Bikini bodybuilder Phoebe Hagan knows what it takes to compete in the sport’s most coveted contest. She is a two-time Bikini Olympia competitor, making her Olympia debut in 2022 to a seventh-place finish and returning in 2023 to an 11th-place rank. Given that, she knows what the judges look for at the top level and how their eye for certain posing techniques evolves over time.
Though Hagan took most of the competitive 2024 season off, in mid-December 2024, she shared her top five Bikini division posing tips for athletes planning to compete in 2025. As a posing coach
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1. Perfect the Basics
Hagan oftentimes sees athletes getting ahead of themselves when targeting details in their posing routines that are not the primary features of what judges care about. The meat and potatoes of a routine are the front pose, back pose, and transitions between poses.
I will die on this hill: less is more for posing.
—Phoebe Hagan
Mastering the fundamentals to effectively and accurately display your physique will offer far more mileage on the competitive scorecards than most other facets of posing, like confidence and personality on stage or gear color/bling.
2. Prioritize Practicing Stage Confidence
Once the first tip is secured, practicing stage confidence to ensure there are no jitters or other nerves that could interfere with your posing or otherwise cause distraction can be immensely helpful. This is different from practicing posing — get that down first.
Once the fundamentals are safe, how you perform those poses can level up your presence on stage and help fuel favor during comparisons.
3. Practice In Front Of & Next To People
Practicing posing in front of others exposes you to a competitive environment when many people’s eyes are on you, and judgment is swirling. By practicing in isolation, the variable of others’ energy can catch you off guard.
Hagan noticed a significant improvement in timing and confidence once she began practicing in front of more people during her training and preps. Likewise, posing next to other competitors can offer a feel for how to pose in tighter spaces, which more closely resembles what a pro contest is like.
4. Own Your Energy
It’s easy to match other competitors’ energy on stage. However, Hagan suggests that presenting on stage as anything other than your authentic self will detriment your overall performance.
If your inclination when posing leans sexy, sassy, bouncy, smiley, or anything else, embody it fully. Ignore the trends and be what feels and looks best for you.
5. Practice Sooner
Don’t wait until your prep to begin posing practice. Hagan recommends practicing posing as soon as you know your show day, even if your physique is likely to change significantly as the contest nears.
Get used to [posing] as soon as you can.
—Phoebe Hagan
Exposure to the positions of each pose and the transitions between them should be ingrained in your muscle memory so that you can focus more on the necessary details as the show nears and when you’re on stage.
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