Dennis Wolf crunches a most muscular pose.
The most muscular pose is hot. You see it after touchdowns, goals, dunks, blocks, and knockouts. Even more than a double biceps flex, it’s become a universal athletic celebration, even if most people striking it don’t know what it’s called or that it originated on bodybuilding stages, where it still reigns as an ultimate reflection of bigness. Most muscular, indeed. Wherever it’s done, it is truly an alpha flex. That said, there are more aesthetic ways of hitting the shot. We look at the evolution of the most muscular pose and how to properly perform it, on or off a bodybuilding stage.
HISTORY OF THE MOST MUSCULAR POSE
MR. MOST MUSCULAR
The crab most muscular—with arms hugging the air (like a crab’s claws) in front of flexed pecs—emerged in the 1960s as bodybuilders expanded in size. You really need thickness in the pecs, traps, and delts to make it work. The first bodybuilder to popularize it was Harold Poole, the 1963 Mr. Universe who finished second in the first two Mr. Olympia contests in 1965 and 1966. It was his signature pose—or we should say signature poses, because Poole did it in every way he could think of: crab, hands on hips, hands clasped in front, hands behind back, and one hand on hip or behind and the other hand in front. Harold Poole’s ultimate title should be Mr. Most Muscular.
BIG BREAKOUT
In Poole’s wake were two bigger bodybuilders—Sergio Oliva and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and each made the crab most muscular a part of his posing repertoire. They also established the forward lean of the pose to best highlight the traps and shoulders. It was a way of lording their upper body size over the competition, if not each other, as Oliva won three Mr. Olympias (1967-69) and Arnold seven (1970-75, ’80).
Lou Ferrigno was another colossal bodybuilder who made the crab his signature pose, and he brought it to the masses when he played the titular character of TV’s The Incredible Hulk from 1977 to 1982. Bruce Banner would get pissed, transform into the Hulk, and crunch a most muscular or two before tossing the bad guy around. It was the ultimate flex.
HANDS-ON-HIPS
Meanwhile, Frank Zane, at 5’9” and merely 190, won three Mr. Olympias (1977-79) with classical aesthetics and high-def conditioning. Zane lacked the size for a crab most muscular, so instead he did a variation, standing straight with his hands on his hips. In keeping with his physique, this was a more aesthetically pleasing shot which allowed him to splinter his pecs, showing off his crisp conditioning, and also highlight his abs—a strong point—which would be mostly hidden if he leaned forward with arms in front for a crab. Zane didn’t invent the hands-on-hips most muscular. It dated back to Poole and earlier, but he popularized it as a “lightweight” alternative to the “heavyweight” crab. The latter was focused on brute size, especially in the chest and shoulders; the former was more about conditioning and the totality of the body.
WRESTLING MOVES
In the 1980s, pro wrestling rose in prominence and carried the most muscular into the mainstream. Hulk Hogan and other popular champs would strike a double biceps shot and then—BAM!—hug the air for a crab shot. They would crab to intimidate, they would crab to celebrate, they would crab just because they could, giants amongst mere mortals. Kids learned that “making a muscle” wasn’t just an arm flex, it was also a pec crunch, ideally with a snarl and a growl.
HANDS-IN-FRONT
A third way of doing the most muscular rose in prominence in the 1990s and beyond: arms-down and hands-in-front. This is an upright, full body pose like the hands-on-hips, but the hands are in front of the waist as in a crab pose, usually touching or with one hand holding the opposite wrist. Think of it as a compromise between the freaky crab and aesthetic hands-on-hips. So, it’s no mistake that it is most associated with two “pretty but freaky” bodybuilding legends: four-time Mr. Olympia runner-up Kevin Levrone and seven-time Mr. Olympia Phil Heath. There’s also the fact that this most muscular variation best displays the arms and delts—strengths of Levrone and Heath.
THE EIGHTH MANDATORY
There were originally seven mandatory poses in bodybuilding: front double biceps, front lat spread, side chest, side triceps, rear double biceps, rear lat spread, and abs and thigh. The most muscular was added later as mandatory #8, and it’s the last pose performed when going through the mandatory poses. The head judge will typically say, “Your favorite most muscular,” announcing the final shot. Competitors are allowed to choose how they strike this pose.
