The title picture on the Classic Physique Olympia stage hasn’t changed in four years, though some believe Chris Bumstead’s time could be running out thanks to new height/weight restrictions in the division.
In a recent Prime Time Muscle podcast, Chris Cormier and Terrick El Guindy discussed top threats expected to challenge “Cbum” in seven weeks. Additionally, Cormier revealed that Breon Ansley has officially decided to return to the Classic Physique Olympia stage November 2-5, in Orlando, Florida.
“Breon… The Classic Champion — is back in Classic! Let’s go!” Chris Cormier shared.
Breon Ansley, a former two-time Classic Physique Olympia (2017, 2018), dominated his peers with exceptional back development, graceful posing routines, and dry conditioning. However, in 2019, he was unable to stop the surging Chris Bumstead from seizing his throne.
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In the years to come, a budding rivalry formed between the two, though Bumstead continued to get the better of “The Black Swan” en route to racking up four Olympia victories. At the 2022 Mr. Olympia last December, Ansley would bid farewell to the division after taking fourth place. In an emotional passing of the torch, Ansley shared a heartfelt moment with Bumstead before confirming his commitment to the Men’s 212 Bodybuilding category.
All signs pointed to Ansley competing in 212 this year until Tyler Manion dropped a bomb on competitors in Classic Physique. On August 2, the IFBB Pro League instituted new height/weight restrictions, which were put in place to level the playing field for shorter competitors.
With athletes netting a few extra pounds, Cormier discussed Ansley’s return to Classic Physique and how the weight change may impact other threats on the Olympia stage such as Terrence Ruffin and Ramon Rocha Queiroz.
“He’s the OG of the Category” – Chris Cormier, Olympia Judge Say Breon Ansley Will Compete in Classic Physique at 2023 Olympia
Before discussing Breon Ansley, Olympia judge Terrick El Guindy laid out why the rule changes were established in Classic Physique.
“In baseball, baseball has not changed their rules and the sport became stagnant. The NFL, every year they change their rules because they want to make the game better, right? Now, you have the video to watch if a play was in or out. And I give a lot of credit to the executive team of the executive team of the NPC and the IFBB Pro League.”
“We just made sure that now it’s consistent across the board, regardless of how many athletes we have on top. Seven-feet-tall or how many athletes we have on the bottom, four-feet-nine, everybody is consistent. The key question everybody wants to talk about is, does it benefit some competitors? Absolutely.”
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According to Ansley’s trainer Chris Cormier, fans can expect to see him back on the Olympia stage in Classic Physique, but nine pounds heavier.
“But now, under further review, you know, with the nine pounds difference for him, which is a big difference. Yes, it’s nine pounds. The thing is when he turned Pro at 176.”
“It’s hard to fill him out fully and keep the cuts deep, that’s a hard job. Some of it’s just luck, some of it’s just waking up and hopefully, hoping for the best. I mean, as far as built muscle, I mean… There’s not many people on planet earth with this type of development. He had the best back I thought in the whole bodybuilding top to bottom for many years already,” explained Cormier.
El Guindy highlighted that the new rules allow other athletes to carry more weight, however, he mentioned that Chris Bumstead would only be allotted 0.9 pounds based on his height.
“Ramon Dino can now have some more weight. Terrence Ruffin can have some more weight. Urs Kalecinski can have some more weight. The guy that cannot add more weight, actually just 0.9, we don’t know how much he weighed exactly, is Chris Bumstead. Does that make it close? Well, we don’t know how they’re going to look, that’s pure speculation.”
Cormier and El Guindy agree had the changes been implemented in previous years, Ansley could have brought drastically different looks to combat Bumstead at Olympia. With the changes, El Guindy believes Ansley should enter this event more confident than ever:
“There has to be an intimidation factor. I want Breon Ansley to be angry on stage. I know he’s got the greatest personality, I know he’s got the greatest smile, but I want Breon Ansley to go after these guys and say, ‘I’ve beat your ass Chris Bumstead for years. Ramon, you’re the new kid on the block.’ He’s got to expose them on every single pose, he’s the OG of that category,” Terrick El Guindy shared.
“Breon could have benefited from that tremendously, he would have looked different some years,” added El Guindy.“I’ve been harping on this issue since day one, especially for the Classic division,” replied Cormier. “Why is he [Breon] have to come down so far for his 5″6′ frame, he only had four pounds to play with since he turned Pro.”
“With the added muscle, you can assure yourself some different poses that you’ll look better in… I think it will help him [Ramon Dino] a lot,” said Cormier.“Dino I think is going to figure out a lot. I think he’ll be able to improve some of his poses – the twisted back and some of these [other] poses,” added Cormier. “He’s going to be a lot more connected. He’s going to look a lot better this year I’m sure.”
“Mentally, he’s going to be better, right? Because it was a struggle mentally for him to make the weight. Right now, he was going into that check-in and saying hey, I’m not going to be squeezing that much. Is his physique going to look different? Yes. The key difference is how much. Is it going to be enough for him to have back thickness? Because he has the detail, but he needs to back thickness.”“There’s another factor he needs to take into consideration. It wasn’t six or seven pounds that made him get out-posed against Chris Bumstead, it was a lack of experience. So, he needs to improve his posing to get closer to Chris. He needs to improve his physique to get closer to Chris,” stated El Guindy.
“This could be a closer battle. I’d like to remind everybody, Chris Bumstead, I judged the event… This was a unanimous decision that Chris Bumstead won that show. It was unanimous. All judges believed that Chris Bumstead was superior. So Ramon has an uphill battle. I’d like to mention one name: Terrence Ruffin.”“A lot of people are not talking about this guy and I’m getting pissed off. Terrence Ruffin, just because you believe just because he had one bad year that Terrence Ruffin is done, I’m sorry but you’re graded A in stupid, okay? Terrence Ruffin will come back with a freakin vengeance.”“Those forgetting about Terrence Ruffin are making a horrible mistake,” warned El Guindy.
Watch the full video from the Olympia TV YouTube channel below:
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