How Wesley Vissers plans to use his height as an advantage in Classic Physique bodybuilding.
Wesley Vissers is a Classic Physique bodybuilder with a lot of hype behind his name. He’s placed well in some well known competitions such as the Chicago Pro and Romania Musclefest Pro, and has now won the 2024 Arnold Classic. But when it comes to the biggest event of the year, meaning the Mr. Olympia, he has fallen short. Wesley most recently placed 7th at the 2023 Olympia.
But that doesn’t discourage Wesley Vissers. In fact the hype behind his name is still strong, especially now that he has defeated Ramon Dino at the Arnold Classic and will be favored going into the 2024 Mr. Olympia contest to face off against Chris Bumstead. He has plenty of promise to be a dominant Classic Physique competitor in the future. Not only that but Vissers plans to use his height to gain advantage against his fellow competitors, including Bumstead. At 6’3″ tall, Vissers is one of the taller pro bodybuilders currently competing. In a GI Exclusive interview, Wesley Vissers details how being tall was initially a curse… but now he sees it as a big advantage for his future in Classic Physique.
Typically, pro bodybuilders seem to fall around 5’6″ – 5’8″ in height on average, take a look at competitors like Derek Lunsford and Hadi Choopan as an example. So when a bodybuilder over six feet tall steps onto the stage – people usually take notice. The main issue with having a taller frame is that it can be harder to pack on muscle mass and fill it out. That being said, is being a tall bodybuilder a blessing or a curse? During our exclusive video conversation with Wesley Vissers, we asked him this very question.
“It was a curse at the beginning because when I look at my stage pictures at first I was very skinny,” Wesley Vissers states in our interview He continues:
“But since then I’ve gained at least 30kg or 70lbs of muscle. So, you know, when you put that much muscle on a tall frame, eventually it’s going to fill out. And then, when you then stand on stage, all eyes draw to you because you’re the biggest guy on stage.”
Is Being a Tall Bodybuilder Bad?
The taller a bodybuilder is, the more surface area they need to cover with well build lean muscle. This is the kind of struggle someone like the late Cedric McMillan had to deal with his entire career. Many find him to have had one of the best physiques in current bodybuilding, as he has the slim waist and great proportions with some serious height, but he’s rarely been placed first where it counts. While he did win the Arnold Classic in 2017, he did not get the chance to place higher than 7th at the Olympia.
But Wesley Vissers isn’t a Men’s Open competitor. He’s in Classic Physique – a division with weight limits based off height. The current Classic Physique Olympia champion, Chris Bumstead, is also over six feet tall. He’s held his title for five Olympias in a row now.
So perhaps Wesley Vissers is correct in his view on being a tall bodybuilder. Perhaps for Classic Physique, being tall can be a major advantage. Of course, that’s only if the hard work is still done to sculpt a near-perfect physique.
Wesley Vissers continued with his reasoning during our interview:
“If you’re proportioned and you’re tall and you’re going against a guy who is short but has the same proportions, I think the judges will go first for the tall guy because he dominant on stage.”
Wesley Vissers is a relative newcomer to pro bodybuilding. So he has a lot of room to grow in the coming years. Perhaps he will become one of the biggest threats to Chris Bumstead’s reign. Only time will tell.
You can watch Wesley Vissers’ full comments in our latest GI Exclusive interview segment above!
