Geschatte leestijd: 4 minutenNow that the Mr. Olympia competition has been fought, the prize money has been divided, and some bodybuilders have once again caught the eye 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’s important to make a distinction between “professional” in general terms and “professional” in bodybuilding terms. Normally, being professional means that you can provide for your livelihood through income earned from the respective activity, such as sports. Semi-pro means that you do earn money from this activity, but not enough for a livelihood, so you have to work on the side.
However, in bodybuilding, being “pro” doesn’t necessarily mean that you earn enough from it to do nothing else on the side, while as an amateur, sometimes you do “earn enough.” Being “professional” in bodybuilding simply 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.
How do you become a “pro”?
To become a professional, you must first successfully participate in the right amateur competitions for the appropriate amateur federation. There are many different federations. As mentioned, you can only become a pro by competing for the IFBB. To be eligible 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 federation affiliated with the IFBB in the country of origin can you eventually become a pro.
Federations are also not happy if you compete for other federations. So if you want to become a pro as a Dutch person, you must be successful in the NBBF. The national federation determines who receives pro cards. This can be awarded to the winner of one or more weight classes or only to the overall winner of the national championships. Usually, it’s the latter. Sometimes, it’s decided not to award any pro cards at all.
In addition to national championships, other competitions can also serve as qualifiers. For example, Quincy Winklaar (yes, brother of Roelly Winklaar) got 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. Roelly himself got his pro card by winning the amateurs at the 2009 Arnold Classic (photo).
How much does a professional bodybuilder earn?
More than what he (or she) gets in terms of prize money. Especially when you compare it to certain other sports. If you look at the prize money, you’ll see that only the absolute top earns well from prize money. Then you’re talking about only about five people who manage to earn enough in a given year by winning or placing high in major competitions. If you’re below that top, you’ll 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 IN 2012 was the $250,000 Phil Heath earned 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 soccer ball. A “nice” 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 Jay Cutler’s exact wealth, but it’s estimated in the millions, with amounts exceeding $10 million being 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’s not mentioned what almost everyone knows. Namely, that his genetics, training, diet, popularity, and use of anabolics and growth hormones have a much greater share in his success than the supplements, magazines, or equipment he advertises. Jay also 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 most likely earned more from bodybuilding than eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman says enough. Phil Heath also earned quite well as an amateur, while Kefalianos still has to drive his taxi as a pro.
If you want to earn money from bodybuilding in these times, it’s a good idea 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 genetics, you’ll lose out as a natural against users of anabolics and growth hormones. Dreams of participating in the Mr. Olympia should be left in the bedroom if you’re not willing to sacrifice everything to become one of the best bodybuilders. One such sacrifice is your health. Although even as a natural, I think that steroid use can be safe under the right conditions (correct dosage, duration of use, quality of product, knowledge of users, etc.), in the amounts that the pros use, it always poses an increased risk to health. 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 greater than in, for example, cycling. In practice, use is therefore the rule, although bodybuilders only speak honestly about it when they’ve stopped competing.
Conclusion
Your chances of becoming a professional bodybuilder are very slim, and you have to make big sacrifices. Even if you succeed, you’re not guaranteed 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. For example, one Austrian did quite well as an actor and politician.
