The Top Mistakes Aspiring Fitness Models Make
I began my fitness journey almost 10 years ago. With about 10 shows and around 80 published photos and/or articles under my belt, I feel the need to write a blog that I think could help many people that are currently in or aspiring to be in the fitness industry. One of the most common emails I get (often from parents who have kids who want to get into the fitness modeling industry) is "What do I need to know? How do I go about getting myself/my kid published?"
When I began competing in 2008, competing was an underground sport. The only physique categories were fitness, figure, and bodybuilding. Bikini and physique were added a few years later. Since then, everyone and their mom competes. And everyone and their mom wants to get into fitness modeling.
And trust me, I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
But the big thing you need to know is why do you want to compete and model?
And equally as important (if not moreso), how are you marketing yourself?
Have you ever thought about what's actually driving these goals? Because if you haven't, you're not really in the game. This is particularly true of fitness modeling, which is ever more competitive and has a revolving door of new faces entering the arena every year. Each year, you're a year older and there's a new 25 year old right behind you. So what's your gameplan?
Why does it matter? It's simple.
If it's merely for "LOOK AT ME" purposes, you're not going to get very far. Sure, bettering your health and doing it for the challenge of it, or saying "It would be cool to get professional photos" is a wonderful gameplan. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
But the major problem I see over and over again is that there are people blindly throwing spaghetti at the wall trying to "make it big".
So I'm going to be your pseudo-manager for a moment, if you'll allow me.
Why Your Photos and Marketing Need to Serve a Purpose
I always knew I wanted to be able to inspire people and make them laugh. I knew I was going to have to somehow build an audience for more people to start following my weight loss transformation when FB was still only a few years old. More and more people started observing what I was doing as I was getting on stage, which lead to blogging.
I realized that for marketing purposes (If I EVER FINISH THIS BOOK IM WRITING, good golly), that I was probably going to have to start getting pictures taken to continue boosting my audience. Then I started submitting articles and photos. Lots of things got published. Then I got my foot in the door in other areas and I met a jillion awesome and amazing people in the industry.
That's how it all started. I needed to make and build a brand to attract the kind of audience I wanted for my readership. That's marketing with a purpose.
So let's break down a few things that I am desperate for people to understand before they enter into this insanity called "the fitness industry".
Competing Does Not Mean Magazine Publications and Covers
I hate to break it to you, but if you're trying to compete to get your foot into the door in modeling, they are not 100% connected. Maybe 50%, but only if you're smart about it.
Don't believe me?
Jamie Eason competed eons ago and didn't even come close to making the top 10. Did she go on to have massive success despite that? Ummmmmmmm that's an understatement. I'm sorry to break some people's egos but competing means sh*t if you're trying to get published. Nobody cares. Unless you're in the top 5 at the pro level at the Arnold or the Olympia, nobody cares. Even then, it's minimal caring. If you've won 10 shows at the local level, that's an amazing accomplishment but it means diddly squat in an industry inundated with 89474 people that have done that too. So it's capitalizing on how you're presenting that where it counts.
Unless you're marketing yourself in a smart way, those trophies in your garage are meaningless in the publication world. So don't get into competing to try to get famous, because it likely won't do it. Compete because you love a challenge and you love it. Don't compete because you think it's going to get you on the cover of Oxygen.
The top fitness models in the world have wide brands, smart marketing, and usually have blogs and services available. They aren't just in their undies and hoping for the best.
Be Smart About Your Portfolio
This is the #1 mistake that I see 99% of people make and it drives me bonkers.
Your photos are your brand.
My question is: WHAT ARE YOU MARKETING?
IF YOU WANT TO BE A FITNESS MODEL AND BE SEEN/HIRED AS A FITNESS MODEL THEN YOUR PICTURES NEED TO BE THAT OF A FITNESS MODEL.
So... for my ladies out there who are doing shoots a few times a year but still don't have publications, let me tell you why (although there's probably a few.) Your photos are almost always useless because of a combination of being useless for marketing or are just not good photos in terms of composition.
