ICN Wellness Posing

Posing Coach - Nat Kitney

Ms Wellness is for athletes and competitors who display more muscle mass in the hips glutes and thighs. With ICN Wellness Posing your upper body must still display development but not to the degree and thickness of your lower body. As a competitor you must have a flat and toned midsection but enough body fat to avoid muscle separation. As a Wellness athlete you are also judged on overall beauty, stage presence and confidence. Wellness is all about showcasing the lowest strength that you have in your physique.

CONDITIONING & BODY FAT

As a Wellness athlete you should display muscle separation by tone, however muscle separation by striation is not suitable for wellness but seen in fitness and figure models. You must have a lean midsection. You are required to be very close to having muscle separation, however it shouldn’t be much at all. Your body fat and conditioning should usually sit somewhere between the bikini and sports model category.

SYMMETRY & BALANCE

As a wellness competitor your lower body should overpower your upper body in regards to muscle mass and development. However it does not have to be a massive in balance in symmetry. Judges will still be looking for development in the upper body through the delts and Lats. Although you must always display that you are definitely stronger in the lower body hips, glutes and thighs.

PRESENTATION

Presentation is an aspect that needs to be taken into consideration for wellness as well as within all the model categories for example

bikini

Swimsuit

Sports

Fitness

LEARN ICN WELLNESS POSING

FRONT POSE

You must have both feet on the front line and push your hip to the side. Be sure to tilt your hips slightly to display your glutes in the front on position. Your upper body must have symmetry from side to side in shoulder development, however you should display and in balance in symmetry from upper to lower. Therefore you should not over pose your upper body or over activate your lats and delts.

In your front pose you should not show muscle separation throughout your quadriceps

Aim to show shape and tone but not striations as seen in fitness models or figure

When Posing showcase your strengths and hide your weaknesses

Learn with your posing coach how to switch on and off your quadricep muscles to show activation or if needed to soften them. This is an important part of posing to suit the division criteria to be soft/hard enough for the category

SIDE POSE

Side pose for wellness you must have your front leg straight and your back leg bent. Feet still quite close together but wide enough to showcase your calf for muscle at the rear. The wellness side pose is all about exposing the front quad and your glutes. Judges want to see the dimension of your hamstring and your quadriceps. Insure that you do not stand to front on hiding your hamstring in the side pose. The same as your front pose you do not want to pose the shoulders very wide, therefore meaning minimal lat activation. The reason is wellness is all about focusing on the strength of your lower body. Your physique be complimented by a nice strong upper but must not be overpowered the lower body.

Common side pose mistakes include:

Having your feet too far apart
Having the front leg too soft and bent creating a squatting look.

BACK POSE

Back pose for ICN Wellness you must leave your hair covering your back, where as all other categories in ICN you remove your hair. Leaving your hair on your back accentuates the strength of your hips, glutes, quads and hamstrings. Be sure to turn your toes out slightly to accentuate the quad sweep. One hand must remain on the hip and one hand must be down by the side without covering the leg. And insure that you do not bend over to fight in your back pose. The reason is you completely lose your symmetry and the judges of need to see your upper body also.

ARE CERTAIN POSES MANDATORY?

At the moment as of July 2022 poses for ICN Wellness are not mandatory. However this is just as the category is establishing. A further decision will be made once the first season has been completed for ICN Wellness. For now competitors will not be marked down if doing different poses from what is currently suggested here. However these are your preferred poses for ICN wellness so it is highly recommended that you stick to these suggested poses

KNOW YOUR DIVISION

Bikini Category you should have tone without muscle separation.

Wellness you must have tone without muscle separation but you have a stronger lower half

Sports model where you have tone with muscle separation and symmetry from top to bottom

Fitness Models you are the latest of all the model divisions with a complete balance in symmetry from upper to lower and muscle separation throughout all muscle groups is required