Discipline, Confidence & The Champion’s Mindset - Chris Bumstead (4K)

This is going out the day after the Olympia.

Mm-hmm.

What do you hope happened yesterday?

Well, I certainly hope I won, definitely, easiest answer to give. This year, it's just very important to me to really wanna bring my best package, you know? It sounds cheesy to say, but I've been working hard, going through a lot of adversities and challenges over the years, and every year has had something kinda, like, get in my way, and felt like it was holding me back. This year's had a few earlier on in the year, but at this point, I'm feeling pretty good, feeling pretty set. So I just wanna be able to stride into this one, I wanna be able to enjoy it. I wanna be able to, you know, get off stage, kiss my wife, hold my baby, know that I became the best in the world and maintained a beautiful relationship through it.

How important is it to share the success with somebody else as opposed to just doing it for yourself?

It's hard to say how important it is 'cause I haven't had the success without her, but I can't imagine it in any other way. I think, you know, in the- in the meaning we find in life, it's beautiful to do hard things and to accomplish things. But if you were to do it alone, it's just not the same as being able to share it with someone. I think there's a level of, you know, codependence and regulation that can be healthy and can help you push through, be more present, not have to shut off and numb so much. You know, I think a lot of people who are going through hard things, trying to accomplish really big levels of s-success numb a lot to get there. And I think being able to have a partner in which you can regulate yourself with and share and communicate and lean on prevents you from having to numb, brings you closer together, which is its own experience as well as the experience of whatever you're working towards. So it's like double the amount of joy that you get to feel, you know?

Growing in two ways at once.

Exactly, yeah, and who doesn't want a big hug after you accomplish something, you know?

Yeah, that's cool. What will you be talking about in your speech, hopefully?

In my speech, hopefully? That's a good question. I would say, just talking about this year, I've been thinking a lot about the sacrifices that come with success. You know, like, nothing comes for free, and I've reflected a lot over the years of how much of my mental peace I've had to sacrifice to accomplish what I've accomplished. And it's just been a lot of, like, waking up at 5:00 AM, going through the day, wake up, weigh myself, weigh my food, do my check-ins in the mirror, like, go to the gym, work out. I was throwing everything, it's just like, "Am I good enough? Am I being enough? Am I doing enough to win the Olympia right now?" It's all just compared to being Mr. Olympia, to that level of success. And, you know, people talk about what you sacrifice to be great at things, and they're normally like, "You don't get to go hang out with your friends. You don't get to go party, go- uh, you go do these things." But I think for me, the biggest sacrifice has just been the- my- my men- my mental peace. So the goal this year has been trying to find that, maintain it, have the mental peace while also thriving at a high level and seeing how I can do that as- as efficiently as possible. And, you know, I'd like to be able to say I did so successfully at the end of this.