Here's the deal: fitness portfolios are mostly boring. I know it. It's not nearly as fun as it is to do glam. Glam work is a blast. It's great for marketing once you have built a brand. Beyond that they are not going to help you get noticed other than guys sending you D pics you didn't ask for.
So nobody thinks that I'm picking on them, I'm going to pull up some of my pictures from my early, early, early shoots. It's not that they're bad photos, but let me explain why they're useless for an actual fitness portfolio. Okay? Okay.
So the photo above is nice and all, but remember: I was trying to get into fitness. So what does my sister's red prom dress from 1997 laying on a couch have ANYTHING to do with fitness?
The answer is nothing.
How about this one?
This one is useless for lots of reasons. Not even just for composition, but how would this POSSIBLY help me be taken seriously as something as a fitness model? I'm underwater. You can't see my face. I'm super pale. WTF.
How about something a little closer to what is all over the place now?
Again, it's not that it's a bad picture. But what about this says ANYTHING about fitness modeling? Lingerie? Men's shirt? No. This would not be picked up by Oxygen. SO STOP TAKING PHOTOS LIKE THIS.
Stop doing shoots on railroad tracks in high heels. (I did that too, don't worry.)
Stop doing pictures in your underwear with animals.
Stop doing shoots in the gym in your underwear.
Stop doing shoots in the woods in your underwear or in weird costumes.
Stop doing shoots that resemble softcore porn.
Stop doing shoots where, when I see the photos, I feel my eyebrow raise into my hairline from confusion about what the point of the photo actually is.
I actually saw a photo of a girl LICKING A DUMBBELL. Like... that's wrong for SO MANY REASONS OMGEW.
*climbs up on top of a building, busts out a blowhorn*
Ahem.
If you want to be seen as a FITNESS MODEL.... STOP DOING SHOOTS 100% COMPOSED OF YOU BASICALLY NAKED OR PICTURES THAT ARE JUST STRAIGHT UP WEIRD.
"But, Abby, they have to be able to see my body and the work I've done!"
Yes, they do! But how are your PRESENTING your hard work?
It drives me BANANAS when I have 18-22 year old new aspiring model that thinks the only way they can get noticed if they take all their clothes off. NO. It's about MARKETING. Who is your audience? Who needs to see your look? Who do you need to network with?
Fitness Vs Glam
An important note here: This is not to say that you can't be sexy. You can still look fit and sexy without looking like you're on a weird fetish porn DVD.
Hell, I have all kinds of sexy awesome photos that I love, but I wouldn't consider them FITNESS portfolio work. You can be in a swimsuit and look sexy. You can even be in weird midriff bearing outfit.
If you're not sure of what the difference is between fitness model photos and glam photos, here you go:
Fitness Model Photo That Is Useful
Cool Glam Photo that I Totally Cant Use For Fitness Publications
Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now.
Stop Copying Everyone Else
Seriously. Stop it. Oh my gosh, have some original thought.This is an industry full of carbon copies. Monkey see, monkey do. Stop imitating. Be original! Don't copy the composition of other photos. Stop getting the same outfits as model XYZ and doing the exact same thing. Retire the photos of you clapping with lifting chalk.
Take the time to poke around online to pull together unique looks.
Yes you need some standard stuff everyone has. Yes, you're going to need the same photo with a dumbbell everyone else has. Yawn. Fitness modeling can be brutal in terms of changing it up, but you know what the different factor is in it?
You.
You, your facial expressions, and your ability to come to shoot and collaborate with a photographer for totally unique looks and photo ideas. You are the X factor in your portfolio! What makes you stand out? What amazing ideas do you have in that talented brain?
And for the love of Pete, just be yourself and PROJECT that.
Stop hitting up people for contacts. Stop doing the same thing everyone else does. FORGE YOUR OWN PATH AND STOP RIDING COATTAILS BECAUSE IT DOES NOT WORK.
Okay, now get to work!
Fitness Modeling Pay Little To Nothing And You Start From The Bottom
"Oh man, I think I can make so much money in this!" everyone thinks in the beginning.
So new people, be prepared to check your ego and work your way up the ranks.
