How to Take Your Best Progress Photos

Poses for photos are gender and division specific.  Find the category below that best describes you, grab all the samples, and take your own photos using your best imitation of each pose.  Getting the highest quality photos possible is a huge key to success on this program – on the best weeks, changes will be subtle and if your photos are inconsistent then those changes will be impossible to see.

Main points to consider:

• ABSOLUTELY NO SELFIES under any circumstances.  Buy a cheap tripod, do not rely on outside help (you’ll be at the mercy of their schedule, and your check-in/photos will be late).  In lieu of a tripod, just find something waist level to place your phone on, prop it up and set the timer and let ‘er rip.
• Camera placement:  make sure I can see all of you including your feet, and don’t leave a ton of space above your head or below your feet.  Move the phone closer so you take up the whole frame.  Feel free to chop off your head if you like.  The camera should be at around waist height so as to not skew the perspective too badly.
• Use a black backdrop if you can.  Standing in the doorway of a lit room with the lights off behind you can emulate this.
• Do not stand directly under overhead lighting.  Ideally, avoid overhead lighting entirely – or stand about 6 feet behind an overhead light to avoid horrible shadows.
• In all photos you ever take, everything that the camera can see should be flexed.  Note that in the samples below the body may appear relaxed, it is absolutely not.  Flex everything you’ve got, isometrically, as hard as you can.
• Standardize the time you take photos.  Fasted first thing in the morning is typically your best bet.
• Finally, this post is a good read on WHY the posing is important (for competitors and non-competitors alike) and how to nail the quarter turns more effectively.

Check out the following video for additional tips – investing a little time to plan and think about this now will pay huge dividends down the road!

Women – non-competitors, figure, fitness, physique, and bodybuilding

• Front pose
• Side pose (do both sides)
• Back pose

Women – bikini division competitors

• Front pose
• Side pose (do both sides)
• Back pose
• Bikini division front pose
• Bikini division back pose

Men – non-competitors, bodybuilding

• Front pose
• Side pose (do both sides)
• Back pose

Men – men’s physique division competitors

• Front pose
• Side pose (do both sides)
• Back pose
• Men’s physique front pose
• Men’s physique back pose