SHOULD YOU GET JUDGES FEEDBACK?

If you’re in your first season you may not be aware that some federations will offer you free, or in some cases paid, feedback. This would be comments from the judges on what they thought your strong points were and what they feel you can improve on to do better next time around.

This feedback is often given via email upon request or is given via an Instagram message once you’ve submitted photos to the relevant person/page. As helpful as this can be to some of those athletes that are coaching themselves it isn’t always needed for those who have a coach. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to explain whether you should get judges feedback and the pros/cons of doing so.

Week to week differences

The first thing I’d recommend is to get a good understanding of how a bodybuilding show is judged beforehand. To find out, click here. Why? Let’s say you got beat by 1 point, but your feedback was to get a little bit leaner. It may have been a super close decision that could have gone either way, but the judges had to pick a winner. If you take that feedback on board as absolute, you go ahead and get leaner, it makes your physique look a little worse, then the rest of the season doesn’t go as planned. This is the one issue I have with first time competitors solely relying on judge’s feedback on their placing.

The criteria for every single class is very specific, there are boundary lines that the judges can push some days and not push other days. It is really at their discretion on the day and all you can do is present the best version of you possible. Therefore, if you are bang on the criteria, that’s all you can do. Someone may show up on the day who just looks better that little bit sharper, whilst another person might show up who looks best a little softer as it gives them a nice bubbly shape.

With that being said, just because one weekend the judges went for a sharper look doesn’t mean you need to get sharper for the rest of the season. You could have showed up the weekend after where the judges preferred that slightly bubblier look and won the overall.

This is where some first competitors get confused. One week a certain look is rewarded, the next week a slightly different look is rewarded. This confusion only stems from not knowing the criteria and being unsure of what is the best look for them as an individual. I can say this unequivocally because this was me many moons ago in the early days of my coaching career.

Submission process

There are a couple federations where you may have to submit your photos a week or two after the show and await feedback based on a couple pictures. What can often be the drawback with this is you are only getting feedback from a snapshot or two of how you looked on stage. In those snapshots you might be breathing out, transitioning, or not quite hitting the pose the way you usually do. Therefore, the feedback you receive may not be a true reflection of how you looked on the day. It’s also worth noting that how you look on the day and in person is drastically different to a couple of snapshots. I have hundreds of photos from when I competed, and I can tell you that I only like about four of them!

The judges also have hundreds of other athletes to get through and often do it for free. What this can do is cause a little bit of copy and paste job which isn’t always spot on for the individual. Some of the best/quickest feedback is from PCA (Physique Culture Association) who will typically email competitors within a day or two of the show, which they do free of charge.

What should you do instead?

Your coach should be with you at your show and be able to give you direct feedback on your result. I make a point of going to each and every single one of my clients shows and it's for good reason. In my first ever competition my coach wasn’t there, I didn’t place, I didn’t understand why, and I ended up resenting the sport for quite some time thereafter. I made a promise to myself that I never wanted any of my clients to feel that way.

If my coach had been there to explain the result to me, I’d have been able to process it and understand it much better but that wasn’t the case. Nowadays I understand the criteria better and will always be right there when a client comes off stage to congratulate them but also to explain the result.  I will always be open and honest whether we win, place or just miss out and what we need to do to come back better.

The one place I do feel judges feedback is appropriate and needed is in IFBB/NPC pro qualifiers, particularly classes such as bikini which can be rewarded differently show to show,  with different head judge rewarding a different look. When you have athletes of that calibre that are within striking distance of winning a pro card it is 100% worthwhile of hanging around, chatting to the judges, and seeing what you need to do to grab the card next time around.

In summary, judges feedback can be given freely to athletes after they compete or within a couple of weeks. The judges may reward a different look week to week and you should not take that feedback as what you need to do for the rest of your season. There can be some problems with the submission process and often the photos you submit isn’t reflective of how you looked on the day. Your coach should be with you at your show and will be able to explain the result win or lose. The one place I do feel judges feedback is invaluable is IFBB/NPC pro qualifiers.

Vaughan Wilson Bsc Hons