If you're not currently represented by an agency, it's not difficult. Set up an appointment with a local one and go in for an interview. Check out their submission guidelines (some accept digital but some still require hard copy photos) and congrats, you have an agent that might be able to get you a little paid work.
Reality check: when you're new to the industry, the work that you have (particularly if you're not in a large market like NYC and LA) is going to be few and far between if it is paid.
Look at my amazing first paid modeling gig. You're not seeing this wrong. This is me in a pool (very low resolution off an ancient phone) with glamorous things like pool noodles.
Oh yeah, I was so super rich and famous after this. Totally. lol
Look, if you're trying to build a portfolio, you're not gonna start with top industry photographers. So ask around your local area. See who else is already building their portfolio. Get photographer recommendations. Know it won't be the most amazing work when you start out.
And for the record I know NUMEROUS cover models for major publications... and guess what? That didn't pay them Scrooge McDuck piles of money either. I've seen numerous people land covers and expect Aladdin's carpet to show up to whisk them away to riches and nothing happens because they didn't capitalize on the marketing opportunities available with those huge publications cuz the only thing they had going for them were lovely pictures. If you're smart, you'll have a way of plugging your photos into other things and open MORE DOORS!
The Publication Fairy Doesn't Exist, So You Have To Work For Yourself
If you want to get published as a fitness model, it doesn't just magically happen. You have to be proactive about it. Magazines don't just come to you and say "WE WANT YOU".
You have to submit yourself. (By the way, 99% of photographers who say "I can get you published in XYZ" are usually full of crap so heads up).
That's right. No agent, no manager, no anyone got a single thing ran for me that I've been in, from bodybuilding.com to Oxygen. None.
Oxygen, by the way, is the biggest thing I've been featured in. Know how I got that? I looked at the submission guidelines. You can submit once every X amount of months. So I submitted updated pictures and re-filled out my same forms i don't even know how many times over a 4 year period and TAH DAH.
1 year after they contacted me that I'd been accepted, this finally ran. And I had to be totally silent about it prior to it coming out.
People hear "no" once and go "aw shucks" and never even try again. Guys and gals, if you want to get published, you have to have some perseverance. It's not that hard. Open the magazines you want to be in or go on their websites. Read their submission guidelines.
It's not hard but it does take a combination of the right timing and the right photos.
Photos For Submission Cannot Go On Social Media and Usually Need White Screens
So as PAINFUL as it can be after a shoot and you get bomb@ss shots, if you want them published, the world can't see them anywhere else. They have to be unique to that publication and that publication ONLY.
Additionally, the vast majority of magazines want your shoots in front of a white screen so they can edit stuff in around them. So all the pictures lounging on beds, leaning in doorways, etc etc etc can't be used if you're truly trying to go for a cover.
You Can Crossover Later if You Want, or ITS FINE to do shoots "for fun"
Again with the sexy pics. I have tons of them that I wanted for the sake of having them or because it's what the photographer is known for. Once you've built a solid brand then sure, you can do crossover glam style stuff from time to time. But if you're new. you're just going to get bouquets of d*cks sent to you on social media if you're just on IG in your Victoria's Secret and wondering why nobody is being respectful. And NOooooooobody likes a d*ck bouquet.
My dear friend Paul Buceta is notorious for black and white glam shots. That's his forte. So of COURSE I have some of those pictures and they're badass, but they're never something I'd send into a fitness magazine.
Like, you're probably not going to see this shot in Status Fitness Magazine anytime soon but it's still a cool shot. Right? But do you think I'd ever be able to make a dime for this photo? Heck no.
When I began competing in 2008, competing was an underground sport. The only physique categories were fitness, figure, and bodybuilding. Bikini and physique were added a few years later. Since then, everyone and their mom competes. And everyone and their mom wants to get into fitness modeling.
And trust me, I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
But the big thing you need to know is why do you want to compete and model?
And equally as important (if not moreso), how are you marketing yourself?
Have you ever thought about what's actually driving these goals? Because if you haven't, you're not really in the game. This is particularly true of fitness modeling, which is ever more competitive and has a revolving door of new faces entering the arena every year. Each year, you're a year older and there's a new 25 year old right behind you. So what's your gameplan?
