How much time do fitness models spend in the gym? I’ve heard everything from half an hour of high power workouts to working out as often as one would spend at a job.

Part of it depends on the intent.

To look good and make money doing it.

If you need to lose weight and get fit, you’ll need an hour and a half or more of exercise a day. That could be a mix of running, long walks, taking the stairs to the fifth floor and formal workouts.

What if you are already at a decent weight?

Then it matters on what you eat.

That shouldn’t matter.

Oh, yes, it does. Someone who eats a lower calorie, high protein and healthy diet may maintain that figure in an hour a day, while someone who eats whatever they want needs to burn hours in the gym each day to look that good.

So the person who looks like they could eat anything can’t really get away with it. The consequence is an extra two hours on the treadmill.

Or the track, rower, poolside or somewhere else.

If you eat a better diet, you’ll have a better schedule. How long do body builders have to work out?

Body builders need more time to workout, usually an hour to two hours. But some of them enjoy the feeling of pumping iron, so they’ll be at the gym for three hours a day.

For them, that is as much as a job.

Which is why body builders try to get jobs as fitness models or selling GNC products — because few other jobs give them the schedule flexibility to spend hours in the gym.

Not a lot of jobs give you that flexibility.

You can do crunches, lift weights, run on the treadmill and other workouts while watching TV. The problem is that most people prefer to sit on the couch instead of get moving.

It’s good to know that I could get a body like that working out while watching an hour of infomercials for those products.

For inspiration to look that good or in the hope of getting a job selling things like that?

Both.