"It was a sense of relief" - Chris Bumstead reflects on winning his first Olympia title in 2019

Chris Bumstead has become quite the celebrity online after winning four Classic Physique Olympia titles in a row. Before winning his first-ever title in 2019, Bumstead had already made waves in the world of fitness through his inspirational YouTube videos.

After two years of finishing in second place behind Breon Ansley, Bumstead finally got his hands on the Classic Physique trophy in 2019.

Speaking about how he felt after the win on a recent episode of the Full Send podcast, Chris Bumstead mentioned that he felt a sense of relief.

"Coming into 2019 and actually winning it and having all that work and sacrifice come into place was really cool moment..," he said. "After I won the first one, it was an amazing, awesome, beautiful moment, something I’d been working for a long time but it was a sense of relief when I was done, because it was so much stress that I was holding, and I’m like, ‘F*** why am I doing something that I love so much and letting it cause so much stress in my life?’"

Pre-competition anxiety can be debilitating indeed. Chris Bumstead added that he had to learn how to manage the anxiety and stress associated with competing in the sport professionally.

"I had to really take a step back that next year and kind of re-program my mind into relinquishing that fear and not constantly worrying about if I’m going to be sick or not and letting go of control," he continued.

Chris Bumstead has previously opened up about the health condition that requires him to be on an extremely strict diet. The condition is an autoimmune disorder called IgA Nephropathy, a kidney disease.

Speaking about how the disease always lingered on his mind before the competition, he said:

"I have an autoimmune disease and I got really sick the year before from it. So I was living in a lot of fear and prepping for an Olympia trying to be confident and that takes a lot of confidence to believe in yourself getting through it but I kept doubting in the back of my mind that I was going to get sick again and I was hurting myself."

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"It’s so old-school" - Chris Bumstead on the Classic physique potentially overshadowing the Men's Open in the future

Chris Bumstead's rise has diverted a lot more attention to the Classic Physique than ever before. The division has become the second-most popular division in the sport.

While the division has really come into its own, Bumstead still believes the road ahead is long. He stated:

"It’s really hard to say [if Classic Physique is taking over Open bodybuilding] because right now it’s so old-school. No one – let’s say – the ownership is very old-school. The hardcore fans of bodybuilding are bodybuilding fans. The people that show up to buy tickets are different from the average people on social media."

Bumstead believes the rising popularity of the division will eventually lift it up to the same level as the open division. He concluded by saying:

"But I do think going forward they [the divisions] will even out at some point ... I don’t know if they’ll maybe even start judging bodybuilding to bring them down in size and stop rewarding the bigger guys – balance it out somehow."