Unless you're purely satisfied being an attention whore in a sport that has a small cult following mainly comprised of freaks and homosexuals bodybuilding competitions are probably a waste of time and money. Here's the facts.
Very few pros in the sport ever make any real $$$. Even with guest posings, photo shoots, and sponsors/product endorsements, you'll never come near the income that a mainstream pro athlete makes. Factor in taxes, RX drugs/Dr expenses/supplements(that can easily be $100K/yr+which aren't tax deductable btw), the triple cost of food needed for the avg person to support the training, the time in the gym/cardio, and the social sacrifices, and the potential for long term health problems, it's not worth it. To make things even worse, there's only a few BB contests every year that pay any real $$$ to the winner(Mr O/Arnold Classic)-and that's just one person. Others that place well get paid, but it's pennies in comparison to what a pro f-ball player gets paid just one game to ride the bench and eat doughnuts 24/7. Furthermore, pro BB's careers are often made or broke based on industry politics and a small group of judge's opinions on whether or not their physique is what they consider to be a champion physique-which is continually changing year after year. The only real benefits I see a pro BB having are purely ego based-Fame(among a small group of society-the avg person thinks your a roided out freak) and aquiring trophies/titles that many people wish they could have, but never will. For me competitive bodybuilding was a lifesaver. Without it I'd probably be dead or in prison. But when the day came that I realized that I was making more cash on my own than I ever would as a pro BB, I had to rethink my future goals. Winning shows and titles is a rush-even as an amateur-but very few people will ever live comfortably and retire young as a pro. Look at Labrada-he was a BB icon in the 80's/90's yet he still busts ass promoting his supplement line while other mainstream sport's icons of his day are sipping margaritas by the pool at their multi million dollar homes.
Powerlifting has an even smaller cult following and even less potential to make $$$ in the future. At least it's more subjective than BB because you either make the lift(w/ proper form) or you did not. BB competitions are purely an opinion based win or loss-which can vary greatly from judge to judge-whom may, or may not, be receiving cash(aka bribes) or sexual favors from competitors as an incentive to "score" them a certain way-which does happen btw. Seriously, how could it not? The whole industry started out as a scam by Joe Weider printing anti roid propaganda in M & F magazine and promoting his shitty supplement line as a legal/safe alternative to AS-all while every guy in his magazine is pouring milk into a bowl of d-bol and eating them with a spoon like they're Rice Crispies. And I thought Don King was shady? Joe Weider make Don King look like a saint.
Don't get me wrong. I love bodybuilding, but until we get paid the same as other mainstream athletes I can't justify all of the sacrifices we make for a plastic/wood trophy, a title, and fame. Some guys might be happy with the feelings of accomplishment, memories, attention, and glory, and that's cool-but in the long run that's about as good as it gets. I guess from a competive standpoint I just feel as if I deserve more out of life than what BB has to offer me?
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