The Classic Physique Olympia crown is again up for grabs and Wesley Vissers is one of the frontrunners looking to snatch it up. In a recent interview aired on October 1, 2024, ‘The Dutch Oak’ opened up on his 2024 Mr. Olympia diet and gave his two cents about competing against Ramon Queiroz and Urs Kalecinski next weekend.
Time is ticking away and bodybuilders are finalizing their preps in addition to capping off their last training sessions ahead of the biggest event of the year. Wesley Vissers is a Classic Physique hopeful aiming to knock Chris Bumstead off his throne, but there are a handful of contenders fans believe could make a legitimate bid for gold, and that includes Ramon Queiroz as well as Urs Kalecinski.
Vissers faced both of them at the 2024 Arnold Classic Ohio, shocking the world in first place. He defeated ‘The Miracle Bear’ for a second time at the Arnold Classic UK show, further solidifying his standing in the highly competitive division. With his sights set on glory, he broke down the challenges of dieting along with his unfiltered opinion regarding the top rivals he plans to compete against.
Wesley Vissers ‘Built Up’ His Metabolism, Talks 2024 Mr. Olympia Diet and Top Rivals
Early on in his bodybuilding career, Vissers was afraid to ramp up his carbohydrates while prepping for bodybuilding shows. However, his coach Stefan Kienzl showed him the light and explained how to diet properly for contests.
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“Whether you’re behind for example on your show, he’ll never say we’re ahead and on schedule but he’s [my coach] is going to give you more re-feed days, more higher carb days which if I didn’t have Stefan [Stefan Kienzl] I would have worked too hard. I would’ve dropped the carbohydrates too low and this reminds me in 2021, he was shocked when he saw my diet how low it was for someone of my height and weight cap.”
“Throughout the years we built up my metabolism again. I’m now eating twice as much as when I first started working with Stefan. For the first Olympia I had to go super deep because I messed myself up with that.”
Although it’s often believed that eating less will help athletes shred down for a competition, Vissers says it’s important to eat more food to appear fresh on stage.
“I went all the way down to 1,700 [calories] on my own when I coached myself because I had the mindset that I need to be more conditioned, more conditioned and then you always think that you got to eat less but the opposite is actually true if you want to look fresh on stage.”
Over time, he and his coach slowly built up his calories and metabolism. It paid off given the results of his last two bodybuilding contests.
“That’s why we slowly built up the calories but mostly through carbohydrates because it keeps the fats relatively low as well and the protein is not super high but not low either just a medium amount,” said Wesley Vissers. “I find it very difficult to decide okay, now I’m going to have a higher carb day. I never think I deserve it and you always think, oh, you need to lose more fat so why would you do high carb now?”
Vissers believes the 2024 Mr. Olympia will come down to four competitors: himself, Ramon Queiroz, Chris Bumstead, and Urs Kalecinski. Due to Breon Ansley’s age, he had doubts about him making it into the top four.
“I think it’s going to be the four of us, maybe Breon will be in there somewhere but if I’m very honest, if he shows up as his last show in Dubai, he’s not going to be one of the top guys. If he shows up like at the Arnold or maybe even better then he could be part of the top five.”
“You never know because he’s getting up there in age. All the other guys we are much younger. So we are more able to improve still and put our bodies under more stress without too much risk of going backwards,” he said. “I think that’s going to be the top four [Wesley Vissers, Chris Bumstead, Urs Kalecinski, and Ramon Queiroz].”
He added that Urs Kalecinski is difficult to predict because he looked much improved at the UK Arnold compared to his performance in Ohio. If he can match or improve his look from the Arnold UK, Vissers believes Kalecinski could get the better of Queiroz.
“Urs is difficult to predict because he was off at the first Arnold then he was bang-on at the second Arnold but then the placings were kind of weird in correlation to how he looked so then you’re like okay, where does he really place then you know? I think if he improves upon the Arnold Classic UK shape, he’s even going to be a challenge for Ramon.”
Speaking as objectively as possible, Vissers doesn’t believe Ramon Queiroz will ever defeat him on stage again.
“If I’m honest, I think Ramon won’t be able to beat me ever again anymore,” adds Vissers.
Vissers is under the impression that he can overpower Chris Bumstead on stage next weekend. His argument has some validity too as his front double biceps, pec, and shoulder striations remain some of his most potent weapons against the long-standing champion.
“He isn’t perfect, no one is perfect. When I stand next to him I want to overpower his weaknesses and my weaknesses won’t be so easily overpowered by his strengths,” says Vissers.
With Chris Bumstead eying retirement soon, perhaps Vissers could catch the champion slipping in the days to come. Don’t miss prejudging and finals coverage of the 2024 Mr. Olympia contest from October 10-13!
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