Home » » Weight Training » So you want to be a professional bodybuilder?

So you want to be a professional bodybuilder?

© Matt Danielson

I’m not trying to discourage you here, but after having received e-mails from 17-year olds who talk about dropping out of high school to pursue a pro bodybuilding career, I wanted to give you a little reality check.

My first piece of advice: Don’t count on it. Very, very few are lucky enough to have the genetics to go all the way. Unless you have a natural X-shaped body with wide shoulders and narrow hips, you should definitely keep your day job. That is not to say you can’t make drastic improvements, but if you want to reach a point where you win enough competitions and endorsement contracts to make a living, you need more than a “great” body. You need it to be “Perfect”. A good reality check is the stand in front of the mirror and look up a bodybuilding magazine. Flip to the coverage of an event and take a good look at, say number 7 or 8. Hit the same poses as that guy and compare the picture in the magazine and what you see in the mirror. The guy in the magazine isn’t a top name and probably has to struggle to pay the bills. You have to beat him with good margin to succeed.

It is very important that you’re realistic about this. Just like it’s naïve to pack your bags and head for Hollywood in the hope that some producer will “discover” you when you’re walking down the street and make you the next Tom Cruise, it is naïve to bet everything on a pro career. Even if you have excellent genetics and think that you have an honest chance of breaking into the pro ranks, at least keep educating yourself as you go. Let’s say you move to Venice, CA, get a small apartment close to Gold’s Gym and start pounding away, giving it your best shot. Chances are you’ll have to take a part-time job to pay the bills between the training and the eating, but you should still have plenty of spare time. This is where you have to smart. Instead of wasting your time hanging out on the beach, enroll in a distance-learning program and boost your credentials. There are many classes being offered online (I’ll be completing my Web Publishing degree by spring next year, without having set foot in a class room!), so there really is no excuse to not get a backup plan for yourself. Let’s face it – a failed bodybuilder without a college degree doesn’t have much to fall back on, except a career as a mover or a bouncer.