They always say you shouldn’t live in the past. You should never look back – you should always look forward. But the people that say that, don’t do so with the knowledge of a Wesley Vissers. Because Wesley Vissers was able to build a physique that won him the very title for what he’s prepping for as we speak. Back in 2024 Wesley was able to win the Arnold Classic in an upset against Ramon Dino. Ramon Dino was considered to be a far superior athlete, no offense to Wesley, but at that given point in time such a victory was the farthest thing from everyone’s mind. Nobody thought it could be done. And that’s why you call it an upset because Wesley went in there with a phenomenal look and was able to do the unthinkable. That is what makes bodybuilding such an exciting sport. It’s not like when you’re dealing with amazing football teams against total underdogs where victories are seldom if ever the case.
In the sport of bodybuilding, if you are the best guy on game day you’re going to win. It doesn’t matter how big your social media following is or how many people you have in the crowd. None of those matters, the only thing that matters is the quality of your muscle, how you present your muscle to the judges, and how you stack up to the competition. Just two years ago, Wesley was able to walk away with the second biggest title in physique-based sports and now he wishes to do the same thing in 2026.
Would I call Wesley a long shot? I wouldn’t. I would say that based on his consistency in posting updates throughout this prep, that that has earned him the respect of a lot of critics. The progress photos were not crisp and defined, rather they were very blurry, but that’s part of the teasing factor. So, in this article we’re not just going to talk about a determined athlete looking to do what he did 2 years ago, rather we’re talking about an athlete that also understands the importance of social media. Currently, bodybuilders that are on the ball understand that clicks and engagement go hand in hand. To just get a click isn’t enough. You want someone to click and stay for a while. You want fans that are going to follow your journey. As soon as you have fans that do that, now you can properly call yourself an influencer. Anything short of that, you’re either buying your followers or you’re in denial. Wesley has a massive army of followers and friends. They want to see him succeed and he made do just that in a couple of days in Columbus, Ohio.
Now he’s always been separated and he’s always had good vascularity but I think one of the knocks that he’s received over the years is the lower body. You have some competitors that are top-heavy strong other competitors or bottom-heavy strong. Some competitors aren’t really strong in their physique, but they understand the value of condition. Everybody sort of has their specialty in the sport of bodybuilding but in order to win, Wesley is going to have to do a lot more than just his specialty. Everybody knows he comes in separated but the problem is the volume. The problem is classic physique and bodybuilding alike are sports that really like massive looking bodies. And unfortunately, I think that classic gets a little bit more emphasis on the lower portion than bodybuilding because of the fact that classic has one foot in men’s physique and one foot in bodybuilding. Men’s physique is a division that doesn’t even look at the legs much less score them. So, I feel that they want classic competitors to be completely balanced. They don’t want another “lawn dart division” to quote the Great John Romano. What they want is sort of like a bodybuilding-lite division even though they’ll never admit it. Classic physique is supposed to be what bodybuilding didn’t get wrong, it’s supposed to be the perfect division, but they want size, too.
To Wesley’s credit, the photos are getting less blurry the closer we get to contest day. This is where marketing comes in. Because you can do the work in the gym, you can do the work in the mirror, you can even look better on stage, but if you don’t have all the bells and whistles then you’re screwed. Some competitors even to this day rely on the media to build buzz behind them. But guys like Wesley understand that you play with your audience. You don’t mess with them necessarily, but you tease them a little bit. The blurry pictures have made the rounds. People are even annoyed by them. But guess what they’re not, they’re not ignoring him. They’re making sure to look at every single update. And you know who’s looking at those updates the most closely? His competitors. The competition! Because they know that 2024 was only 2 years ago and they know that Wesley Vissers is coming with 100% heart and soul. A guy like that, you can’t sleep on. A guy like that can easily come in and win everything.
Is he up against fierce competition? That almost goes without saying. For me, if I had to say right now, I would put him in that fourth place spot. Which is a very solid placing and it’s a very respectable one. But if I’m sitting in the audience on Game Day in Columbus Ohio and he walks out looking even 5% better, I would say he could win everything. It really depends on what happens on game day. And this is something that I try to tell so many of the youngsters coming up in the sport. It doesn’t matter if you look the best on Instagram or TikTok, you need to look your best on game day. You need to look your best when you’re in front of the judges under the lights. That’s all that matters. And no one knows that better, than Wesley Vissers. Again, once you’re dealing with an individual that has won the title before, he’s perhaps more dangerous than the guy who’s never won it before. He knows what it takes because he’s been there before. And now he’ll do anything to be back in that winner circle again.
As always, I hope you enjoyed reading my article on IronMag. Where do you think Wesley is going to place? I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Please be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on all your social media feeds. It’s bound to generate lively conversation.
Author Bio:
Christian I. Duque is the owner of StrengthAddicts.com, a physique and strength website founded in 2008. He has worked for a number of bodybuilding websites, including RX Muscle and Muscular Development. Christian has written nearly 1,000 published articles for IronMag Blog, as well as articles for StrengthAddicts, RX Muscle, and others. By day, he is also a licensed attorney practicing in the areas of family law, immigration, and criminal defense.
