Many of the most popular competitors in the IFBB Pro League reside in the Classic Physique division. Chris Bumstead may be the Olympia champion and face of that division, but there are numerous stars that live around the world. One of them is Wesley Vissers of the Netherlands, and he is much more than a Classic Physique competitor onstage. His dedication to the sport reminds many fans of the stars from the past. That could be because he is a fan of the legends from that era himself.
“I was really a fan of that kind of posing,” he told James. “So right from the beginning before I really knew the difference between classic bodybuilding and regular bodybuilding is, I already envied the physiques of the 70’s and 80’s. That is what I wanted to be like.”
One example of his dedication to the Classic look is when he was working on his version of the legendary three-quarters back double biceps post, made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger. He told Dennis James on this week’s episode of The Menace Podcast that achieving the desired effect of that pose was a challenge.
“When I started practicing the harder Arnold poses like the three-quarter back double biceps for example, it looks very easy to do when Arnold does it. When you actually try to do it yourself, it’s much more difficult,” he confessed. “So I actually slowed down the video to see how he is transitioning into this pose and what he’s doing with his arms. Are his legs moving? It took me several days of repeating doing this and recording myself to perfect that transition myself.”
Another connection he has is the fact that he doesn’t work with a prep coach. Vissers works solo and makes it a point to pay attention to every detail of how he looks and poses. He analyzes everything from the beginning of his prep to the final look on contest day. His girlfriend helps him during this time as well.
“She takes progress pictures like every other week right now. We have a whole dashboard with pictures from the start of the prep, then a few weeks in, and a few after that, and then ultimately it’s going to be every week. Then I can objectively see the differences in my physique.”
What does Wesley Vissers look for? How did he feel about the 2020 Olympia? Vissers and James discuss these topics as well as traveling, his clothing line, and more in this week’s episode of TMP. Subscribe to the Muscle & Fitness YouTube channel so you can catch every episode including those with past guests such as Bumstead, Shaun Clarida, Mr. Olympia Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay, and others. New episodes air every Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern time.
