How Much Money or Cash Does a Pro Bodybuilder Earn?

[FUZO]

Well if you`re interested with the subject “how much cash, dollars, money does a pro bodybuilder earn?” you may sit comfortable in your chair and start reading! I will try to avoid individual cases but i will use some of them to make you a picture of how much money a pro bodybuilder can earn.
Short plan of how can a pro bodybuilder earn some decent cash
it is possible, but difficult except at the highest level (Mr. Olympia etc.), to earn a reasonable income purely from competition winnings.
a particular bodybuilder can be sponsored by local companies and supplement manufacturers to earn some cash by representing their company
bodybuilders can and do use their fame and knowledge to start high level personal training or opening their own fitness centers
guest posing and appearances also help bodybuilders to earn cash and make a decent income
The main drawbacks for a bodybuilders income:

huge amount of money spent on food, because a bodybuilder needs lean meat, poultry, fresh vegetables, eggs and natural sources always cost more than supermarket wrapped things!
the same with steroids, huge amount of money spent on steroids compared with what you earn, because if you want to compete as a pro bodybuilder, baby you don`t stand a chance without them
From the 1000 dollars that Larry Scott won in 1966 for his Mr. Olympia win to the topped total prize from 2006 that was around a “small amount” of 1.6 million dollars, everybody won something !
The truth is that only the top tier bodybuilders make a decent living because it`s not about how good you are as a bodybuilder (when you want to earn some money) but how well you take advantage of the posibility of selling your image.

High contest placings mean more exposure for yourself thus meaning more publicity!
Jay Cutler makes about as much as Ronnie Coleman, maybe even more because he invests his money wisely in real estate and many other business ventures. Jay Cutler the pro bodybuilder earns top dollars even from the fact that he sells himself to any supplement company with a dollar for him like Muscletech but this company pays its athletes more than other companies and that`s a good thing for Jay Cutler, a pro bodybuilder that earns millions per year. There are many other examples of pro bodybuilders that earn a lot of money but the money isn`t necessarily from competing.
The higher the placings you get in bodybuilding competitions, the more you will get noticed. It`s what you do with that exposure (publicity) that makes a difference in how well you live off bodybuilding and how much cash you can earn out of this sport.

[alluprbdy]

interesting, I'm sure a lot are broke as hell. Jay has a degree in accounting so maybe the business degree influences how he approaches his career.

[Born2Juice4Ever]

This is very good topic.
I remember Dorian Yates taking in a check for 50k back in early 90s. Now the Mr. O earns more than 50k...but where they get their hundreds of thousands is from endorsements, guest posing like crazy, suppl companies pay them big bucks too.

It all comes with a lot of work for sure..it is not easy.

B2J

[Dzone]

Ya thats an interesting topic. I wonder how Police departments look upon cops that are freaky massive like Ronnie Coleman. I wonder what Coleman was like as a cop. There was some dude around here that was like 6-5 320 and ripped and he was a cop and heard that he was a total asshole

[daved150]

we got a few cops at our gym that are obviously on...state boys. htey seem fine i get along wiht them great....just dont have anything really to do wiht them.
as far as bodybuilding i never thaught it was a money making career path

[badcompany487]

That would be the best job ever!

[Blackfoot]

in my mind it wouldn't matter what the pay is like. if u get paid to do what you love and u can adapt to your income whether high or low, your blessed