Bodybuilding is a sport that dates back to ancient Greece. Even though it has a long history, it is still not considered a sport due to various arguments. The primary reason behind this is that the sport is very subjective in nature.

Moreover, building muscles and participating in a bodybuilding show is not a cakewalk. This requires intense passion to put your body through immense pain and sacrifice. To make things worse, the sport is not very lucrative financially. But then how do the athletes in the bodybuilding arena make money? Let’s take a look. 

The basics of bodybuilding

Bodybuilding generally refers to the usage of progressive resistance and weights to develop and grow muscles for aesthetic means. A typical bodybuilding show consists of big muscular dudes standing on the stage all tanned up, and its results are based on arbitrary rules. The general rules are simple: the athlete is expected to bring a physique on the stage that has a good amount of size, shape, proportion, dryness, vascularity, etc.

But the deeper you go into it, you will realize that there are a ton of other factors that impact an athlete’s appearance on the stage. Improper carb loading, an insufficient amount of oiling, poor muscle proportions, and so on, play a huge role in a bodybuilder’s performance.

A Sport or an Art? 

Bodybuilding is a mixture of a sport as well as an art. It is a difficult lifestyle pursued by an individual who aspires to be the winner of a bodybuilding show at the end of the year. While the general public might see them as extraordinary people, bodybuilders consider themselves athletes and follow a strict protocol. They spend a fortune on their diets, workouts, supplementation, and even on coaches. These professional coaches point out every single flaw visible to them and help bodybuilders in their tryst to portray a perfect physique on the stage and improve in any and every way possible. 

The debate around bodybuilding not being a sport

There is no denying that bodybuilders do use PEDs and steroids to present a perfect Greek-god physique on the stage. The use of these pharmaceuticals is banned by almost all sports federations. Even though all major bodybuilding federations deny the usage of PEDs and steroids by their athletes, we all know that this is far from the truth. World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has a list of these banned substances which are clearly being consumed by modern bodybuilders. While some of these drugs are used by athletes of other sports as well, the severity of it is very low. For this very reason, many federations, including the Olympics, as well as many individuals, continue to disapprove of bodybuilding as a sport.

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The age-old debate about whether bodybuilding is a sport or not remains! Many bodybuilders these days, including five times Mr. Olympia Winner, Chris Bumstead, have discussed how hard of sport bodybuilding is. It requires a lot of strict dieting, painful workouts, and isolating themselves from being involved in social drinking and celebration. 

Despite all this, the winning prize is hardly of any match as compared to the amount of money spent by a bodybuilder for a show’s preparation. This continues to prove that bodybuilding is a sport fueled by pure passion. Even if there is almost no reward, a bodybuilder is still willing to make himself go through such hard training and lifestyle to compete year after year.

How are bodybuilders minting dollars despite the meager prize money?

Having little emphasis on the rewarding aspect, the IFBB doesn’t provide a reasonable amount of prize money to the competitors. Even the most renowned event, Mr. Olympia, gives a mere $400,000 to the winner. However, with the advent of technology, athletes have figured out numerous ways of generating massive incomes.

Even the seven-time Mr. Olympia champion Arnold Schwarzenegger, once revealed that despite winning so many times, the paycheck never felt reasonable. But thanks to his countless ventures that have made him worth a whopping $450 million. But apart from the prize money, what are the other ways by which a bodybuilder can generate a fortune for himself?

A bodybuilder having extensive knowledge can opt to be a personal trainer, as his skills and experience with the sport would enable him to help health freaks achieve their dream physique. Apart from this, the bodybuilder can make the best use of their online influence to promote brands, be it their own or someone else’s. The bodybuilders can save a generous amount of money on their clothing and supplement by way of sponsorship. Having a huge fan following on social media, the athletes can make daily content to interact more with their fans, which can help in monetizing their channel, hence, generating passive income.

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At this point, we don’t know what the future holds for the sport of bodybuilding. Whether it will be accepted into the fold of sport will be a debate that continues to rage on. What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments.

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