Why does it matter? It's simple.
If it's merely for "LOOK AT ME" purposes, you're not going to get very far. Sure, bettering your health and doing it for the challenge of it, or saying "It would be cool to get professional photos" is a wonderful gameplan. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
But the major problem I see over and over again is that there are people blindly throwing spaghetti at the wall trying to "make it big".
So I'm going to be your pseudo-manager for a moment, if you'll allow me.
Why Your Photos and Marketing Need to Serve a Purpose
I always knew I wanted to be able to inspire people and make them laugh. I knew I was going to have to somehow build an audience for more people to start following my weight loss transformation when FB was still only a few years old. More and more people started observing what I was doing as I was getting on stage, which lead to blogging.
I realized that for marketing purposes (If I EVER FINISH THIS BOOK IM WRITING, good golly), that I was probably going to have to start getting pictures taken to continue boosting my audience. Then I started submitting articles and photos. Lots of things got published. Then I got my foot in the door in other areas and I met a jillion awesome and amazing people in the industry.
That's how it all started. I needed to make and build a brand to attract the kind of audience I wanted for my readership. That's marketing with a purpose.
So let's break down a few things that I am desperate for people to understand before they enter into this insanity called "the fitness industry".
Competing Does Not Mean Magazine Publications and Covers
I hate to break it to you, but if you're trying to compete to get your foot into the door in modeling, they are not 100% connected. Maybe 50%, but only if you're smart about it.
Don't believe me?
Jamie Eason competed eons ago and didn't even come close to making the top 10. Did she go on to have massive success despite that? Ummmmmmmm that's an understatement. I'm sorry to break some people's egos but competing means sh*t if you're trying to get published. Nobody cares. Unless you're in the top 5 at the pro level at the Arnold or the Olympia, nobody cares. Even then, it's minimal caring. If you've won 10 shows at the local level, that's an amazing accomplishment but it means diddly squat in an industry inundated with 89474 people that have done that too. So it's capitalizing on how you're presenting that where it counts.
Unless you're marketing yourself in a smart way, those trophies in your garage are meaningless in the publication world. So don't get into competing to try to get famous, because it likely won't do it. Compete because you love a challenge and you love it. Don't compete because you think it's going to get you on the cover of Oxygen.
The top fitness models in the world have wide brands, smart marketing, and usually have blogs and services available. They aren't just in their undies and hoping for the best.
Be Smart About Your Portfolio
This is the #1 mistake that I see 99% of people make and it drives me bonkers.
Your photos are your brand.
My question is: WHAT ARE YOU MARKETING?
IF YOU WANT TO BE A FITNESS MODEL AND BE SEEN/HIRED AS A FITNESS MODEL THEN YOUR PICTURES NEED TO BE THAT OF A FITNESS MODEL.
So... for my ladies out there who are doing shoots a few times a year but still don't have publications, let me tell you why (although there's probably a few.) Your photos are almost always useless because of a combination of being useless for marketing or are just not good photos in terms of composition.
Here's the deal: fitness portfolios are mostly boring. I know it. It's not nearly as fun as it is to do glam. Glam work is a blast. It's great for marketing once you have built a brand. Beyond that they are not going to help you get noticed other than guys sending you D pics you didn't ask for.
So nobody thinks that I'm picking on them, I'm going to pull up some of my pictures from my early, early, early shoots. It's not that they're bad photos, but let me explain why they're useless for an actual fitness portfolio. Okay? Okay.
The answer is nothing.
How about this one?
This one is useless for lots of reasons. Not even just for composition, but how would this POSSIBLY help me be taken seriously as something as a fitness model? I'm underwater. You can't see my face. I'm super pale. WTF.
How about something a little closer to what is all over the place now?
Again, it's not that it's a bad picture. But what about this says ANYTHING about fitness modeling? Lingerie? Men's shirt? No. This would not be picked up by Oxygen. SO STOP TAKING PHOTOS LIKE THIS.
Stop doing shoots on railroad tracks in high heels. (I did that too, don't worry.)
Stop doing pictures in your underwear with animals.
