure physique
    Squared glutes

    Muscle separation seen in figure competitors

    Graininess
    Striations anywhere

[Old Surehand]

WOMEN’S FIGURE COMPETITOR JUDGING CRITERIA VIDEO
https://streamable.com/2wz8q

   
        Figure athletes should display-
An overall balance of muscular development which includes rounded delts, sweep to the quads, back depth, and width – emphasis is on balance and symmetry
    Small amount of muscle separation

    A nice “V” taper

    Tight glutes with separation between the hamstring and glute area
    Balance between the upper and lower body

        Figure athletes should NOT display-
       Striations or graininess
    Muscularity thickness associated with Women’s Physique

[Old Surehand]

WOMEN’S PHYSIQUE COMPETITOR JUDGING CRITERIA VIDEO
https://streamable.com/mpaim

   
        Women’s Physique athletes should display-

    More muscular density than seen in figure
    Clear muscle separation – small amount of striations is acceptable

    Emphasis is on muscular development with full muscle bellies

    Muscular development should be balanced between upper and lower body

        Women’s Physique athletes should NOT display –

    An overly striated physique
    Graininess associated with female bodybuilding

[Old Surehand]

Criteria for Judging Female Physiques (all divisions):

    Muscularity – the amount of muscle will vary between the divisions
    Condition- will vary depending on the division
    Symmetry and Balance
    Presentation (Posing)

I'm sharing this info because there are times when we wonder what these judges are looking for after we see placings in some of these shows.

[Old Surehand]

Everything varies from judge to judge and from show to show.

1) People see/feel things differently on different days.

2) Every single competitor lineup is different and all other factors aside, judges can only evaluate what is in front of them on a given day. That said, judges are humans who DO have memories, meaning that a veteran may sometimes be compared to *her* best by a couple of judges on a panel while the newcomer is being compared to the field.

I was hoping you would weigh in on this topic. Thanks.

[oriander2000]

It's too relative like FemFlexUSA said. I've seen Physique competitors that belong to Bodybuilding, Figure competitors that should be in Physique...and these type of bodies in Bikini.


  Remember, this woman competed in Bikini.

[Timmon]

Very interesting. Thanks OldSurehand, FemFlexUSA and oriander2000. It is good to have this topic on the forum.

Like you all, it has been fascinating seeing how all divisions shift over time. As Oriander2000 observes, bikini now getting very figure like and muscular. Watch for former FBB and Physique start Nathalie Falk making her debut in Bikini soon, and although no where near her condition as an FBB at Arnold 2011 and years after, she still retains significant muscle size for what I think of as Bikini.

This article is about Pro League. Look at Elite, and it is different again. Physique is softer , no ab pose, etc. And Elite clearly do not like Physique, and rumour has it that Woman's Physique's future in Elite is being reviewed.

And what FemFlexUSA says about past track record influencing judging, this certainly happened very recently in Elite Physique, where a new Pro lost our to last place when the other 3 were more experienced and recent title winners. The new fast track judjing may be responsible for this, where prejudge, pose down and routine all occur in the same session. No evening or night show.
This conveyor belt approach to judging gives an athlete no chance to regroup and excel later in the day, it all happens at once, and judges must also tire. It gets a big show over quickly, and so is a crowd pleaser, but has it's pitfalls over the old process as well as advantages.

[Old Surehand]

I'm sharing this info because there are times when we wonder what these judges are looking for after we see placings in some of these shows.

Obvious joke: Some of us will still wonder what the judges were looking for. Seriously though, it's good to know what the differences are supposed to be.
I happen to think the philosophy is pretty flawed, conditioning should be slightly deemphasized and muscle size should be much more important than it seemingly is for determining who goes where, ie having ladies in the physique division who are 5'5" and 145 pounds in contest shape is silly. My .02 anyway, clearly others disagree.

You're preaching to the choir. You're responding to a person who thinks the whole contest system is a joke that reeks of politics. I posted the revamped judging criteria with an edge of sarcasm. I'm only in this for the muscle. I don't even care about the politics and pageantry of this sport anymore. I just don't bother to get into these long debates and pontifications about what's wrong with this sport, that end up wasting bandwidth and going nowhere.