How to Become a Fitness Model in 2023: The Ultimate Guide

If you have a great body shape that you’re working hard to maintain, whether you’re a bodybuilder or the average gym worm, it’s only natural for you to see yourself becoming the next big-shot, world-renowned fitness model. Although that may seem pretty hard and complicated at first, it is feasible, especially after taking a look at this guide on how to become a fitness model.

Having such a career is not so easy, though, especially if you don’t know where to start. It is, however, worth it as the industry is growing at such a fast pace. It’s valued currently at more than 30 billion and increasing by 4% or more each year. Pretty appealing numbers, aren’t they?

Apart from that, the idea of getting a paycheck that everyone dreams of for being a fitness model, doing the thing you love the most, is truly amazing.

Especially if you’ve been scrolling through Instagram, since, lately, modeling profiles have become a real trend, where models showcase their amazing physique and glamorous lifestyle while simultaneously being paid for it.

If the idea tickles your imagination and fuels your ambitions, then you have come to the right place! In this article, we’ll be showing you exactly how you can become the fitness model you’ve always wanted to be. So, the next time you see those models in advertisements on TV or in magazines, you can say that you’re on the right track to be in their place eventually.

We need to highlight a small detail here first. Fitness modeling is a bit different from bodybuilding since you don’t necessarily need big muscles but only toned ones that are in proper shape. A great bonus would be having a distinctive feature, whether it be in your body or face, that will push you even further.

That said, fret not if you don’t possess such a feature, as we will help you overcome the limits that might face you in your journey so that you can succeed in the end. All you have to do is to read through this article, and you’ll see for yourself how much better your results will be!

How to Become a Fitness Model: It All Starts with the Mindset!

The first thing to keep in mind (pun intended) is the mindset needed for success. Most importantly, this is the basis that other traits will build upon, as without the right mental preparation for the journey, it will be tough to reach your desired goal.

The bar set for being successful is no joke, as more and more aspiring fitness models compete for money and fame.

The industry is weighed in favor of female models, though, as they make more money on average than their male counterparts.

It doesn’t mean that men can’t make more than six figures, though; it just makes it a bit more difficult for them.

The perks of this career path aren’t only the wealth you can accumulate, but also the fame and media presence you can achieve, so you must have these two things on your mind all the time when learning how do I become a fitness model.

You’re in It for the Long Haul

The number one fact you have to face is that you need to set out a long-term strategy in order to achieve success.

Modeling is not for the quickly discouraged, as it takes somewhere between 1 and 3 years in order to yield meaningful results. If you’re the type to let go after just a few months, then you won’t be able to reach your goal.

This long initial duration stems from the fact that you need to maintain your body shape, and you need to be committed to doing so as the right opportunity that will boost your career might come at any given moment.

That’s why you need to invest time and money into the process so you can guarantee success. That’s one of the fundamental facts to keep in mind when learning how to become a fitness model.

Consistent Marketing Is the Key

Having an outstanding body shape is great for starters, but that’s not enough to obtain opportunities and further your modeling journey. After all, what’s the point of having such a fabulous physique if nobody can see it?

This is the reason you ought to focus on marketing your image constantly, presenting yourself to agencies, networking with others in the industry that can help you, and participating in fitness competitions.

Never Say Never

This is an important trait you should have when setting out a goal for your career, which is being resilient and never backing down or losing hope.

The road might indeed be steep, but you should always keep moving forward. In fact, many fitness models have part-time jobs in addition to other occupations. In this regard, consistency is key, since you don’t have to do this full time, but you should do it continuously.

Required Physical Features

These are qualities that not everyone can have because some features like height, for example, cannot be changed. Additionally, these traits are somewhat mandatory to start such a career.

First and foremost, you should be at least 5 foot 10 inches and not much over 6 foot 4 inches, ideally. You must also have a fit body with lean muscles. Also, your skin should look as healthy as possible, while physical attractiveness is a very welcomed bonus.

These aren’t really strict guidelines since there are exceptions out there; however, these are good indicators on how well you’ll be able to perform and how far you’ll get.

How to Become a Fitness Model: Take Care of Your Diet

Working out might give you good results, but on its own, it’s just not enough to obtain a fabulous physique.

A good diet is also required to achieve the desired results since knowing what to eat and especially what not to eat will let your body unleash its potential. So, if you want to learn how to become a fitness model, you need to focus on your diet.

Balanced Diet

Having balance in your diet is vital for it to be effective since it should include all the essential components, ranging from fat to carbohydrates, proteins, and minerals.

These nutritional elements should be partitioned as follows: 50% carbohydrates, 30% proteins, and 20% fats. This division works well for most body types.

You can obtain even more satisfying results by following a personalized diet, where you start from the generalized ratios and work your way to more specified ones from there.

Vegetables and Fruits for Healthy Hair and Skin

Skin health is an essential feature for any fitness model, and this is where fruits come into your diet in order to help you gain this trait. This is the reason you shouldn’t ignore them; you should instead have enough of them to keep your skin game going strong. Particularly, there are some types of fruits and veggies that are especially helpful in this case, like broccoli, green beans, and kiwis.

