Who Is Rick Schaff?

Hello, I have several different fields of interest, and I love every single one of them. I have essentially spent the last quarter of a century learning about and being involved in the health & fitness industry. I have been a professional trainer, a photographer, a published writer, a fitness magazine publisher, part owner of a supplement company, a fitness model, a health-conscious restaurant owner. Additionally, I am a certified nutritional consultant, metabolic typing advisor ®, a certified Functional Diagnostic Nutritionist ®, and I have a master’s degree in holistic nutrition. I have essentially spent my entire adult life learning everything I can about the human body and healthy living. It’s a path that God put in my heart, and I am passionate about learning how to take care of this incredible, wonderful “machine” I have been given. I also happen to love real estate and currently offer several vacation rentals in Tampa Bay

Photography and Video

As a graduate of Columbia College Film School in Hollywood, I had the privilege of working on movies like SIDEKICK with Chuck Norris, The original ADAMS FAMILY movie, LIFE STINKS by Mel Brooks, and I also worked on dozens of great music videos featuring popular artists and groups like Poison, Cher, Bon Jovi, Stevie Nicks, Bob Seger, Heart … the list just goes on and on. In the early 90s I became a photographer on movie sets taking pictures of major celebrities like Robert Downey Junior, Jon Voight, and Samuel Jackson. It was both exciting and fun, but something was pulling me towards the gym and away from the bright lights of the Hollywood movie sets.

In the mid 90s I decided to follow my dream to work in the health and fitness industry. I started shooting photos for a bodybuilding magazine called MuscleMag International and I quickly created a monthly column called California Muscle News, which I managed to syndicate in 32 countries through a network of international publications. From there my work was regularly published in many of the world’s most influential health & fitness magazines including Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Fitness, Muscular Development, Oxygen, Muscle Media 2000, etc. My photos helped create successful advertising campaigns for industry leaders like Golds Gym, MetRx, EAS and Weider Nutrition.

At that time I was working with most of the top bodybuilders in the world and Bodybuilding icons like Lou Ferrigno, Shawn Ray, Frank Zane, Samir Bannout – if you were a top bodybuilder in the 90s I was most likely taking pictures of you. Photography and writing also gave me the chance to work with some amazing celebrity athletes like Bo Jackson, Dan Marino, Steve Young, Laila Ali, Shaguille O’Neil, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the late WWE wrestling sensation – Chyna, and actors like Cuba Gooding Jr, and many, many others.

Of all the amazing people I worked with perhaps my most memorable was being personally invited by Joe Weider to meet him in his office where he asked me if I wanted to work full time for Muscle & Fitness – it was pretty awesome. Anyone interested in bodybuilding knows that Joe Weider is the “Father” of Modern day bodybuilding, and in my opinion he was the ultimate goal of where I wanted to be.
When Joe finally retired and sold his company I ventured out to become my own magazine publisher with my talented and crazy friend, Franco Gomez. Together we published 2 bilingual magazines, Divas and MuscleMania. We had a print run of 40,000 copies that were distributed in Canada, the US, Mexico, Spain, Central America and South America.

It was quite an undertaking back then because everything was not digital yet. We also started a supplement line and created the first protein powder supplement that contained added fiber and digestive enzymes. If that wasn’t enough we also promoted several sold out bodybuilding shows in Mexico. Franco was, and still is something else! We traveled the world for several years and It was an amazing adventure!

During that period, I also got into the restaurant industry and became the co-owner of two health-conscious restaurants in Los Angeles called SPIN, a project that lasted 5 years. Around that time I was also featured in Chris Bell’s wildly popular documentary, Bigger Faster Stronger. Additionally I had the pleasure of shooting the images used for the movie poster as well.

In 2009 I decided to move to Tampa, Florida. At that time video technology was changing rapidly, and that allowed me to get back to my original roots I developed in film school. Before that time, working on movies typically meant working with large production crews – something I was not a big fan of because you always had to wait around for everyone to get things ready. “Hurry up and wait” is a very well known saying everyone in Hollywood is all too familiar with. However, today’s advanced video technology is simply unbelievable! Now I can use a very small crew, move at a rapid pace and still produce fantastic results! I love Tampa and it was just my luck that when I got here the fitness market started to explode – although I prefer to think it was because of me 😉
Today I have the privilege of working with so many fantastic clients in Tampa such as PowerHouse Gyms, IFBB Pro Ben Pakulski’s MI40 Gym, Nutrition Solutions meal prep company, The Applied Science and Performance Institute, and D1 Sports Training facility where we work with many pro athletes, etc.

Nutritional Consulting

The reason I became a photographer in the health and fitness industry is because I wanted to promote something I believed in. To me nothing is more important than your health because without it … you have nothing. That said, in my own quest for optimum health I have dedicated a significant amount time learning as much as I can about the human body and how it works. I estimate that I have invested in well over 10,000 hours of articles, books, webinars, and conferences on the human body and nutrition. Additionally, I completed a distance-learning masters program in holistic nutrition, and racked up many other certifications and programs along the way.
To learn more about how my nutritional strategies can help you look and feel your best please see my nutritional consulting page.

Vacation Rentals

One of the reasons I decided to move to Tampa was due to its abundance of affordable real estate. I loved living in LA, but the high cost made it very limiting from an investment strategy standpoint, especially if you are interested in buying properties on the water – which I am. That said, I found Tampa to be much more real estate friendly. In the beginning my strategy was to buy and flip, which turned out to be very lucrative. However, in the last couple of years I started buying vacation rentals. I absolutely love providing Florida-fantasy-vacation experiences for excited travelers, and now I am very motivated to build my vacation rental business over the next several decades. If you are planning to visit Tampa in the future and would like to learn more about my vacation rentals please see that section.

Thanks for taking the time to read about me. So far my life has been quite a fun adventure and I am very excited about what the future may hold. If I can help you with anything please don’t hesitate to contact me. I would love to hear from you.