Benefits of posing?

[hailtotheking]

I always thought of posing as purely in the domain of bodybuilders, with practically no benefit to any other athletes. However, i was reading Chris Thibs 'The Black Book of Training Secrets', and came across this interesting snippet from it:

Quote

Getting lean and muscular through posing
I vaguely remember being a frail 14 years old boy almost lost in a gym, hearing a big
bodybuilder shouting, “Hey guys, today is mirror training.” For these guys, who were
competitive bodybuilders, “mirror training,” or posing, was important because it could
influence how they would do in their show.
One thing I noticed is that when they were practicing their posing they would seem to
increase their muscle density and their degree of leanness at a much faster rate than usual.
This intrigued me to no end. Now I understand that posing practice actually involves a lot
of muscle control and maximal static and quasi-static muscle contractions. While not
sufficient to stimulate hypertrophy gains, this type of training can increase energy
expenditure as well as improve neural activation of the muscles (thus creating more tonus
at rest).
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t recommend devoting a training day to posing in the gym
(freaks!). However, when your goal is to get very lean and dense, including a weekly
posing session lasting 30-45 minutes (preferably at home when you’re alone!) can really
make a difference in your appearance. I would recommend holding each of the
mandatory bodybuilding poses (there’s 7 of them, 8 if you count the “most muscular”)
for 60 seconds and repeating the cycle 2 or 3 times. Concentrate on fully contracting the
muscles at all times, the contraction must be maximal.
This advice may sound vain or narcissist, but it’s actually grounded in science! Muscle
control really is improved and so is resting muscle tonus. In turns out that this will make
you look denser, more muscular, and will actually help you with your lifting
performance. Now, who’s up for some “mirror training?”

It raises the interesting question as to wether or not posing has benefits for athletes in general, particularly in terms of improved muscle control and firing.

I remember reading that Bruce Lee was very fond of tensing his muscles repeatedly throughout the day whenever it occured to him, even on the sly when he was attending lectures at university! He felt it improved efficiency in muscular control and power, and he was, pound for pound, one of the strongest people last century.

[simon m]

Quote

I always thought of posing as purely in the domain of bodybuilders, with practically no benefit to any other athletes. However, i was reading Chris Thibs 'The Black Book of Training Secrets', and came across this interesting snippet from it:



It raises the interesting question as to wether or not posing has benefits for athletes in general, particularly in terms of improved muscle control and firing.

I remember reading that Bruce Lee was very fond of tensing his muscles repeatedly throughout the day whenever it occured to him, even on the sly when he was attending lectures at university! He felt it improved efficiency in muscular control and power, and he was, pound for pound, one of the strongest people last century.

I agree that clenching muscles and thereby improving neural efficiency will no doubt improve composition and control.

No sure about the Bruce statement as I wasn't aware that he did much in the way of strength training. In fact from what little I know, he used very light weights with high reps.

[Luffers]

Quote

It raises the interesting question as to wether or not posing has benefits for athletes in general, particularly in terms of improved muscle control and firing.

Well thats answered in the article HTTK !!

I might give this a go, not sure if I could keep it up for 30-45 mins though, I think just doing it for 20 mins would be challenging.

[hailtotheking]

Simon M - If you read the book 'Expressing the Human Body' which is a well researched book on Bruce Lee's physical training methods by John Little (one of the best respected researchers on Lee in the world), you will see that Bruce Lee used to weight train 3-4 times a week, usually in the 8-10 rep range, with mostly compound and olympic lifts. He was a pioneer for modern strength training methods in martial arts. Many of his big American friends, and Dan Inosanto, who initially was a highly rated American Football player who held national records in sprint and combine tests, observed him performing incredible feats of strength which are discussed in the book.

Luffers - I tried cycling between 30 second poses for 10 minutes, and the sweat was pouring off me. Leg posing is particularly difficult i found.

[dixie normus]

Clearly flexing and tensing muscles will have benefits. However for 45 minutes? CT is doing the usual pseudo guru thing and probably laughing at the thought of people going at it for 45 minutes.

If it said stand in front of the mirror after getting out of the shower and stike some poses for a couple of minutes then I would say great. Most people probably do this anyway!

[Bobby-bandito]

Quote

If it said stand in front of the mirror after getting out of the shower and stike some poses for a couple of minutes then I would say great. Most people probably do this anyway!

guilty

[mxd]

Finally an excuse!!!

[cheef]

i think psoing is a great thing mainly for mind muscle connection but to look at bodyparts neede to be brought up etc

[stronglikewood]

I used to pose a lot when I first started out and I think the benefit for a beginner is the mind-muscle connection which is useful for feeling the chest and lats especially.

[xirokx]

interesting