Wesley Vissers goes into detail about the biggest mistakes he has made during contest prep that cost him his conditioning.

An up and coming household name in bodybuilding is Wesley Vissers, who is a Classic Physique bodybuilder with a lot of hype and promise. For the past few years he has gained a lot of fan traction for his physique updates on social media. Unfortunately, so far he has yet to place high enough to do real damage at the Mr. Olympia, but he was able to win the 2024 Arnold Classic. In a GI Exclusive interview, Wesley Vissers recounts the biggest conditioning mistakes he has made that cost him higher placings at pro shows.

“Number one is conditioning. That’s something that has been haunting me for a few years now at least at the Olympia.”

This is the statement Wesley Vissers made right out of the gate during our video interview. We were asking him about his biggest weaknesses and what he needed to improve.

Full Name: Wesley Vissers (Classic Physique Bodybuilder)

Weight Height Date Of Birth
216-234 lbs 6’2″ 5/6/1993
Division Era Nationality
Classic Physique 2010s, 2020s Netherlands

Standing at over six feet tall and weighting well into the 200 lb range, Wesley Vissers has a lot of potential to be a threatening competitor on the Classic Physique Olympia stage, and that showed at the 2024 Arnold Classic where he defeated Ramon Dino, who has been on the heels of Chris Bumstead for awhile now. But so far he has yet to fulfill that potential completely. This past year, he placed 7th at the Olympia 2023, which was not the best finish. Vissers narrows his biggest issue down to his conditioning. He’s aware of the problem – he just hasn’t been able to get his conditioning on point for the night of a pro competition.

That’s not for a lack of trying either. Wesley Vissers just might be one of the hardest working bodybuilders currently competing. During our interview, Vissers not only highlighted his conditioning weakness – he broke down the biggest mistakes he has made in the past. He gives specific examples of tactics that backfired and caused his conditioning to weaken.

The biggest example comes from a past competition of his. Wesley Vissers walked into the Olympia 2020 more confident than he had ever been. His physique and conditioning were looking on point. It was so impressive – that he shared physique update photos on social media one week before the Olympia. During this final week, known as “hell week” to many, Vissers was tracking to showcase his best physique of his career.

But in that final week something went wrong. Wesley Vissers was doing so well, that he felt confident he can pack on a few more pounds of muscle while keeping his conditioning on point. He had some wiggle room to still come in slightly heavier but under the limit for his height. Ultimately, this attempt was his undoing. The extra pounds he tried to build up came at the cost of his conditioning.

In the past, he had simply missed his peak physique timing altogether. He mentions his first Olympia in 2018 was completely off. This was due to competing in four shows that year. He didn’t have the proper time to plan his peak conditioning with the weekend of the show.

Beyond that, his height can also be an extra challenge when it comes to perfecting his physique. The lower body is harder to bring up and make full. Overall there’s basically more surface area a tall bodybuilder needs to cover with sculpted muscle. This is especially hard to keep on point in the lower half of the body.

Ultimately, Wesley Vissers is aware of these problems and is coming up with different solutions to fix them. This is a period of time where trial and error come into play. Though Vissers may have not met his full potential (both for himself and his hyped up fans), he is not out for the count. He’s simply adjusting and evolving. Once he finds the right formula – his conditioning and overall physique will improve.

He can do this in a timely manner before he loses his prime years – he can still be one of the most dangerous Classic Physique competitors on the stage. Hopefully time and hard work will be kind to him.

You can watch Wesley Vissers break down his biggest weakness and training mistakes in our latest GI Exclusive interview segment above.

Derek Dufour
Derek Dufour has been managing all digital operations on the Generation Iron Network for over six years. He currently manages a team of editors, writers, and designers to provide up-to-date content across the GI Network.