Danny Hester talks about the rapid decline of bodybuilding posing in the sport and makes his pick for the top 3 best posers in the world.
Danny Hester is well known for not only being the first Classic Olympia champion – but for also bringing back truly classic bodybuilding posing to the stage. Known for passionate and evocative posing routines even before the Classic Physique division, Hester is one of the last few competitors who bring art to posing routines. And that’s part of the problem, Hester believes that today’s bodybuilders don’t put enough effort into posing beyond the mandatories. In our latest GI Exclusive interview, Danny Hester talks the decline of posing in bodybuilding and makes his picks for the top 3 best posers in the sport.
The conversation surrounding bodybuilding posing routines has been around for years. This is mostly due to many believing that the art of posing has declined in the sport. Certainly, posing is still important on a base level in bodybuilding. How you present yourself in the mandatory poses can have a vast effect on how your muscle is seen by the judges. Technically, if a superior bodybuilder doesn’t pose well, he can actually look worse than a less superior physique. It’s all in the presentation.
But there’s also an art to bodybuilding posing. How does a competitor put together and flow between each mandatory pose? What song is chosen? What does that evoke in a competitors routine? These are all factors that once held much more weight in earlier eras. At least, that’s what Danny Hester thinks. But he’s not not alone. Fans and other athletes have made the same criticism.
Danny Hester’s signature pose from the Classic Mr. Olympia (above).
So what are some examples of superior bodybuilding posing routines? We asked Danny Hester to make his picks for the top 3 posers in bodybuilding currently competing today. He struggled to stay focused on an answer – and mostly brought up competitors from the past. The most recent athlete from the past mentioned was Kai Greene. Though he’s still in amazing shape, he is no longer competing. But his posing routines were stuff of legend. Danny Hester doesn’t prefer that kind of style of posing – but admits that it brings more passion and art than most competitors today.
You can check out the rest of the athletes Danny Hester fondly reflects on in our latest GI Exclusive interview segment above!
