Chris Bumstead is one of the most successful bodybuilders ever to tread the boards and between 2019 and 2024, he amassed six consecutive wins in the Classic Physique category of The Olympia, a feat that cemented him as an absolute icon before hanging up the weight belt in 2024. In a recent Instagram reel, Cbum has reflected on the strategy that brought about his ascension, and apparently, the key to victory was more than counting calories or recording PRs with his reps.
“I was thinking the other day, about what it was that allowed me to win six Olympias,” said Bumstead, in an IG video for his almost 26 million followers. Of course, this is a question that the former champ is asked all the time, at fitness conventions, at in-store signing, or on the podcast tour, but the best answer is something that he’s been able to root out on since retiring in 2024. Bumstead says that he even asks himself questions to figure out what worked or didn’t work in his career, arriving at an important observation.
Despite the physical labor that a committed career in bodybuilding requires, Bumstead doesn’t feel that sets or reps have been as pivotal as the mindset that made those feats of strength possible in the first place. Instead, he believes that having specific goals are really the key to success. “It seems obvious, when you narrow your focus you go farther, but I think what people get wrong is how specific that needs to be. How deep that goes,” he explained.
Chris Bumstead credits his six Olympia victories to extreme goal specificity and singular focus.
Bumstead believes that being the best isn’t just about saying that you want to be the best. In his case, the bodybuilder took on the very specific goal of winning six Olympia titles. “In 2017, when I stepped on stage for the first time at the Olympia and I came second place, I was like, ‘this is it,’” shared Cbum. “I’m gonna win six Olympias, I’m gonna do it before the age of 30. (Michael) Jordan had six rings, I’ll get six titles, and I want to have a family at 30 so (then) I’m going to step away from it.”
Bumstead says that he was so driven to win Olympia titles that he decided not to complete in other shows. “And I got crazy offers,” he recalls, noting that he was being promised a lot of money to compete overseas or simply guest pose for 5 minutes. “(The) Arnold is a great status symbol, and a bunch of money, and I said no to all these things, because it’s not just about what you do, it’s about what you don’t do that (would) take you away from focusing on your goals.”
While Bumstead acknowledged that most competitive bodybuilders are already specific with their goals, because they must sacrifice luxuries like socializing with friends and eating out, the Classic Physique legend said that this mindset can be taken even further. “It’s about those things that blur that line, a little bit,” he advised. “You could argue that The Arnold is still working my way toward winning an Olympia, because it’s a similar goal, becoming a better bodybuilder, but to me, I was like, ‘no, I’m taking away my focus and my attention from my singular goal, which is winning the Olympias, and I’d be putting it somewhere else.”
That specific focus certainly paid off. After coming second in 2017 and 2018, Bumstead would go on to rule Men’s Classic Physique, picking up six-consecutive Olympia titles between 2018 and 2024, just as he envisioned. Bumstead believes that his singular focus gave him the edge because his rivals were thinking about “multiple things throughout the year,” as they prepped for various other competitions along the way to bodybuilding’s most prestigious show.
While many fans had called for Bumstead to step out of Classic Physique, and attempt an Open division competition, he waited until after his Olympia campaign had finished before entering the EVLS Prague Pro, and coming runner-up in a respectable effort against Martin Fitzwater. “I think what people fail to see is that your attention, and your focus in the present, is stored energy for who you become in the future,” said Cbum.
Knowing that he was able to give more attention to the Olympia than his opponents became a great source of confidence, adds Bumstead. “I literally told my competitors, I was like, ‘you guys are not going to beat me,’” he shared. “I said to a few of them, you’re not gonne beat me unless you focus on just this. I’m not the hardest worker, I don’t have the best strength, but I’m focusing on one thing, and unless you do that too, you’re not gonne beat me.”
Bumstead summed up his inspirational message by saying that hard work, discipline, and grit are essential for making progress. “But you need more clarity. You need to be more specific on what it is that you want,” he implored. “So that you can say ‘no’ to the things that don’t serve your goal, and ‘yes’ to the things that do, and only to the things that do.” In the caption beside his motivational video message, the icon wrote, “I’m not saying it’s the ‘right way,’ but if you’re committed to taking something far, then it’s definitely not the wrong way.”
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