Prep Before Prep: Posing at Home
Today I'm introducing the first phase of my bikini journey before I hire a coach: Prep before Prep. This first post is going to be all about posing at home! Helpful videos linked
Introducing, the Prep before Prep Series: What you can do before you get a coach! Like I have mentioned in my first post, I really want to knock out bit of debt before getting to work with a coach. However, if this is not your case, dear reader, get a coach ASAP as possible! The longer you’re with a coach, the better.
But let’s say you want to educate yourself more about bodybuilding and the bikini world before next year. This series will help you with somethings that can really set you up for success by the time you are ready to work with a coach and flip the switch into starting prep. This would include things like learning through podcasts, going to shows, reading body building articles, optimizing training on your own, etc.
I also want to preface with this: DO NOT REPLACE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS FOR A POSING COACH!!! An experienced posing coach will catch things things you can improve on that you can’t. You also don’t want to learn anything incorrectly.
But without further adieu: today we’re focusing on getting your first pair of heels, and what you can do with them even before you get a posing coach.
Get used to your heels
Imitate and Copy (learn the dance)
Go to a free seminar (or find a free stream or YouTube)
Get used to your heels
One of the first things I did this year was buy my heels! Since I am a first time competitor, I decided to not order the popular Shoe Fairy competition heels, as they are over $100 per pair (shipping included). I got a great pair of clear heels on Amazon for just under $50.
I do love a good heel in my day-to-day life, but all of the heels that I am used to wearing are very chunky heels or are wedges. Competition heels typically have a much smaller heel base and take a lot more time getting used to.
Not to mention, the straps and “covers” of the heels are made of uncomfortable plastic. I don’t care if they’re from The Shoe Fairy or not - the plastic will dig into your feet and they are uncomfortable to some degree ESPECIALLY when breaking them in. Wearing your shoes a lot with socks is going to help mold the plastic to your foot overtime while you break them in.
I came across this amazing beginner’s video on How to Walk in Heels. This will show you some great basic drills to do every day to get used to your heels so you can grow confident, comfortable, and familiar with wearing these stilts.
Wear more heels in your day to day, too! The more comfortable you are standing in heels, the more ready you are to jump right into posing with a coach.
Imitate and Copy (learn the dance)
I’ve always seen posing as a dance. There’s a beautiful choreography to a woman’s posing routine. Being comfortable and confident in your posing practice will be a great determination for where you place in a competition. But let’s not jump that far ahead quite yet.
I currently don’t have a coach yet. But I am eager to at least learn some vocabulary and train my eye when I watch other competitors do their routine. I am hoping this will create smoother communication when I am ready to speak with my coach and get us started on the same foot (pun intended).
One of my favorite competitors to watch is the ever-famous Ashley Kaltwasser! I could watch her posing routine on Instagram a million times, but there’s no way I can dissect what she’s doing, why she’s doing it, etc. Find some YouTube videos you can follow to at least learn the steps to the dance.
Both of the videos below are Ashley and Coach Adam walking the viewer through front posing and transitions. You can apply these to nearly any bikini competitor you look up to! Once these tools are on your belt, you can look for these transitions, steps, and movements when you watch your favorite athlete or try to apply your own style.
I am currently imitating and copying what I see in videos both with and without heels on. I know I am not going to do anything right the first few months, but at least I will have a reference for what my coach will ask of me.
Go to a free seminar (or YouTube)
I think it’d be so cool to be a fly on the wall and watch someone else learn a posing routine. You can get so much information that a how-to video wouldn’t be able to explain. Perhaps the person learning is making the same beginner mistakes you are, as is in my case….I honestly still don’t know what I’m doing. Making those adjustments and having that hands on learning will come with coaching.
But until then, see if you can go to a free posing seminar. I personally don’t know of any free posing seminars in my city that I can go to, so I found these two videos from Mind Pump TV of a first time bikini competitor and her mentor. There’s some amazing little nuggets of advice in here!
First Time Bikini Competitor Advice
Posing with A Pro - First Time Bikini Prep
TAKE NOTES when you watch these videos! I have already watched these videos twice through; once so I can take notes and once again so I can pose with her. There’s a study out there somewhere that said that writing when you read or watch something will help you retain the information better. Why not apply that same knowledge to posing?
I have been practicing anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour a day with either my heels or posing this week. I challenge you to practice at least 15 minutes a day walking in your heels and 15 minutes learning posing transitions. You have your homework! Git after it!