Bikini Competition for Beginners: What to Expect

Bikini competition for beginners: posing and the walk

Under the IFBB's rules, you perform four quarter turns: right, back, right, front.

• Front stance: one hand resting on the hip, one leg moved slightly to the side. Standing in a symmetrical straddle, feet apart, counts as incorrect.
• Back stance: facing the back of the stage without turning your upper body towards the judges.

In the finals, the IFBB uses an "I-walk": you walk to the centre of the stage, stop, and hold four positions of your choice, judged on how well you show your physique as you move, the elegance of your movement and your stage presence. The NPC uses a "model walk" instead: from a front pose you turn to the back, walk to the rear, pause, turn and walk back to the line.

Timings are set too: the NPC's published bikini rules allow up to 20 seconds for your individual front and back poses. The rules in this article are from the IFBB's rulebook and the NPC's published rules, as of 2026. Learn the version your federation uses, and check its current rules before you enter.

Practise from the start of prep, in your competition heels, and film yourself from the front. Walking well and holding a relaxed, confident front pose on low calories is harder than it looks. A posing coach or class can help you find the stance that suits your shape.

Suit, heels and tan

• Suit. The IFBB requires an opaque two-piece suit, with the bottom covering at least a third of the glutes and all of the front, and no strings. The NPC requires a V-shaped bottom, does not allow thongs, permits off-the-rack suits, and advises bringing two suits to check-in.
• Heels. The IFBB limits the heel to 12 cm (4.7 in) and the sole to 1 cm, and does not allow platforms.
• Jewellery. The IFBB allows a wedding ring, bracelets and earrings; the NPC allows jewellery.
• Tan. The IFBB bans tans that wipe off, glitter and metallic or gold colouring, and allows oil only in moderation. The NPC requires a natural tone, with no orange, yellow, red, green or gold hues.

Order early, and wear your heels around the house for weeks before the show.

How lean do you need to be?

Leaner than everyday life, but, going by the rules, not as lean as the more muscular divisions.

• In a 2017 study of 27 women preparing for bikini, body fitness or fitness shows, 17 of them in bikini (Hulmi and colleagues, Frontiers in Physiology), body fat measured by DXA fell from about 23% to 13% on average over a diet of about 20 weeks.
• A 2023 review of published case studies of women preparing for figure or bikini shows (Schoenfeld and colleagues, Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology) found an average fall from about 21% to 13%.

Treat these as rough guides, not targets. Different methods give very different numbers: in Hulmi's study, the same women averaged about 13% with DXA, 12% with a bioimpedance scale and 18% with skinfold callipers when measured at the end of the diet. Judges look at shape on stage, not a number, which is why weekly photos, taken in the same light and poses, matter more than any body fat reading. See how to take progress photos.

What a first prep is really like

It takes months. The women in Hulmi's study dieted for about 20 weeks, and in a study of natural competitors at a UK final, prep lasted 22 weeks on average, give or take 9 (Chappell, Simper and Barker, 2018). The free contest prep calculator estimates when to start from your show date.

The diet is steady, not extreme. A 2014 review on natural contest prep (Helms, Aragon and Fitschen) recommends losing about 0.5 to 1% of body weight a week, with high protein. For a woman weighing 65 kg (143 lb), that is about 0.3 to 0.65 kg (0.7 to 1.4 lb) a week. Contest prep diet covers how the targets change from start to stage.

Training stays heavy. Prep is about keeping the muscle you have built. Glutes and shoulders shape the look judges describe, so they usually get extra attention, but the whole body still needs training.

It affects your body beyond the mirror. In Hulmi's study, 63% of the dieting women had irregular periods during the diet, against 30% of a comparison group who were not dieting. Levels of several hormones fell, and after three to four months of recovery, two of them (thyroid hormone T3 and testosterone) were still below where they started. In the 2023 case-study review, three of the four women whose cycles were reported lost their periods. If your periods stop or change, speak to your doctor; it is a sign to look at, not a badge of progress.

It is mentally demanding. Hunger, low energy and constant thoughts about food are common late in prep. If you have a history of disordered eating, speak to your doctor before starting.

The show is not the finish line. Plan to bring calories back up gradually afterwards (see reverse dieting) and expect your weight to rise. If this is your first show of any kind, read your first bodybuilding show for choosing a federation and a date.

How coaching helps with a bikini prep

Nobody can promise you a placing: judging is subjective, and you are compared with whoever is on stage that day. What coaching can do is plan the prep so you have the best chance of arriving on time, in the best condition you can reach, without crash dieting.

With one-to-one coaching from CoachAk, your training program and nutrition targets are written for you in a private app and updated as your body responds. Each week you send a check-in of about three minutes covering your weight, training and nutrition adherence, steps, sleep, energy, hunger, stress, and optional body measurements and progress photos, compared side by side. CoachAk replies with written feedback on what went well, what changes next week and why. You can message your coach directly, with photos and voice notes, and send form-check videos.

If you are planning your first bikini show, apply for coaching, or read more about contest prep coaching.