Chris Bumstead, 2022 Olympia Classic Physique champ / mrolympiallc
Cbum, a.k.a. Chris Bumstead, winner of the past four Olympia Classic Physique titles and the world’s most popular bodybuilder, recently appeared on OlympiaTV and dished on a variety of topics, including his biceps injury, the future of classic physique, and how long he intends to compete.
You can watch the entire interview here:
These are the highlights.
CBUM ON WINNING 2022 CLASSIC PHYSIQUE OLYMPIA
“I think this is the best package I brought for sure, progressing slowly over the years. 2020 I mentally felt like it was the most dominating, but that’s also because 2019 to 2020 is when I made the biggest jump to my physique. That’s when I felt the most dominating. This year [2022], I’m so focused on myself I always think it’s tight, and I push myself hard so I don’t really feel like I’m dominating because I don’t want to give myself any excuse to let off the gas.”
CBUM ON TEARING HIS BICEPS
On January 12, Cbum posted a video to Instagram talking about his “beautifully, mildly, slightly, not-very, kinda torn bicep.” It’s his right biceps. He’s not sure when or how it occurred, and he only noticed it two days before the Olympia. He elaborated to the OlympiaTV hosts:
“It wasn’t a serious tear. I’m beyond lucky that it wasn’t a serious tear, and that it didn’t happen a day earlier. It didn’t get too swollen until the Sunday after the show. I got an MRI done on Monday. It’s only a muscle belly tear. It hasn’t retracted at all, no shrinkage or anything in the bicep. I don’t need surgery, just time to heal [over six to eight weeks]. Luckily, you can’t actually see the inflammation or tear on the outside of my arm. It was on the inside portion of my bicep, so from the outside you can’t even tell.”
CBUM ON FUTURE OF CLASSIC PHYSIQUE OLYMPIA
Cbum spoke about the Classic Physique Olympia after he eventually retires:
“In my opinion, Ramon [Dino] and Urs [Kalecinski] are just going to be back and forth in the years to come. Urs is a little younger, and I think he’s just finding his path as a bodybuilder and understanding how much of a full-time job it is. When he does that, he’ll catch up to Ramon, and they’ll battle it out.”
CBUM ON WORKING WITH COACH HANY RAMBOD
“The peak week was definitely a lot more intensive. Hany is very meticulous with everything—everything that went in my body to everything that came out. What time I went to the bathroom, just everything was calculated and meticulous. We only started working together 16 weeks out, so there wasn’t a lot of learning my body [by Hany]. So the prep was relatively the same, consistent. He spoke with Iain [Valliere, who coached Cbum before] about following a similar game plan. He was super on it.”
CBUM ON DEREK LUNSFORD
“Who I’m looking most forward to seeing coming in perfect and growing, it’s Derek Lunsford. He really impressed me this year on stage [at the 2022 Mr. Olympia] with his extra weight, and seeing him in the open for a few more years and perfecting that look is going to be absolutely insane. He was one of my favorites on stage.”
CBUM ON COMPETING IN THE OPEN CLASS
“I will never push my body to chase Mr. Olympia in the open. I might step on stage for fun at [an open pro show]. It won’t be at the Olympia. It will be after the Olympia. I’ll try it maybe one day. I’ve always been so clean, little, subtle, just to make sure I’m tight because that’s the look for classic. But for me to come in full that would be fun for myself. If the Arnold was three or four weeks after the Olympia, I would do that [in the open class].”
CBUM ON WINNING OLYMPIA TITLES
“I have a much greater appreciation for what it takes mentally to do that seven times [like Phil Heath] or eight times [like Ronnie Coleman]. It’s insane. There’s a lot more pressure coming in. It becomes more of a mental game than anything. Same physical process we do, but the mental side of it is just different. Being able to mitigate that and focus on what you need to when all eyes are on you and all pressure is on you, it’s definitely a lot. I’ve gotten a lot better at mitigating that pressure.”
Chris Bumstead has committed to returning in 2023 for a try at his fifth Classic Physique Olympia title, but he doesn’t anticipate competing a lot longer after that.
“I don’t think I’m going for eight or nine or 10, for sure. But it’s fun managing it, and it creates an experience. It’s fun while it’s here, but I don’t want it for a long time or for the rest of my life.”
