How to Get Work As a Fitness Model - Part 1

I am writing this article because I've had many people send me emails on facebook on how can they attain fitness modeling opportunities. The best thing I can do is use my experience and tell you what I did to attain work and the people that were influential in my success.



When I started this year, I told myself that there was no amount of money that I wasn't willing to spend to promote myself as a fitness model. This may not be the route for you. I was very impatient and I wanted the success right away and I always felt in my mind that I was cover material. I just felt I had to produce great pictures that would allow editors to give me that chance.



Not to give a numerical figure, but I've spent over 2,000 dollars shooting with one of the best fitness/physique photographers in the country. Was it worth it? It was definitely worth it because now I have pictures that

continuosly get me work and have created a buzz about who I am in this fitness industry. This fitness photographer rarely did TFP's and so I had no problem spending my money to get the best pictures. I felt that if I shot with him, I could get great pictures that would get me work.



After shooting with this photographer about three times from January of 2008 to March of 2008, I felt that I had some of the best fitness modeling cover-type pictures in the country and I didn't believe anybody could doubt that. I sent my pictures to International Fitness Icon Clark Bartram who was very impressed with how professional and how driven I was. We met at the FAME camp back in April of 08 and we just connected on a level that I can't explain. He took a liking to me and I became his pet project because what he saw in me was just a younger version of him. Me and Clark Bartram are pretty much like family. I feel like I've known this guy my whole life. So to have a fitness legend like Clark as a close friend has really been a blessing to me.



He saw a guy that was tenacious and was willing to do whatever it took to be succesful. He emailed my fitness pictures to many of his contacts such as IronMan, Fitness Rx For Men, Max Sports and Fitness, and the internationally known photographer Ralph Dehaan who was the photographer by the way that shot my Max Sports and Fitness cover. Every editor of every magazine that I just mentioned was incredibly impressed with my pictures and they questioned if in fact my abs looked like that....kind of funny.



Even though Clark was breaking me into his contacts, I was continously working hard on FedExing pictures to editors of fitness magazines that I felt would appreciate my look. One of those magazines was a magazine called Inside Fitness. I followed the exact template that Clark Bartram lays out in his book, "You Too Can Be A Fitness Model".

I FedExed about three of my best pictures to Terry Frendo, Publisher of Inside Fitness. I followed up with him via phone call a week after he received the pictures to introduce myself and he again was impressed with my pictures and said, "your abs are incredible". I told him that I would be flying out to Toronto, Canada for the FAME World Championships in June and that I would love to shoot for his magazine while I was in Toronto. He said he would love for me to shoot for his magazine and that he would be the photographer. How often do you have a publisher of a major fitness magazine say he wants to shoot you? I was incredibly flattered because he has many photographers on staff that could have done this.



That was the start of my relationship with Terry Frendo. When I met him, we got an opportunity to hang out while he shot me and we have developed a great relationship. I told him whenever he comes out to California to call me and we could grab lunch or coffee. He took me up on that offer a couple of months ago and we hung out while he was in California. I made that offer because I wanted to establish that relationship with this publisher which I felt would be beneficial for my career.



Being successful in this business it is about establishing relationships with these people. Clark Bartram told me specifically, "you want to make friends with these people that will hire you for a fitness modeling job." So that's how I think whenever I speak to anybody in the fitness industry. I am always kind to people and I am very cordial with whoever I meet. This business is such a small industry and people talk, so I would rather have people say "that guy Obi is a nice guy" as opposed to "he is a jerk".



Some of the other things I do is send reminder emails that I am just checking in and that I am in great shape whenever they need a fitness model for a feature or workout for the magazine; I am ready. The opportunities that I have received would not have happened if I wouldn't have shot with Jason Ellis, who in my modest opinion is arguably one of the best photographers in the business.



Those pictures that I spent lots of money on made Clark Bartram, Iron Man Magazine, Fitness RX For Men, Max Sports and Fitness, Muscle and Fitness, Labrada Nutrition, Anabolic Extreme and lastly Dymatize Nutrition take notice of me. Although I've never shot for Iron Man Magazine, Fitness RX for Men, or Muscle and Fitness, the editors are definitely interested in my look and physique. So I am definitely on their radar.



Pictures are everything in fitness modeling. If you aren't photogenic, fitness modeling (to be frank) is not for you. Let's be honest with ourselves, they see pictures going through their desk all the time. You have to have an incredible picture to make an editor stop and say, "who is this?"

Stay tuned for Part 2 - 8 Tips to Get Work as a Fitness Model