Time to get your game face on once again. I am sure many of you are curious as to how we are going to judge this EBC. A lot of hard work has gone into setting up the judging criteria to make this an awesome event for all those who enter. So without further ado, here are the criteria you will be judged on. In this spirit of this EBC you can see the biggies here are Definition/vascularity (it is a cutter after all) and Overall change (this is also a body challenge) so these are obviously going to be a major focus when judging. We feel the setup of these criteria really should open up the opportunity for anyone who brings their A-game for this event. This isn’t an event like a typical BB show where biggest ripped up mofo is the one who automatically wins it. This is our best attempt to make this EBC fair game for everyone. Technically, your biggest competitor here is going to be yourself.

The Criteria you will judged on

1) Mass (12.5% of total score)
2) Definition/vascularity (35% of total score)
3) Symmetry/Proportion (12.5% of total score)
4) Stage presence (5% of total score)
5) Overall change and improvement (35% of total score)

Here is a little background the criteria we will be judging

Mass

Pretty simple one here. The perception of muscular size. Fat doesn’t count as mass here.

Definition/Vascularity

Indicates the degree of muscularity brought about by the absence of subcutaneous body fat. This is a cutter so the more fat you strip off to show your striations, hardness and vascularity the better you will do. Big chunk of your scoring here so get as low as you can to score well.

Symmetry/Proportion:

Implies an even balance of muscular development in comparison to each muscle group. Theoretically, a "strong body part" can be just as detrimental as a "weak body part". Bodybuilders must strive for equal development between all muscle groups. Hopefully nobody will be suffering from CLS (Chicken leg syndrome)

Stage Presence:

This is a small component but yet I think it is important nonetheless. This Includes things such as posing performance (are you hitting the poses correctly) and other factors influencing general appearance such as skin tone, attire and your photos. Effective stage presentation is essential to display the physique to its maximum potential.

What do I mean by skin tone? Let’s face it; pasty white will not be your best look. A golden tan will highlight and show off your physique so much better. The striations will show, the separation will show, and the vascularity will show. All of this will be lost if you are pasty white. Along with proper skin tone goes with oiling up right. The right amount of oil will highlight those aspects even more but overdoing it will blur those out. You don’t have to tan in a booth, spray on tan and those types of things work just fine also.

I have already seen a lot questions on attire, so I will address it here also. You want to be wearing proper attire so that we can see all of your physique to judge it properly. You don’t want to be covered up. Wearing board shorts and tube socks will not bode well for you. I would highly advise some sort of BB trunks or classic posing shorts, hence these are designed to show all of the physique properly. For the women competitors, let’s leave the high heels off so everyone is flat footed.

Stage presence will also have to do with your pictures. Make sure there is proper lighting so we can actually see your physique. Try to minimize shadows. Use a good camera. Make sure the backdrop is uncluttered and not distracting. Remember if we can’t see it properly in your photos due to lighting or a shitty camera or whatever, you are not going to be judged properly.

Overall change and improvement

This is the Body Challenge aspect of the EBC and the other big component of your scoring. You are your biggest competitor here. This is where you will be pushing yourself to hopefully end up where you have never been before. I am expecting to see some significant changes from a lot of you.

Hopefully now you have a better understanding of the overall judging criteria so you can prepare accordingly. We as judges are not taking this lightly and wish all of you succeed in what you want to accomplish during this EBC.

Happy cutting!