Unless you’re Mr. Olympia… don’t quit your day job.

Ideally, lifting weights and bodybuilding should be your full time job – just like any other professional sport that pays its athletes the big bucks. But the reality is quite the opposite. Bodybuilding is not a multimillion dollar endeavor. Far from it.

For most bodybuilders, this means they need to have a day job. Something to pay the bills so they could travel and sustain the kind of lifestyle necessary for constant improvement and success in bodybuilding competitions.

But when you have to dedicate so much time to training, dieting, rest – and have a full time job; suddenly you might find yourself making sacrifices to your training that you can’t afford.

So how do you make it all work? Well, every life story is different – but we decided to list off the top five types of jobs that might fit well with a bodybuilding lifestyle.

Self Employment

The most crippling aspect of a full time job is not having the flexibility to fit in a full workout or the many protein filled meals you need throughout the day. If you work for yourself – you make your own schedule. You can fit in all of the meals and workouts you need as long as all of your work got done.

Of course, if this all sounds extremely ideal – that’s because it is. The truth is that many freelance jobs can end up being so demanding that you can’t afford to fit in all of that training. Especially if you are starting your own full fledged business. But if you can make it work – it works great. Flexibility allows for great opportunities to focus on your bodybuilding passions.

Telecommuting/Work at Home

This one is a bit of a safer bet and also provides the same kind of flexibility. If you work at home for a company – the rigid work flow suddenly disappears. Need to fit in those six meals throughout your day? That’s easy when you are right at home with the kitchen just a few feet away. You might even be able to work out a flexible schedule with your boss in terms of hitting up the gym.

Manual Labor

This one is a bit divisive. On the plus side, manual labor sounds great because it keeps you active and fit. With most manual labor fitting under union laws – it also provides you with strict work hours. So there is no worry for having to work overtime and missing out on the gym.

The downside? If the job is too physically demanding it might burn too much of your calories and energy. Bodybuilders already require a large amount of calorie intake – and an intense labor job can boost that number up to such a high degree that it is impossible to recover. You won’t be able to gain mass this way – defeating all of your hard work. Long story short: manual labor is a double edged sword.

Office Jobs (9-5’s)

This is another two sided choice. An office job can be perfect for a body builder. If it’s a traditional 9 to 5 with no over time – it provides you with a very specific schedule that you can plan to work around every day. No traveling, no unexpected schedules – just a thick block of time that you can properly work around.

The downside? You’re completely inactive and have to stick to the rigid schedule while you are in the office. How will you fit in your multiple meals and keep up with your calorie intake? And what if your gym isn’t close to your job? Can it fit into your schedule? These are all things that can most definitely be solved – but can also be hindrances none the less.

Personal Training/Fitness Instructor/Gym Personnel

Obviously, this is the holy grail of day jobs for bodybuilders. Any job where you get to work in a gym is more than ideal. This cuts commute times to get to your gym down to zero – it also gives you the benefit of applying the knowledge you have about fitness to your job every day. Heck, even if you’re the janitor at a gym – you will be constantly surrounded by the thing you love. It’s perfect really.

Just Make It Work

While all of these jobs would be wonderfully ideal – in the end most people just don’t have the luxury of an ideal day job. The truth is that a full time job is necessary to support your life – and all of the passions you carry with it.

This goes for anyone – not just bodybuilders. The balance of career and personal passion has been and will always be a delicate and challenging balance. At the end of the day, what separates a truly happy and successful person from everyone else is that they don’t make excuses. Maybe you have to work all hours of the day for years at a time – but if you are serious about bodybuilding you can’t let anything stop you.