Stop doing shoots in the gym in your underwear.
Stop doing shoots in the woods in your underwear or in weird costumes.
Stop doing shoots that resemble softcore porn.
Stop doing shoots where, when I see the photos, I feel my eyebrow raise into my hairline from confusion about what the point of the photo actually is.
I actually saw a photo of a girl LICKING A DUMBBELL. Like... that's wrong for SO MANY REASONS OMGEW.
*climbs up on top of a building, busts out a blowhorn*
Ahem.
If you want to be seen as a FITNESS MODEL.... STOP DOING SHOOTS 100% COMPOSED OF YOU BASICALLY NAKED OR PICTURES THAT ARE JUST STRAIGHT UP WEIRD.
"But, Abby, they have to be able to see my body and the work I've done!"
Yes, they do! But how are your PRESENTING your hard work?
It drives me BANANAS when I have 18-22 year old new aspiring model that thinks the only way they can get noticed if they take all their clothes off. NO. It's about MARKETING. Who is your audience? Who needs to see your look? Who do you need to network with?
Fitness Vs Glam
An important note here: This is not to say that you can't be sexy. You can still look fit and sexy without looking like you're on a weird fetish porn DVD.
Hell, I have all kinds of sexy awesome photos that I love, but I wouldn't consider them FITNESS portfolio work. You can be in a swimsuit and look sexy. You can even be in weird midriff bearing outfit.
If you're not sure of what the difference is between fitness model photos and glam photos, here you go:
Fitness Model Photo That Is Useful
Cool Glam Photo that I Totally Cant Use For Fitness Publications
Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now.
Stop Copying Everyone Else
Seriously. Stop it. Oh my gosh, have some original thought.This is an industry full of carbon copies. Monkey see, monkey do. Stop imitating. Be original! Don't copy the composition of other photos. Stop getting the same outfits as model XYZ and doing the exact same thing. Retire the photos of you clapping with lifting chalk.
Take the time to poke around online to pull together unique looks.
Yes you need some standard stuff everyone has. Yes, you're going to need the same photo with a dumbbell everyone else has. Yawn. Fitness modeling can be brutal in terms of changing it up, but you know what the different factor is in it?
You.
You, your facial expressions, and your ability to come to shoot and collaborate with a photographer for totally unique looks and photo ideas. You are the X factor in your portfolio! What makes you stand out? What amazing ideas do you have in that talented brain?
And for the love of Pete, just be yourself and PROJECT that.
Stop hitting up people for contacts. Stop doing the same thing everyone else does. FORGE YOUR OWN PATH AND STOP RIDING COATTAILS BECAUSE IT DOES NOT WORK.
Okay, now get to work!
Fitness Modeling Pay Little To Nothing And You Start From The Bottom
"Oh man, I think I can make so much money in this!" everyone thinks in the beginning.
So new people, be prepared to check your ego and work your way up the ranks.
If you're not currently represented by an agency, it's not difficult. Set up an appointment with a local one and go in for an interview. Check out their submission guidelines (some accept digital but some still require hard copy photos) and congrats, you have an agent that might be able to get you a little paid work.
Reality check: when you're new to the industry, the work that you have (particularly if you're not in a large market like NYC and LA) is going to be few and far between if it is paid.
Look at my amazing first paid modeling gig. You're not seeing this wrong. This is me in a pool (very low resolution off an ancient phone) with glamorous things like pool noodles.
Oh yeah, I was so super rich and famous after this. Totally. lol
Look, if you're trying to build a portfolio, you're not gonna start with top industry photographers. So ask around your local area. See who else is already building their portfolio. Get photographer recommendations. Know it won't be the most amazing work when you start out.
And for the record I know NUMEROUS cover models for major publications... and guess what? That didn't pay them Scrooge McDuck piles of money either. I've seen numerous people land covers and expect Aladdin's carpet to show up to whisk them away to riches and nothing happens because they didn't capitalize on the marketing opportunities available with those huge publications cuz the only thing they had going for them were lovely pictures. If you're smart, you'll have a way of plugging your photos into other things and open MORE DOORS!
