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Every year after the Mr. Olympia has been contested, and the prize money has been distributed and some bodybuilders have once again attracted the attention of potential sponsors, I hear the question again: “How do you become a professional bodybuilder?”
What is a professional bodybuilder?
Before I answer this question, it is important to make a distinction between “professional” in general terms and “professional” in bodybuilding terms. Normally, professional means that you can provide for your livelihood through income earned from the activity in question, such as sports. Semi-pro means that you do earn money from this activity, but not enough to support yourself, so you have to work in addition.
However, in bodybuilding, being “pro” does not automatically mean that you earn enough to not have to do anything else, while as an amateur, sometimes you do earn “enough”. Being “professional” in bodybuilding only means that you are eligible to participate in professional competitions organized by the IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilders). This is the largest international federation for which the best bodybuilders compete.
I want to become a bodybuilder
To become a professional, you must first successfully participate in the right amateur competitions for the right amateur federation. There are many different federations. As mentioned, you can only become a pro by competing for the IFBB. To participate in IFBB pro competitions and thus obtain a pro license, you must first be successful in regional and then national competitions or qualifiers of the amateur federation affiliated with the IFBB. In the Netherlands, this is the NBBF. Only through the IFBB-affiliated federation in the home country can you ultimately become a pro.
Federations are also not happy if you compete for other federations. So if you want to become a pro as a Dutchman, you must be successful in the NBBF. The national federation determines who they grant pro cards to. This can be to the winner of one or more weight classes or only to the overall winner of the national championships. Usually the latter. It also happens that it is decided not to grant any pro cards at all.
In addition to national championships, other competitions can also serve as so-called qualifiers. For example, Quincy Winklaar (yes, brother of Roelly Winklaar) obtained his pro card by winning the Julliette Bergmann Classic last year.
Another way is by winning the IFBB World Championships, for which the national federation is invited by the IFBB to send athletes (like Ronnie Coleman got his pro card) or other IFBB competitions for pros with a separate competition for amateurs. For example, Roelly himself obtained his pro card by winning the amateurs at the 2009 Arnold Classic (photo).
How much does a professional bodybuilder earn?
More than he (or she) gets in terms of prize money. Especially when compared to certain other sports. If you look at the prize money, you’ll see that only the absolute top earns good prize money. You’re talking about only a handful of people who manage to earn enough by winning or finishing high in the big competitions in a given year. If you finish below that top, you win just enough to pay for your ticket to and stay in the country of the competition (like the Dutch-Antillean Roelly Winklaar who received $2,000 for his sixth place at the Grand Prix of Great Britain). The highest prize available in 2012 was the $250,000 Phil Heath received for winning the Mr. Olympia. If you want to become a professional bodybuilder for the prize money, you have a better chance of success becoming a professional footballer even if you’ve never touched a football. A “good” example is Michael Kefalianos, the Greek who participated in the Mr. Olympia in 2012. This pro works 12 hours a day as a taxi driver!
The story gets slightly better when we look at sponsorship deals. No one knows the exact fortune of Jay Cutler, but it is estimated to be in the millions, with amounts of more than 10 million mentioned. This is much more than all the prize money he won, including his four victories at the Mr. Olympia. He owes this mainly to his sponsors (more than 20 in total) who are more than happy to see the blonde all-American in the famous bodybuilding magazines, advertising their product. “Jay Cutler, four-time Mr. Olympia uses…….” Of course, it is not mentioned that almost everyone knows. Namely that his genes, training, nutrition, popularity, and use of steroids and growth hormones have a much greater share in his success than the supplements, magazines, or equipment he advertises. Moreover, Jay does good business in real estate in the Las Vegas area and his father has helped him along the way.
Sponsorship deals are what bodybuilders have to rely on. How much they earn from this depends on their popularity, which is not always or entirely due to their performances, but often is. The fact that four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler likely earned more from bodybuilding than 8-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman says enough. Phil Heath also earned quite well as an amateur while Kefalianos, as a pro, still has to drive his taxi.
If you want to earn money from bodybuilding in these times, you would do well to increase your business acumen and make use of social media like the ladies Jenny Selter and Paige Hathaway, but also an Angelo Lazarov. All examples of people who don’t come close to the top in terms of competitions, but earn well from their physique through smart marketing.
No pro without doping
Just to be clear. Even with fantastic genes, you as a natural will lose out to users of steroids and growth hormones. Dreaming of participating in the Mr. Olympia should be left in the bedroom if you are not willing to sacrifice everything to become one of the best bodybuilders. One such sacrifice is your health. Although I, even as a natural, think that steroid use can be safe under the right circumstances (correct dosage, duration of use, quality of product, user knowledge, etc.), in the quantities that the pros use, it always poses an increased health risk. In that sense, bodybuilding has nothing to do with health.
Steroid use is prohibited, but the gap between the knowledge of users and controllers is much larger than in, for example, cycling. In practice, use is the rule, although bodybuilders only speak honestly about it when they have stopped competing.
Conclusion
Your chances of becoming a professional bodybuilder are very small and you have to make great sacrifices. Even if you succeed, you are not sure of sufficient income. If you still go for it, make a plan to have financial security by marketing yourself very well or by using your fame to tap into other sources. One Austrian did quite well as an actor and politician, for example.
