Comparison Breakdown.

To start, let me be clear- I don't feel like I won any class nor did I come close. But I DO feel like I didnt get a fair shake in the subsequent placings.. To further expand on the judging guidelines I wrote about back in January, I figure what better way than to use myself as an example.

Although I placed 6th in one particular class, I feel like I could have placed as high as 4th. Here's why.

I'll start with the guy who finished in 5th (I've blurred out faces to respect the privacy of my competitors):

The first thing that becomes apparent is this competitors lack of conditioning. My abs are clear while his are still obscured by fat. His chest, while thicker (which probably includes some body fat,) also appears to be "high" while mine has more of a hang indicating better development. His thigh sweep is also lacking as his legs tend to go straight up and down in the lateral most aspect.
Then we move on to the side chest: Because of my conditioning (ie being more cut/shredded) you can see much crisper detail where the delts tie into my bicep/tricep. Our legs are comparably wide, but mine display more detail and separation. His arms (triceps/biceps) are noticeably smaller and his rear delt is lagging. Again he is thicker in the chest but my definition as seen by my sternum insertion is much more defined.
And my calves are bigger and sharper.

When we turn around is where it really starts to get silly:
My back is: Wider, more defined. My shoulders are balanced and the rear delts are more developed. My bicep peaks are higher. The quad sweep is more pronounced and the lines in my hamstrings are etched much deeper. My glutes appear tighter/harder.
His back: Less defined, not as wide. Legs appear softer and lack sweep. His belly almost seems to bulge there on the right. Glutes appear soft.
He does not match me in any point of back development.
Same in this shot.

On To Side Tricep:
Again, I believe I concede chest thickness in this pose, but his arms are smaller, less defined, his waist is bigger and less crisp. Calves Smaller. Forearm smaller. Hamstrings have less detail and size.

Now on to Mr. 4th place...

This one's a lil harder to swallow.
The first glaring blow to his placing is his complete lack of left bicep/tricep development. I dont know if this is due to unbalanced training or an injury but it looks like a shark took a nice big chunk of it. My lower half completely outsizes his. Secondly his sweep on his legs are more straight up and down while I have a bit of flare. His chest is bigger, but not by much and my conditioning is better.

On to the back:
Aside from the fact that his left arm is missing, I'm wider on top and on bottom while my waist is about his size. My delts from the rear are much rounder and fuller, the detail I have is greater in the back and I'm wider overall. You can see his rear delt is also very small whereas mine is round and full. Hams are more deeply etched and my calves are larger.

Back: Wider more developed. Quad sweep greater. His clavicles are more narrow where mine are wider. He looks smaller overall next to me.

And that folks is how you rob someone at a bodybuilding show, hahaha.

Now it's time to head back to the treadmill to make sure that there is no doubt in the judges minds come may!