The Publication Fairy Doesn't Exist, So You Have To Work For Yourself
If you want to get published as a fitness model, it doesn't just magically happen. You have to be proactive about it. Magazines don't just come to you and say "WE WANT YOU".
You have to submit yourself. (By the way, 99% of photographers who say "I can get you published in XYZ" are usually full of crap so heads up).
That's right. No agent, no manager, no anyone got a single thing ran for me that I've been in, from bodybuilding.com to Oxygen. None.
Oxygen, by the way, is the biggest thing I've been featured in. Know how I got that? I looked at the submission guidelines. You can submit once every X amount of months. So I submitted updated pictures and re-filled out my same forms i don't even know how many times over a 4 year period and TAH DAH.
1 year after they contacted me that I'd been accepted, this finally ran. And I had to be totally silent about it prior to it coming out.
People hear "no" once and go "aw shucks" and never even try again. Guys and gals, if you want to get published, you have to have some perseverance. It's not that hard. Open the magazines you want to be in or go on their websites. Read their submission guidelines.
It's not hard but it does take a combination of the right timing and the right photos.
Photos For Submission Cannot Go On Social Media and Usually Need White Screens
So as PAINFUL as it can be after a shoot and you get bomb@ss shots, if you want them published, the world can't see them anywhere else. They have to be unique to that publication and that publication ONLY.
Additionally, the vast majority of magazines want your shoots in front of a white screen so they can edit stuff in around them. So all the pictures lounging on beds, leaning in doorways, etc etc etc can't be used if you're truly trying to go for a cover.
You Can Crossover Later if You Want, or ITS FINE to do shoots "for fun"
Again with the sexy pics. I have tons of them that I wanted for the sake of having them or because it's what the photographer is known for. Once you've built a solid brand then sure, you can do crossover glam style stuff from time to time. But if you're new. you're just going to get bouquets of d*cks sent to you on social media if you're just on IG in your Victoria's Secret and wondering why nobody is being respectful. And NOooooooobody likes a d*ck bouquet.
My dear friend Paul Buceta is notorious for black and white glam shots. That's his forte. So of COURSE I have some of those pictures and they're badass, but they're never something I'd send into a fitness magazine.
Like, you're probably not going to see this shot in Status Fitness Magazine anytime soon but it's still a cool shot. Right? But do you think I'd ever be able to make a dime for this photo? Heck no.
Don't Work With Creepers or Flat-Out Bad Photographers
Seriously, ladies. Sexual harassment and creepers are the real deal in this and there are a lot of GWCs out there (guys with cameras). In other words, if a photographer says ANYTHING lude to you, touches you, or tries to convince you to take nudes, don't shoot with them. F them and F their feelings, it's YOUR responsibility to feel safe and comfortable so don't feel bad about that.
Talk to models who have worked with photographers. Ask for references. Look at portfolios. Don't end up in Uncle Bill's well in his basement because you were too trusting and lazy to take 30 minutes to see whose studio you might be entering.
If you have a photographer that's contacted you to shoot and their work make you want to curl up and die because their pictures look like they were done on an iPhone 4, please just politely say no.
By the way, you have the right to decline any photographer you want with zero explanation. A great indicator of an actual professional photographer and a GWC is if you say no to shooting and they continually send you messages. Blockkkkkkkkkkk. Kbyeeeeeeeee!
Avoid My Mistakes (and My Peer's Early Mistakes)
Look, I'm not your Mom. Do what you want. It's your body. They're your pictures. It's your money and time. If you want to drink coffee riding backward naked on horse, using Thigh Master with a saucy twinkle in your eye, knock yourself out. You are freeeeeeeeee too choose. But you don't get to email me whining that you've been modeling for 5 years and nobody has picked up your stuff. Know what I'm saying?
Just be smart.
Be unique. Find your own voice in an industry that's over-saturated and has an ever-revolving door.
Don't copy other people.
Don't have dumb photos unless you want them for funsies or to horrify your children with boudoir photos when they're older.
Work with reputable photographers.
Think before you post.
Eat your veggies.
Wash your butt.
That's about all I can think of at the moment.
Love you all and build that career!
Abby
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