THE CLASSIC CRITERIA

Classic bodybuilding and classic physique have become increasingly popular in recent years. In the U.K you can go to any regional qualifier and see 12-14 guys in each different height class. This increase in popularity has coincides with significant decrease in number of competitors in the open bodybuilding class.

I do feel that there are a lot of people out there that don’t know what the classic criteria is and what the judges are looking for. Many seeing it as the in-between mens physique and open bodybuilding classes when in reality, that is not the case. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to explain the classic criteria and discuss the differences between that and open bodybuilding.

CLASSIC CRITERIA

Judges will be looking for a good level of muscular development in the upper body: a big upper chest and capped delts, big arms and v tapered lats. They also want to see significant tissue development in the legs with sweeping quads, round glutes, and thick hamstrings. Athletes will show a good level of conditioning and display visible separations in the upper chest/delts, quads and often striated glutes.

Classic competitors will typically have a short torso, wide shoulder, often a high lat insertion and small waist. They will display great abdominal control and have an ability to vacuum. They will also have a certain ‘flow’ to their posing that will not be seen in any other class. In most amateur bodybuilding shows classic bodybuilding/physique will be split into three different height classes: short, medium and tall. Within the IFBB/NPC height classes range from A-D and there will be a weight limit that competitors cannot go above. Other amateur federations may not impose a weight limit within their height classes.

CLASSIC VS OPEN

When you read that, it’s obvious what the judges are looking for. However, due to misunderstanding of the criteria we often we see most classic line ups that have a lot of small open bodybuilders in them and just a handful of true classic guys.

Open bodybuilders will need to display good muscular development and conditioning like that in classic however there is one key difference in the two classes: the waist. Open bodybuilders will have quite a big, thick waist and it will typically be rectangular in nature. Whereas classic guys have a small waist and that great ability to vacuum.

However, with a lot of people seeing classic as the stepping stone between mens physique and open bodybuilding there will sometimes be shows where all 10-12 competitors on stage aren’t ‘classic’. They are then judged accordingly, someone in the crowd or on Instagram sees that, who isn’t really ‘classic’ either, and then decides they want to do it as well. And so, the cycle repeats itself.

CONSIDERATIONS

If you are more suited towards open bodybuilding but aren’t yet big enough, I’d strongly suggest waiting until you have the size to be competitive opposed to jumping in a class you aren’t suited too. If you are desperate to compete then why not try first timers bodybuilding, novice bodybuilding or even some of the beginner category offered by NMFUK and UKUP.

The reason I say this is because I competed in classic bodybuilding/classic physique in 2020-2021 and although I did incredibly well some shows, there was a couple where I was beat fair and square. At the time I did feel quite embarrassed by that however in hindsight, I was never really ‘classic’, just a small open guy.

In summary, the classic criteria has some similarities to the open bodybuilding class but with some distinct difference. Classic guys will have a small waist, short torso and big chest, arms, delts and legs. We do see a lot of classic line ups contain a lot of small open guys due to a misinterpretation of the criteria. Instead, I would suggest waiting to compete until your big enough or enter competitions with other options available to you in the bodybuilding class.

Vaughan Wilson Bsc Hons