Sergio Oliva Jr and Shawn Ray at Weigh Ins for the 2009 Jr Nationals

[MrChewiebitums]

I really hope he spends his time and money in something that is going to intern make him money, such as getting a higher education. If one is go'n to really make a comfortable living in the sport and be able to retire from it they'd best be a top 5 Olympian for multiple years and invest very well. Other wise (like 99% of most bodybuilders) they'll ultimately in their life time end up putting more money into the sport than they'll ever get from the sport. And if Jr. was good enough to be in that 1% he would have been pro by now at the age of 25, such as Phil Heath and Even Centopani, where as Jr. hasn't even won a show at all yet. I wish Jr. all be best but he cerainly has a lot to learn about trying to "make it" in bodybuilding.

how many people got into bodybuilding because of the """""amazing profits"""""?

the way you say it is unless your going to be a top 5 O..ian then you shouldnt bother competing, becuase it wont pay well, which is stupid..

I`m not putting money in the sport of bodybuilding, i`m putting money in the thing i enjoy doing and myself

and lets face it... being an office slave isnt particularly interesting either

 

[tkD]

Probably it will be better for Oliva jr. to take the "growing" process a lil bit slower, just look at Brewer, he wanted to go pro and grow "faster" and he failed, at least for now, cus he still has the time to repair his mistakes.

 

[thicknasty]

how many people got into bodybuilding because of the """""amazing profits"""""?

the way you say it is unless your going to be a top 5 O..ian then you shouldnt bother competing, becuase it wont pay well, which is stupid..

I`m not putting money in the sport of bodybuilding, i`m putting money in the thing i enjoy doing and myself

and lets face it... being an office slave isnt particularly interesting either

Certainly nothing wrong with competing for the love of the sport, but relying on bodybuilding for your financial well-being when you haven't even won a show yet is a very unrealistic goal. I put much coin into my food and supps for the love of bodybuilding, but I'm not entrusting bodybuilding to put food on the table for my wife and kids. I'm just a year older than Jr and just 6 years ago had the same hopes and dreams of being an IFBB Pro after winning a few NPC shows myself, but still had a realistic perspective on the sport so I put myself through college so that I'm not gambleing with the financial provision of my family. More power to Jr if he just loves to compete, but he made it clear in the interview that he is looking to make a living off of bodybuilding thus foregoing college. Not a smart move in my opinion. Coolio said it best in Gansta's paradise, "too musc television watch'n got me chase'n dreams."

 

[MrChewiebitums]

by going to university he is GUARANTEEING he will never be able to make a dollar from bodybuilding.... but if you follow the procedure by the age of 24 as some1 said.. you`ll know whether your in the right place or not.. since hes taking it slow it might take him another year or 2 to figure out whether hes gonna earn a buck


BBing is like doing a hard course at uni. you have to forgoe everything else to be able to get great grades. go ask people studying engineering or anything hard at Harvard. ask them how much free time they have.
ofcourse then its easier to make money with the harvard path then the BBing, but then again everyone in bbing is there developing themsevles and enjoying it... which isnt the same case for uni

ultimately after putting some much time and effort the only thing you will be able to do after graduating is the thing you have studied.. you`ll be to old and in bad shape to have a significant shot and taking up(not continuing) a sport and excelling in it professionally.. or even taking up something new regarding education.

i`m pretty sure he can continue BBing if he didnt take up something hard.
Shawn ray was afaik at his last years but decided to quit because he won his pro card

anyway BBing is not a job and no one should ever think of it that way because then you`ll go in with high hopes.. and bbing is one of the most elite things on earth

 

[thicknasty]

by going to university he is GUARANTEEING he will never be able to make a dollar from bodybuilding.... but if you follow the procedure by the age of 24 as some1 said.. you`ll know whether your in the right place or not.. since hes taking it slow it might take him another year or 2 to figure out whether hes gonna earn a buck


BBing is like doing a hard course at uni. you have to forgoe everything else to be able to get great grades. go ask people studying engineering or anything hard at Harvard. ask them how much free time they have.
ofcourse then its easier to make money with the harvard path then the BBing, but then again everyone in bbing is there developing themsevles and enjoying it... which isnt the same case for uni

ultimately after putting some much time and effort the only thing you will be able to do after graduating is the thing you have studied.. you`ll be to old and in bad shape to have a significant shot and taking up(not continuing) a sport and excelling in it professionally.. or even taking up something new regarding education.

