Whenever legendary natural bodybuilder Jimbo Collins guest poses you can rest assured he’ll bring the house down. From his classic bodybuilding proportions to his old school approach to posing, the famous NGA Professional Bodybuilder understands what gets a bodybuilding crowd going. It’s a combination of thoughtful posing coupled with finding the right music, the right wardrobe, as well as studying the stage and the venue. It’s not just a free posing routine. Sure, to some less passionate physique-based athletes it might be, but with Collins, you’re dealing with a consummate professional.
Bodybuilding is art. In one sense, the athlete sculpts his body with muscle. In another sense, athletes think up ways to showcase their strengths through a presentation art known simply as posing. Some will practice a couple times per week and maybe hit up a posing seminar or two during their contest prep. That’s all great and that’s more than most, but those who become posing legends make the posing as important as the lifting. It’s a daily ritual. They find the best poses to show off their physiques in the most awe-inspiring ways. There’s posing for the judges, and then there’s posing for the people.
A great poser earns the attention of the audience and keeps it. Then the word spreads. If the posing takes place during the intermission, audience members will find another time to go use the restroom, get a bite to eat, or catch-up on their Instagram feeds. They wait with tremendous anticipation for the guest posing routine. A lot of times, the guest posing experience is the only other thing, besides seeing their loved one compete, that keeps fans in their seats. And great promoters are privy to the importance of finding a guest poser who understands the inherent importance behind this once customary part of a contest. Back in the old days having a guest poser was expected, now it’s a real treat, especially when you have a guy as gifted as Jimbo Collins.
The truly great posers know that once they’ve earned the audience’s attention there’s many different paths they can choose. Some will dazzle the audience with a combination of posing with breakdancing or pop locking. Others will showcase their flexibility, maybe doing flips or splits. Others might take the opportunity to make people laugh. Whatever the case may be, the poser earns the attention, and what they do with it, is entirely up to them. In my opinion, the most difficult posing routines are those that serve a higher power. There are posing routines to mourn the loss of a loved one, others to keep an important fight alive, and others may serve as homage to God. These are all far more difficult than serving as court jester or the human equivalent of Gumby.
This article was inspired by Jimbo’s guest posing appearance at NGA Pro Brooke Broz‘ 2025 NGA 5280 Muscle Madness, held in Denver, CO, on Saturday, September 20th, 2025. At this contest, Collins took the stage with his dad in mind. Not only was his dad in mind, but his dad’s voice was part of the posing routine music. Imagine thinking about someone so important to you in life as your father, hearing his voice while you’re trying to execute a performance in front of an in-person audience and countless others watching on livestream and social media. The focus must be iron clad, but all we know is what we see. We don’t know what Jimbo was feeling, rather, we’re listening with our eyes and our ears. Each pose, each transition, every facial expression, it all tells the story. You’re glued to it all, consciously and subconsciously, searching for clues, while admiring a truly flawless physique that wasn’t built with steroids, but over time, involving self-sacrifice and determination.
Try to put yourself in the Collins’ shoes. He’s posing on a stage with the brightest lights, hearing his dad’s voice amidst the applause and the occasional camera flashes piercing through the stage lights. He wants to make his dad proud, even though he already has, but this routine is for him, so it has to be really good! And he can’t forget the audience. There’s clients in the audience. There are dear friends and fans, as well. And there’s countless others watching live or who will see bits and pieces on social media. Everything must be perfect – from A to Z.
The term mind muscle connection gets thrown around a lot when it comes to training. Many of the greats speak about this Zen-like feeling when lifting. They sometimes use it to advocate against brute force training and/or pointlessly lifting meaningless high reps or lifting heavy weights with slop form. But what about the very real mind-muscle connection achieved while posing onstage? There’s always time for the fun poses – that most muscular that draws the biggest ovations, but then there’s poses that some might write off as merely springboards for the poses that make people lose their mind. To the keen eye, there’s a lot to be said about graceful transitions. Transitioning from poses requires a tremendous amount of skill and that’s the kind of skill that only comes with a tremendous amount of practice – daily practice, practice multiple times a day – every single day.
I always love seeing Jimbo guest pose, but the routine at the 5280 Muscle Madness was truly one that I was very fortunate to catch in person. If you weren’t at Brooke’s show, I’ve included my video of Jimbo’s routine at her show. That being said, if you want to see the routine for yourself, then there’s good news.
NGA Pro and Promoter Extraordinaire Josh Miller will have Jimbo guest pose at his 2025 NGA Bluegrass Bodybuilding Championships held on Saturday, October 4th, 2025, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY! This contest is always one for the record books and it’s also a stage that Collins knows well. Perhaps, not only will you see the routine I saw in Denver, but maybe you’ll see it with a Lexington twist. With Jimbo, you never know what he’s going to do. The mystery is a big part of the entertainment value.
The Bluegrass Bodybuilding Championships is the biggest natural bodybuilding show in the region. The stage is a battleground and the backstage is always packed. There are huddles of athletes of the various divisions, backstage. There’s areas that serve as mini-communities. Some are communities of several people while others are communities of one. There’s as much going on backstage as onstage, but then there’s the audience component, the expo component, and the vibe throughout the venue. And Rupp Arena is a pretty massive venue. But on that day, your chances of seeing people associated with natural bodybuilding making the rounds are quite high. It’s a very cool feeling, indeed. And it’s here that you’ll get to see the great Jimbo Collins guest pose for a packed audience. He’ll bring the house down!
I hope you enjoyed reading my article, here, at StrengthAddicts. Be sure to follow Jimbo on Instagram and follow his journey on Facebook. Also be sure to follow Gymbo’s Training and Fitness’ page.
