Breon Ansley enjoyed an illustrious career as a Classic Physique competitor with two Mr. Olympia wins. He’s currently gearing up to make a splash in the Men’s 212 division. In a recent interview with OlympiaTV, Ansley shared his thoughts on the target weight and strategy he plans to use for a successful debut in the 212 category.
Breon Ansley first gained attention for his impressive muscle mass, detail, and conditioning in the IFBB Pro League Classic Physique division. Although he dabbled in the 212 class early in his career, he ultimately chose to compete in the Classic Physique division. He dominated the competition at the 2017 Mr. Olympia to win his first Sandow trophy and added a successful title defense the next year along with an Arnold Classic title. In 2019, he got dethroned by reigning four-time Olympia champ Chris Bumstead who has firmly held onto the crown since.
Following a fourth-place finish at the 2022 Arnold Classic, Ansley announced his plans to move on from the Classic Physique division. He was working on bringing a revamped package for his final Classic appearance and indicated a potential move to the 212 group.
Ansley teamed up with popular fitness personality Mike O’Hearn for a fierce arms workout in preparation for the 2022 Mr. Olympia last October. Then, he demolished a heavy upper-body training session utilizing a rest-pause technique and followed up with a brutal leg workout in the final stages of his prep.
Being the only competitor to defeat ‘CBum’ on the Olympia stage, Breon Ansley was determined to repeat history and reclaim the title. He revealed his desire to change divisions was based on the weight cap restriction he was forced to follow in Classic Physique.
In the end, Bumstead retained his title and Ansley dropped to fourth place. Following the event, the pair buried the hatchet after sharing a six-year-long rivalry on stage in a candid exchange.
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Breon Ansley shares the target weight for a move to the 212 division
In a recent YouTube video, Breon Ansley shared the weight he’s aiming for in his 212 class debut.
He believes adding roughly 10 pounds to his frame could help him present a new look.
“I don’t need to be a lot bigger,” said Ansley. “If I’m doing the calculations of where I’m at now and where I’d need to be to be as sharp as a tack when it comes stage time, I’d probably say that’s going to be around 200 pounds. That’s quite a bit of more pounds when you’re talking about around 10 more pounds of muscle mass when it’s able to formulate properly and not have to suffer the loss of muscle like it was with Classic. I think it’s going to be around 200, maybe even 205. I think it’s going to be quite a different look.”
Ansley reveals the strategy for the switch to 212
Without the restriction of his previous weight cap, Ansley is confident he will look his best as he won’t need to sacrifice any muscle mass.
“Now that I’m really going to be able to see my true potential, my true density that I have been lacking over the past two years in Classics so as far as density that they might outmatch me on, I’m going to have to disagree because I think once I’m able to not lose muscle, not lose a single solitary pound of muscle and hold onto all my muscle from all these hard ass Chris Cormier years of training then the density factor… remember I’m just as old or even older than some of these guys so my maturity is right there with them and I think that I can outmatch theirs. I can definitely beat theirs and dominate as far as maturity and density.
“I’m going to be a lot sharper now that I’m not going to have to lose muscle. I’m going to be able to get sharp, refined by holding onto muscle instead of losing it. You thought I was sharp and in fairly great conditioning in Classic, just wait till you see now the sharpness and the lines that I’m going to be able to display in the 212 division now that I can hold onto muscle and not kill myself with hours and hours of cardio.”
He declared his ambitions to score gold at the upcoming 2023 Mr. Olympia.
“Yes, I am winning it in 2023.”
Breon Ansley gave fans a look into his full day of eating in the 2023 off-season last month. He added that he consumes one meal of his choice per day and laid out the diet he was utilizing to pack on the pounds before entering prep for his next show.
It remains to be seen whether Ansley receives a special invite, otherwise, he would need to qualify for the next Mr. Olympia by winning a 212 show. Either way, fans will be excited to see how he stacks up in the new division.
RELATED: Breon Ansley Shares Mass Building High Volume Leg Workout
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