i`m pretty sure he can continue BBing if he didnt take up something hard.
Shawn ray was afaik at his last years but decided to quit because he won his pro card

anyway BBing is not a job and no one should ever think of it that way because then you`ll go in with high hopes.. and bbing is one of the most elite things on earth

Actually, there are many IFBB pro's who have college credits and degrees, Ronnie Coleman for one got a Bachelors in accounting while playing football at Grambling university and Lisa Aukland (top female pro) has a PHD, so there's really no reason not to continue one's education while persueing bodybuilding. And speaking of engineering, my brother inlaw actually just graduated from UF with a Bachelors in Civil Engineering and still had time to play on the UF golf team, go to pretty much every football game and make a 6 hour drive to visit us on the weekends. And as far as only being able to do what you studied when you graduate? Statically 75+% of college graduates work outside of their degree. I agree with the last paragraph.

 

[MrChewiebitums]

i left out ronnie for obvious reasons.. clearly he is one of a kind so i didnt use him as an example he was already pretty huge when he won Mr. Texas(afaik)
and what does grambling rank as? top middle or bottom class? (i`m aware not all univerisities in US are the same but i wouldnt have a clue which is what.. apart from the famous ones, harvard yale etc.)

i`m assuming college =university

probably he wants to dedicate as much as possible to BBing... we have all felt /will feel that way sometime and that could interfere with any previous decisions we had made, so we will start to see College as very hard and boring etc... and will reason that going to college will end our life, you need to dedicate to much time bla bla bla so he`ll end up picking a midrange job and then use BBing as a way to sort of "reach the big time", kind of like a lottery ticket
i`m pretty sure a long of youngsters will feel that way


and i think the male part of the sport is a bit more cut-throat, elite and extreme then the female part... and afaik there are a lot who are able to compete AND study... its not the first time i see an interview where they mention what they(girls) are studying

 

[tim290280]

Thicknasty and Chewie some great points.

I agree with aspects of both arguments. The reality is that if you want to pursue a dream or achieve excellence then you can't have anything stand in the way of achieving this. Every time you "have something to fall back on" then this becomes what consumes your time. But to dream of a dream can be the dream's undoing, you never make it a reality.

The harsh reality is that sports careers are short. You need something else in your life, a real career. You can balance education with sport if you are dedicated, but one or the other will suffer (but who cares if you graduated bottom of the class if you graduated?!). BBing is even more harsh than most sports as there are very few who can treat it as a career. Most do it for the love/desire of the sport (well and other things, but lets not go there). But to make a living out of it as Jr wants to and is forgoing his other career prospects to do, he has to be the top 0.5-1% of BBers.

So at some point you have to be realistic and either make the call that the dream is not attainable, or that there has to be more hard yards done to achieve the dream. Jr sits somewhere in between. If he wants to persue BBing professionally and be the best he really has to take it more seriously. He has a long way to go and doesn't appear to be getting there in any hurry. At what point will he still be average and need a real job? At what point will he become just another gym rat working as a PT? When will the chasing of the dream result in mediocrity?

If you chase the dream you are a dreamer and will always fall short because the dreams got in the way of reality. If you really go after that dream as a goal, that's when things happen. Lets hope Sergio Jr is doing the latter.

 

[thicknasty]

Some good points Tim. Bodybuilding is most certainly the most harsh sport regarding making a living. Though the life of being a Pro athelete is short lived, at least in mainstream sports (MLB, NBA, NFL, ect.) one can play 5 years or so and retire with 7 figures to his name (so long as he lives with in his means which is not hard to do while signing 7 figure contracts). With bodybuilding, however, a pro may end up retireing with more money invested in the sport than he'll ever got out of it. That's fine, so long as one knows what they're getting themselves into, however, a lot of young bodybuilders don't seem to have a clear grasp on this reality. If Jr knows what he's getting himself into, and what he'd possibley be giving up to get there (such as financial security) then great, go for it. It just seems to me that he still has not been struck with the reality of his dream. But, only time will, I wish him the best.

 

[Priest Da Boxer]

This guy has the genes for sure!

 

[tkD]

Interviewed by Dave Palumbo

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[tkD]

I think he knows what he's doing with the bb carrer, and i hope he will make it! best of luck to him.


btw we have him on mecca as well, sergiojr