Pro Career, risks ?

[Jwez]

Hey, before even thinking of jumping into a pro bodybuilder career, i want to know what are the pros and cons of being a pro, whether it's now or in fifty years. Thanks.

[Bonaparte]

There aren't really any pros, unless you have an overwhelming need to be huge and ripped and may as well make some money in the process.
Cons: pretty much everything.

[600@50]

^^^^Agree with this. But there's no guarantee you'll make any money at all. What you'll need is some form of sponsorship to afford everything you're going to need. That is unless you're independently wealthy and can afford it yourself.

[BG]

I wanna be a pro too !!!!

[kelkel]

Only the top handful make any real money. Pro BB'ing doesn't have a pension plan.....

[Cuz]

Only the top handful make any real money. Pro BB'ing doesn't have a pension plan.....

No 401k rollover? Damnit that sucks

[BG]

No 401k rollover? Damnit that sucks

Every Mr O get a free years dialysis though.........

[kelkel]

Every Mr O get a free years dialysis though.........

Don't forget free hip replacement.

[Metalject]

^^^^Agree with this. But there's no guarantee you'll make any money at all. What you'll need is some form of sponsorship to afford everything you're going to need. That is unless you're independently wealthy and can afford it yourself.

And once you have that sponsor, the very second you retire it's gone....in fact, it'll probably be gone before you retire once you start to fade a little bit. And once you retire you'll have no real life skills, which means no one is going to want to hire you for anything. Of course everyone always assumes they'll always work in bodybuilding but there aren't too many post bodybuilding jobs out there for bodybuilders, a small handful.

Look at is this way:
The average decent bodybuilder, one of the better ones, not top shelf like Heath but still pretty good. If he's lucky he'll have a $100k per year supplement deal. If he's really lucky a few other 10K a year deals through clothing and other related BB items. Then he'll have a Weider or MD contract worth a small amount. At most he'll make $150-200K per year. If he wins a show every now and then he'll take home a little more, not much. Again, this is one of the better guys.

Now, throw in the bill for gear - people seem to think all the time these guys are given everything for free. I'm not sure where that idea comes from. Anyway....steroids , that part isn't so bad and very affordable. Still thousands of dollars per year but not terrible. Now comes the big one, the HGH bill, the make or break of all pro bodybuilders. Add in food, the massive food bill, the basic cost of living and you're starting to run out of money fast. And if you're like most bodybuilders, you'll try to portray some type of rockstar lifestyle that you can't really afford - now you're in debt up to your eyeballs with no way to pay for it when you're retired. But hey, at least you'll have free gym memberships wherever you want, lol!

And now for the mental debt - while you were bodybuilding, 0.012387% of the population thought you were king ding dong. Granted, you'll only hang around the 0.012387% while you're bodybuilding so you'll believe that most think you're awesome. You'll even think you're famous. Now that you're retired, only 0.00013% remember you were ever any ding dong of any kind, everyone else thinks you're sad and weird.

And these are the guys that actually do well, not the top of the top but still pretty good. This leaves me with one conclusion - bodybuilding, greatest invention ever!

[mackbutter]

Yeah, I can't see any upsides to it unless u are very successful at it and invest every cent of it into something else u r passionate about. But if there are only 10 guys making or have made real coin out of the the hundred thousand that have come and gone in the past 25 years it might be better advise to buy some lottery tickets....

[MIKE_XXL]

Ohhh and first and for ost you got to have genetics like no other as heart and dedication will only get you so big...

[BG]

Ohhh and first and for ost you got to have genetics like no other as heart and dedication will only get you so big...

Dumb genetic's, how come I could'nt have good genetics !

[< <Samson> >]

If you have to ask - - - - - It ain't gonna happen

[MIKE_XXL]

Dumb genetic's, how come I could'nt have good genetics !

Try mine...LOL...I know...damn it...

[PistolPete33]

Don't forget free hip replacement.

Sweet, I already have the hip replacement so I guess I'm ahead of the curve.