Men's Classic Physique Guidelines

Men's Classic Physique consists two parts: Group Comparisons and Individual Presentations. Competitors wear plain black spandex shorts (no branding or logos are permitted). Competitors must be age 16 or over. Competitors under 18 must have parental consent. Competitors cannot participate in any other categories at the same show. Athletes posing in an overtly sexual manner, doing anything on stage considered inappropriate for younger audiences or being disruptive to the show may be disqualified.

Judging Criteria

Judging for OCB Men's Classic Physique takes four elements into account: ample muscularity (size), good definition (leanness) but not to the extreme, symmetry, and presentation (ability to display development during posing in the group comparisons). The targeted look is a little less extreme than in Men’s Bodybuilding.

The Classic Physique shall display visible separation within the abdominal region, from top to bottom; Clean delineation between all three heads of the deltoids, triceps and biceps, clean lines between the quadriceps muscle groups and hamstrings with full shapely and symmetrical muscle bellies. The physique should NOT appear overly shredded, vascular, grainy, overly dense or thick but should display a balance between size and symmetry complemented by clear lines between all muscle groups without cross striated muscle groups as displayed in bodybuilding. The emphasis is on symmetry and this will take priority in judging rather than size or extreme conditioning.

Group Comparisons

Each class is brought to front center stage and is guided through a series of mandatory poses in two rounds – Symmetry and Muscularity. The proper form for most poses is slightly different than how they are done for the Bodybuilding category. Click on pose names to see examples of proper arm and hand styles that should be used, or view image examples above. Not performing poses in the manner specified may result in lower scoring from judges.

Mandatory Poses

Symmetry Round

Quarter turns: Front relaxed, Side relaxed, Rear relaxed

Muscularity Round:

Front double biceps
Side chest
Rear double biceps
Hands over head abdominals and thigh
Competitor's choice of any classic pose (some examples: Optional pose 1, Optional pose 2, or others of choice).

View a tutorial

Individual Presentations

Competitors individually perform a 60-second posing routine to music. The individual routine is not factored into scoring but does count toward consideration for Best Poser awards when offered. Competitors can use a mixture of any poses they choose.

Posing Trunks

Competitors wear plain black spandex shorts (no branding or logos are permitted, bodybuilding posing trunks are prohibited). Classic physique shorts should adequately cover the center portion of glutes from top to bottom, more specifically, we should not see the glutes touching. Sample posing trunks can be found here: Posing Trunks

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