There are a few color charts on the internet that tell you to choose certain colors based on your hair color and skin tone. Once, you have your body dye painted on your skin tone is pretty much the same as everyone else’s and nothing like your natural skin tone. Your hair is too far away from your "little" posing suit so that really doesn’t matter all that much either. There are other factors you can use to determine what color to choose.

Guys, pick your favorite color. That’s the easiest. If you like the color you will feel more at ease on stage. Ladies, choose a color that you would normally wear in clothing. It makes sense that if your suit is a color you love to wear everyday you will be more confident on stage wearing that color of suit.

For pre-judging, dark colors are recommended. Some great pre-judging colors are black, navy blue, royal blue, forest green, purple and even red. Bright colors such as lime green, tangerine, yellow, hot pink or blue turquoise are not recommended. Some people believe by wearing a bright colored suit in pre-judging they will be more noticed by the judges. This is not necessarily true. You want a suit that blends into the background, that basically disappears. You want the judges to see the muscle that you’ve worked so hard to get. You don’t want them distracted or focused on your BRIGHT suit.

For the night show – Show your personality!! Here is your opportunity to do the brighter, bolder colors. Or you can even do a speciality fabric suit. Guys, even you can do a specialty fabric suit. Just have fun with it.

Remember, specialty fabric suits take 4 weeks to make. These suits are NOT stock items. They are custom made.

Just in case you don’t know how to tie your suit, I will explain. Obviously, it ties at the neck. Don’t tie this too tight. If your breasts are showing out the bottom of the top you’ve tied it too tight at the neck.The tie at the bottom edge of the top criss-crosses in the back and the ends slip through the loop in the bottom with the help of the safety pin. Tie them tight with double knots so they don’t untie. On the day of the competition cut the tie, leaving a tail of about 2-3 inches. The more string you have to work with the easier it is to tie and untie your suit. Just tuck the tail into the back of your bottom. The tail can also be glued into place so it doesn’t slip out.

Use tying your top to the bottom to get the sides of your bottoms where you want them on your waist. Try to have it even with your navel. The higher the sides on your bottom, the better. It can give you the illusion of having longer legs and/or an actual waistline. You DO NOT want your suit to cut you in half. The tighter this strap is tied the more snug it will fit under your breasts also.

Another thing you can do – once you have the top positioned where you want it, you can take a needle and thread to tack the bottom edge of the top in place by stitching the center and outside corners to the strap. This will keep the top from sliding out of place.

Gluing is mostly for bodybuilders. Figure and Fitness competitors really shouldn’t need to glue their suits in place. Bodybuilders are much more active on stage and can’t be pulling their suits back in place. Some bodybuilders feel comfortable enough to not glue at all.

You can glue all three sides of the top. It will keep anything from popping out that you don’t want popping out. Just a few less things to worry about. On the bottom, you will want to glue it to your cheeks.

The best thing to use is Bikini Bite or some other kind of swimwear roll on glue. Do a test spot on your skin to make sure you don’t have an adverse reaction to the glue.

To apply the glue have someone help you. You can flip the edge of the suit out and the other person can roll the glue right onto your skin. Press the suit in place and hold for a few minutes.

Remember, once you’ve glued your bottom in place you don’t want to remove your bottom again. So, make it the last thing you do and make that last "pit stop" before you glue your bottom.

Men’s suits should fit high on the hip. This gives your body the "V" shape the judges are looking for. DO NOT LET YOUR SUIT RIDE LOW ON YOUR HIPS. By letting your suit go straight across your body, it will cut you in half. This is not the look you want. Your suit should fit in your "pelvic groove". If it doesn’t stay in place it may mean that your suit is not the correct size.