Do you have the money / time / sponsors to become a pro BB?
Taken from
So, You Want to be a Professional Bodybuidler : truebodybuilding
*tl;dr: It's going to be hard, and you have to be lucky. Don't let this discourage you, let it arm you with the truth. Go forth and be swole. *
I've seen several people here mention wanting to start AAS at a young age so they can get a jump and become a professional bodybuilder. OK, fine. You want to be a pro? Here's what you've got to do.
We're going to use Phil Heath as our measuring stick, because he is the current Mr. Olympia, and you want to be the best, right? You're not trying to become a pro just to compete, you want to win. So let's take a look and see what you need to do to be like him.
First thing's first.
Phil played college basketball and played point guard. This is important. First, it tells us that he needed to be fast and have endurance, so we can't pretend he was packing on the muscle in college. That would be detrimental to what he was there for. Second, it tells us that he was exposed to high quality training and nutrition regimes early on in his development. D1 colleges have strength coaches whose job it is to make sure these guys are the perfect physical specimens for their sport. For 4 years Phil learned how to eat and train. He was 23 when his college career ended and he entered the bodybuilding world. 23. Not 16. Not 18. 23.
Next up, money. I hope you have a lot.
No, this isn't about gear, though I hope you have budgeted plenty for that, too. It takes money to be a professional bodybuilder. You think you're working a nice full time job to support your second career as a bodybuilder? Think again. You need time, and we all know time=money. For this part, I don't even need to talk about Phil, though we'll come back to our poster boy in a second. Think about all the different routines you've seen and read about. 5 days a week. 7 days a week. Hours in the gym. Eating. All the goddamn eating. When do you think you're going to do this? Do you think your 'day job' employer is going to be OK with you stopping work every couple hours to eat? You know that insulin routine where time is critical? Yeah, no. A 4 hour lunch break so you can lift? Not going to happen. But you will work. Some way, some how. You need to money. Gym memberships aren't free. Gear isn't free. Food isn't free. And, man, the food.
You might have seen this when it came up before. A sample day of Phil Heath's eating. (I told you we'd get back to him). Look at all that food. Think of how much it cost. Think of the time needed to prepare and eat it. Yep. Time=money and money=money. If you read the comments there and in the bodybuilding thread referencing it, you'll see a lot of people call out that it's just sponsor shilling. Yep. That brings us to...
Third, sponsorship.
This is the dirty little secret of bodybuilding. Remember the big deal that was made about how awesome Kai Greene is because he pulled in Big Ramy for the group photo? Look at that group, all huddled up for hugs and high fives. That's because they all have the same sponsors and the same financiers. They're all business partners. Big Ramy? Nope. Just an independent guy from the Egypt. You want in to bodybuilding? Someone's going to have to hold the door open for you. Remember all the stories about how Arnold was a millionaire before he turned 30? How did he do that? Real estate. How did he get the seed money for that? Selling supplements. Whose supplements did he sell? Jim Weider. Weider saw Arnold's potential and groomed him from the moment they first met. Arnold has wonderful genetics, a killer work ethic, and still wouldn't have been able to break in without Weider handing him a golden ticket. Phil? He wasn't interested in bodybuilding until someone dragged him to a show, where he met Jay Cutler, who then broke Phil into the business. From day one, Phil had access to money and sponsorship.
Want to succeed? Want to be world class? You need to know someone. Sorry. There's no other way. If you really want to make yourself feel bad, read about all the judging rumors.
But, back to becoming a world class bodybuilder. You think you need to start early to have a chance? Phil started bodybuilding in 2003. He turned pro in 2006. After just two years as a pro he placed 3rd at Olympia.
So, you want to be a professional body builder?
You can do it. You need a solid base of knowledge regarding training and nutrition, as well as the physical experience of training. You need time. You need money. You need to be smart. You need to be efficient with your resources.
You can do it. It will take effort. It will take sacrifice.
Want to be the best? It will take luck. It will take connections.
Can you do it?
Good luck.