How to Become a Fitness Model: Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate.

Keeping yourself hydrated is one of the tips that everyone and their neighbor keep talking about, and rightfully so, since it is crucial to keep a steady water level in your system so you can let go of toxins and also metabolize the proteins in your body.

Keep Your Diet Clean of the Following

Some of the things that you should ideally avoid are too much sugar and salt. Additionally, preservatives are nasty, and you must keep them away from you.

When it comes to drinks, whether soft or alcoholic, you should keep carbonated ones at bay since they aren’t so beneficial to athletes.

If you’re aiming to lose weight, then you should go at a slow pace while gradually reducing the calories you consume. If done in a wrong, sudden way, it will instead push the body into starvation mode where it preserves the calories consumed, thus ruining any efforts to develop muscles.

How to Become a Fitness Model: You’re Going to Sweat, a LOT

We are now done with diet tips, so let’s delve into fitness tips of this guide on how to become a fitness model.

Building Muscles and Burning Fat with Cardio Exercises

Cardio exercises are the best when it comes to burning fat; some of them include cycling, running, and rope jumping. Additionally, you may do ab exercises alongside them for complimentary benefits.

Anaerobic Threshold Increment

This is a vital component in the recipe for success for any fitness model. Increasing this threshold means more workout time and thus more benefits. This can be done by interval training using tracks and treadmills.

Pilates Training

This is the best to make you more flexible, have leaner muscles, and more endurance and be stronger. Moreover, it can also improve your agility. The tip is to train in tight timeframes with light weights. Also, you need to have the proper rest in order to let your muscles relax.

How to Become a Fitness Model: The Art of Selling Your Features

Marketing is vital for the success of any product; it not only informs customers about the business, but it also builds and maintains reputation.

Similarly, it doesn’t matter how gorgeous and in-shape your body is, you will never make it to a fitness beauty unless you put yourself out to attract the public.

All you have to do is to follow these couple of marketing tips that will enable you to brand yourself in the fitness industry.

Create an Attractive Portfolio

To “sell” yourself professionally, you have to start immediately building your own portfolio, and it has to be well-created. Your portfolio must include your measurements, photos featuring your best poses, and a small paragraph about you and the message you want to deliver via your overall profile.

Make sure you take a lot of photos so you can pick 4 or 5 ones that frame your body in the best shots.

You could even make these 4 to 5 photos your reference to your best poses, whenever you need to arrange a professional photo shoot.

That way, you’ll be creating an irresistible portfolio that all fitness model agencies are looking for.

Get Across to Modeling Agencies Online

Now that you’ve got a well-created portfolio, get yourself out there in front of modeling agencies so you can reach them.

Look for different agencies that specialize in modeling and perfect your portfolio based on their requirements of submission and apply immediately.

In the fitness industry, all are related. For instance, many of the online agencies have connections to magazines, other similar agencies, photographers, and advertisers. So exposing yourself in front of these agencies will take you ahead of thousands of competitors, if you keep doing it continuously and in great volume.

Take a Part in Modeling Auditions and Competitions

Most of the viral fitness models used to participate in modeling competitions to show off their bodies and attract major fitness photographers, companies, advertisers, magazines, and modeling agencies.

Check if there are any local or national competitions in your area, and don’t hesitate to sign up and participate, for it is a very profitable opportunity that will raise your profile and let the fitness modeling scouts know about you.

Also, search for magazines’ auditions and prepared according to the requirements of such auditions.

Take a look at videos of fitness contests and observe the winner’s poses in order to emulate them.

Make sure you work hard for these poses by carrying out 30-minute training sessions, each day even six weeks before the competition.

Throughout competitions, avoid looking hard while you pose; instead, try to be natural and relaxed when your abs are contracting.

Consistent practice is the key to achieving a fabulous physique along with great posture, but the requirements of winning these competitions go beyond the outer appearance and demand some personality traits such as confidence and charisma.

Winning also requires possessing a good symmetry of pose and muscle tone.

The judges may take into consideration your attractiveness, in addition to how much you can sell in the industry.

Overall, it’s mandatory to achieve a balance between your fitness level, personality, skeletal structure, body type, and muscle tone.

Seek Help from Modeling Agents

Search online for modeling agents or even do a small search for better findings.

Approach them using your portfolio and ask them to arrange great engagements for you.

Nevertheless, be aware of fraud. It’s important to check the reviews of any agent you’re aiming to hire, and do not pay them unless they get you booked first.

Search for Professional Fitness Photographers

Go for fitness model photographers; they have the training and expertise to show the fitness models and athletes in their best shots.

Find a professional photographer who consistently has their work figuring in major fitness magazines, give them your portfolio, and propose the possibility of working for them free of charge. It’s a great tip that will allow you to put yourself out there without presenting a risk to them.

Nevertheless, if they can’t refer you to potential fitness modeling jobs, let them be in your circle; they have a lot of contacts in the industry that can help you in the future.