Notably, the most muscular is for men’s bodybuilding only. Women’s bodybuilding has seven mandatory poses, all but the most muscular. Men’s classic physique has five with only the most muscular forbidden from the final pose, which classic competitors get to choose: “favorite classic pose (no most muscular).” Despite Zane’s legacy, the most muscular is still seen foremost as a freaky, mass explosion, which is why the biggest pros fire off so many of them in posedowns. The very name seems to say it’s only for those who are most muscular.
MOST MUSCULARS EVERYWHERE
The crab crossed over and became a popular athletic celebration around the globe. It just kept seeping further and further into the culture. Yes, it’s long been on bodybuilding stages. But it increasingly appeared on TV screens, too. It’s continued to be a mainstay of pro wrestling. The Rock does it as sort of his de facto “I’m pumped for this” reaction on Instagram, where he has 400 million followers. And, more and more, as athletes did it after touchdowns or knockouts or goals in all sorts of different sports and venues, more and more athletes picked up that it just was the thing to do, often with mouth open, vocally or silently roaring. It means dominance. Never mind that most don’t have enough muscle for a proper crab. Many athletes have found a new, non-bodybuilding way of doing it, with arms straight down. Call it the gorilla. Most musculars are everywhere.
HOW TO DO THE MOST MUSCULAR POSE
As mentioned above, there are several ways to do the most muscular. Those that Harold Poole did 60 years ago are still done this century. Kai Greene, for one, often did a hands-behind-the-back most muscular, and by flexing his zippered quads he made it more of a leg shot (his traps and pecs were never strengths; his legs were). But we’ll focus here on how to best do the three most common most muscular poses.
THE CRAB
This is the big boy shot. It works best if you have wide clavicles and a lot of trapezius, deltoid, and pectoral mass. If you don’t, it might not work at all for you on a bodybuilding stage.
Plant one leg slightly forward to form a stronger base. Point your knees out slightly to accentuate your outer quad sweep. Flex your legs to accentuate muscle separation. Lean forward, ball up your fists, bring your fists together but keep a few inches between them, and flex your upper body muscles to match your legs, most especially your traps, delts, pecs, and arms. It’s possible to emphasize different muscles. For example, if your shoulders are a better body part than your pecs, lean further forward.
HANDS-ON-HIPS
This is the little guy shot. And, no offense, but most amateur bodybuilders are little guys. If you watch an amateur contest, you’ll notice that almost all of the competitors in the lighter weight classes (and many in the heavyweight and super-heavy classes, too) will do hands-on-hips or hands-in-front. It just takes a lot of upper body mass to pull off a good crab. So, steer clear of weaknesses and emphasize your strengths: hands-on-hips it is. Note that this might the best of all eight mandatory poses for showing off peeled conditioning, and you can win it without a lot of muscle if you have enough cuts.
Stand upright. Again, point your knees outwards slightly to widen the look of your quads. Place your hands on your hips. Alternately, you can put one hand on a hip and the other in front of the other quad, a favorite technique of seven-time 212 Mr. Olympia (2012-18) Flex Lewis. Roll your shoulders forward slightly and flex everything. Your front is very visible in this shot, so make sure your quads, abs, arms, delts, and pecs are all maximally flexed.
HANDS-IN-FRONT
Finally, we end with the pose that is kind of combination of the two above. It’s great for those who have mass and aesthetics. And it does the best job of displaying the delts and arms. So if one or both of those body parts are a strength for you, this is probably your most muscular.
Again, point your knees outward slightly. Bring your hands together in front your waist. You can grab one wrist with the other hand. You can ball your fists and press then together. Or you can press your palms together with your fingers pointed down. Find the way that looks best for your physique. Flex everything: legs, abs, arms, delts, chest, traps. If you grab the other wrist, pull apart isometrically for the strongest contraction. If your fists or palms are together, push from each side for an isometric contraction.
THE MOST MUSCULAR POSE
The most muscular is crucial to bodybuilding success because it’s literally the final impression you make to the judges and audience. Depending on how you do it and your individual physique, it can be the ultimate expression of mass, of width, of conditioning, or even of aesthetics. Off bodybuilding stages, it’s all about the crab, that expression of alpha dominance and athletic jubilation. It’s moved from the dais to everywhere else all around the globe. The most muscular pose, joyful and triumphant, may just be bodybuilding’s best ambassador.
