Edleen fitness model shares his journey on the fitness side of beauty
In the past nine years of competing, he has always ended in the top five of the World Beauty Fitness Federation (WBFF) championships.
Edleen resident and former Hoërskool Kempton Park learner, Jaco de Bruyn (36), is one of only a few athletes in South Africa who can live out his dream and also earn an income from it.
“I’m a fully endorsed athlete, it’s my life, profession and I’m privileged to be able to earn a salary from fitness and bodybuilding.
“I’ve been competing since 2011 and have been fully endorsed in South Africa the past six years. My endorsements include EHP Labs, which is a supplement company. I also manage my own businesses and am full-on in the fitness industry.
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“Being faced with the inevitable reality due to lockdown, he said it had a definite impact on his fitness modelling career.
“They cut our sponsorships with nearly 75 per cent, but hopefully after lockdown it will go back to normal, since all my sponsors come from Australia,” he said.
Not to worry, as De Bruyn owns his own media company, as well as doggie parlours in Montana and Pretoria West.
“Through my media company, we create social media content for fitness models and bodybuilders, in addition to corporate companies like Virgin Active and Planet Fitness. I love content creation and travels across the world. I always ensure I have a good cameraman with me, so I can experiment with creating quality content for my own social media pages.”
He was asked what he loved about bodybuilding, to which he pointed out that he really is a fitness model, although the concept behind the scenes is exactly the same.
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“We train the same and eat the same, but I’m not someone who physically gets onto a stage and do deadlifts until a vein pops in my head. However, I do love bodybuilding with my whole life and soul. I am borderline between a muscle man and a bodybuilder.”
So what is the difference between a fitness model and a bodybuilder?
“Fitness modelling is more mainstream. We also enter the stage, but we focus more on aesthetic poses and it’s not as hardcore as bodybuilding. It’s sexier and in both industries you get judged on your condition – the same aspects, it’s just a different show. Every division has its own criteria.
“In the past nine years of competing, he has always ended in the top five of the World Beauty Fitness Federation (WBFF) championships.
“In 2014 I achieved a third place and in 2015 I placed fourth in the world. I then took a break from competing for four years and that was when I started my travels across the world to attend expos and more.”
In 2019, De Bruyn competed in South Africa for the first time in seven years and placed third when he changed his competing federation to National Physique Committee (NPC).
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“When you change your division you have to compete locally in order to qualify internationally.”
When asked how widely fitness modelling is endorsed in SA, De Bruyn said he believed to have put South Africa on the map, as he doesn’t know of many South Africans who get paid for participating in the industry.
“It’s definitely an industry that’s growing a lot and I think social media contributes to being discovered and seen in the industry. But for me it’s not about the competition, it’s a lifestyle and I live the life.”
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