Seize Different Fitness Modeling Opportunities

You can undertake a wide range of opportunities as a model in the fitness industry, whether being displayed in a magazine advertisement, working for an agency, or even having the chance to be in a TV advertisement.

All the cases listed above are achievable if you have an attractive look that gains the interest of most clients and consumers.

Companies That You Can Work with as a Fitness Model

Agencies you can work for in this field are various and limitless; they can be supplement manufacturers, fitness companies, athletic wear agencies,  fitness magazines, etc.

There are numerous and profitable opportunities to work as a fitness model; however, it requires determination to find them and exploit them.

Finally, it’s important to mention that, but, like any other industry, it can be unprofitable, unglamorous, and even harsh for beginners.

What Are the Challenges of Being a Fitness Model?

Fitness models face a plethora of physical challenges on set, but they constantly deal with plenty of other obstacles. For instance, a fitness model needs to have a camera-ready body. Sure, if you care about your health and body, you ought to stay in good shape all year round, but there’s a constant pressure to having abs and to constantly look a certain way.

There’s also the mental toll of being compared to other models at castings based on your physical traits. That’s something you don’t get used to easily. Sometimes, even with a great body, you may not be the best fit for a certain role, which is totally okay, and you have to learn to be okay with that. After all, modeling is not just a job, it’s a lifestyle – one that you must accept with all of its ups and downs.

Next, there’s confidence. In the world of fitness modeling, confidence is key, even when you know for sure you’re being judged at a casting.

There’s more to modeling than being just pretty in front of the camera, as body awareness as well as confidence also play a major role in making your journey successful. When you step in front of the camera, you mustn’t just tell yourself that you’re a capable fitness model; you must believe it. That’s something you have to appreciate if you want to get into this world on the right foot.

As a fitness model, looking great isn’t enough, as you also need to perform at a high level physically. Fitness models don’t just look stronger than regular models, they actually are. After all, they’re mainly hired because they can perform a lot of exercises that others can’t and for their great endurance, which is required on shoots.

Should you choose to be a fitness model, you’ll often have to do the 20 push-ups necessary for the perfect shot, or round around the set for almost a mile just to get the perfect running picture. Being a fitness model isn’t just about having good-looking muscles, but also about putting them to good use.

Another tough challenge is that as a fitness model, you’re always on call, as this industry has a last-minute nature, which can be quite challenging.

Fitness models rarely know their schedule on advance, which can make it hard for them to make commitments in their personal lives. Sometimes, a fitness model may have to deal with only same-day notice for castings and only one-day notice for job bookings.

Finally, there’s the fact that a fitness model is basically a freelancer. Until you become well-known in this industry, the paycheck isn’t consistent. When you’re just starting out, sometimes you kill it and sometimes it crickets. The key here is to stay consistent while getting one client after the other until you achieve your financial freedom.

How to Become a Fitness Model: Some Top-Performing Fitness Models That You Can Follow

Certainly, reaching the status of a well-known fitness model is an impressive feat that requires ample hard-work and determination, but also generously rewarding and having numerous perks, including wealth and fame. Let’s take a look at the best 5 Instagram fitness models that achieved this goal:

Sommer Ray

Sommerray Fitness Model Instagram

Sommer Ray is the fitness model with the most Instagram followers ever, with over 26 million fans following her account, where she posts daily updates. Being sponsored by some of the biggest supplement brands out there, she is truly influential.

https://www.instagram.com/sommerray/

Michelle Lewin

Michelle Lewin has certainly cemented her status as one of the top fitness models out there. In fact, she has an incredible 13.4 million followers on her verified Instagram account, which is a benchmark seldom reached by her counterparts.

Lewin was previously a catwalk model; then, she moved on to her current business, which is fitness modeling. Michelle has worked with several top magazines and supplement companies, and also participated in numerous renowned competition.

https://www.instagram.com/michelle_lewin/

Jen Selter

A US model with a massive Instagram presence, Jen Selter is killing it when it comes to fitness modeling, having 12.7 million followers on Instagram.

However, Jen doesn’t restrict herself to only modeling, as she has signed numerous endorsements, appeared on multiple TV shows, and also worked with big brands in different fields and industries, including AT+T, Samsung, Beats By Dr. Dre, InBev/Anheuser-Busch, Spotify, FitPlan, and NA-KD.

https://www.instagram.com/jenselter/

Ana Cheri

Anacheri Instagram

Ana Cheri is an Instagram native model that has become famous thanks to the platform, having 12.4 million followers that she has gained organically.

Ana posts daily tips and tricks related to fitness, while also working with 1st Phorm, a healthy nutrition brand that sponsors her since she is their ambassador. She also appeared on many of the top fitness magazines.

https://www.instagram.com/anacheri/

Eva Andressa

Eva_andressa Instagram

Being a Brazilian fitness model that has previously been a figure champion, Eva Andressa is an Instagram mogul, having 5.4 million followers and growing.

Eva started her career by participating in different fitness competitions, but she switched to fitness modeling after winning several contests in the field. She then proceeded to appear in magazines and Television and signed with several international brands.

https://www.instagram.com/eva_andressa/

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