THE FIGURE CRITERIA
THE FIGURE CRITERIA
If you have never competed before you might be aware of the term ‘figure girl’ and think that it is simply one class. Well, if you were only discussing the IFBB/NPC federation you would be correct. However, what you might not be aware of is that for most other federations here within the United Kingdom the figure class is split into three different categories: toned, athletic and trained.
What the judges are looking for across the three different categories has its similarities but also has some key differences that you should be aware of. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to explain what the judges will be looking for in toned, athletic and trained figure.
toned figure
Across each category judges will be looking to see an ‘X frame’. What does that mean exactly? Athletes will have a good level of muscular development: wide lats, popping delts, sweeping quads and round full glutes. Meaning that whatever pose the athlete is in, they have what appears to be an ‘X’ shape to their physique. Note here that this is very different from the hourglass shape they want in the bikini class.
In terms of muscular development toned figure would be the smallest out of the three categories. Therefore, if you are just starting out your competitive journey this is more than likely where you would start.
Toned figure girls will have a good level of conditioning but athletes will have a level of ‘smoothness’ to the muscle. Meaning that the judges are not looking to see any striations, visible splits in the quads or vascularity anywhere. Instead, what they are looking for in all poses is to see is nice round full muscle bellies. There will be a slight boxing of the glutes in most cases and the beginnings of separation in glute/hamstring tie but there shouldn’t be any lines visible in your glutes.
Toned figure girls will also need to show a strong level of femininity, have good presentation and strong stage presence.
ATHLETIC FIGURE
As you move into the athletic category what you will see is a step up from toned. There is an increased level of muscular development meaning that the girls are simply bigger. Wider lats, bigger shoulders, a great sweep in the quads and bigger/rounder glutes and hamstrings.
You will also typically see a greater level of conditioning in these girls as well. This means that athletes will show slight striations across the body, there will be the beginnings of splits in the quads, boxed glutes, hamstrings beginning to be dug out and they may have a small level of vascularity across the body.
Athletic figure girls will also need to show a good level of femininity, have good presentation and strong stage presence.
TRAINED FIGURE
As you move into the trained figure category you will see a further step up in terms of muscularity. Girls will have a wide/dense back, boulders for delts, big sweeping quads, big round glutes, and thick hamstrings. They will also typically have bigger arms than the two previous categories also.
Levels of conditioning will get more extreme as you move into this category. Athletes will show significant striations across the body, show good separations in their quads, have fully boxed glutes with hamstrings on show, some small lines in glutes can be visible and a good degree of vascularity across the body.
Trained figure girls will need to show a good level of femininity (albeit perhaps lesser than athletic girls), have good presentation and strong stage presence.
As a side note there are federations that run a master’s category which is often athletes either 35-45+ years old and a beginners category – for those athletes in their first year of competing. Master’s competitors will typically be leaner than toned figure girls and be very similar to athletic girls. Beginners will often be subject to that of their category. i.e beginner toned figure or beginner athletic figure.
In summary, across all figure categories judges are looking to see an ‘X frame’. As you move up each category you see a trend that girls get bigger and leaner. Each category will be required to show a good level of presentation and a strong stage presence. The one thing that will change between the categories is that with each step up there will be less femininity. This is often due to the prolonged usage of PEDs over the years and the overall size and development of athletes. Some federations may also offer masters and beginners categories.
Vaughan Wilson Bsc Hons