"F**k, just try not to think" - Chris Bumstead reveals he won 2022 Olympia with a torn bicep

Chris Bumstead, often known by his nickname Cbum, won his fourth consecutive Mr. Olympia Classic Physique title at last month's Mr. Olympia. Having won the title in 2019, 2020, and 2021, Bumstead once again emerged as the champion of the Classic Physique division.

In addition to winning four Mr. Olympia Classic Physique titles in the past four years, Chris Bumstead had also come close to winning the title twice. He finished in second place in the Classic Physique division during the 2017 and 2018 Mr. Olympia.

In a recent Instagram post, Chris Bumstead revealed that he competed with a torn bicep in the 2022 edition of the premier bodybuilding event.

He said:

"It was time I address the elephant in the room; my torn bicep. My beautifully, mildly, slightly, not very kind of torn bicep. I tore my bicep. I don’t know how it happened. Everyone’s always like, ‘Did you feel it? Did it pop? What did you do?’ I don’t know how it happened."

Chris Bumstead revealed that he had torn his other bicep during his younger days. The four-time Mr. Olympia Classic Physique title winner said that three days from Olympia was the first time he noticed a little bit of pain. He stated that it was the day of his weigh-ins and he was pulling weights.

Cbum claimed that he was depleted and lean. The star bodybuilder said that he felt some pain the next day as well.

On Friday, his pain was so enormous that he tried not to pose too much. Chris Bumstead added that he wanted to pose when he was carb loaded but as the pain was high, he was holding back.

He added:

"Then that night, it was a little bit swollen. I was like, ‘F**k, just try not to think about this right now.’ I went to bed, woke up the next day, and it was a little bit more swollen. Obviously, not that bad swollen as in the picture from the pre-judging. But, it got in my head and it stressed me out and I want to kind of talk about the mental side that I battled through.

"That was prejudging, get tan, try not to think about it. Then, looking at myself, I could just see it and I could just feel it and it was just kind of in my head. So we went on stage for prejudging and I still felt really good and I still felt confident."

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Chris Bumstead opens up about living in the moment and his mindset while posing on stage and more

Chris Bumstead continued to speak about living in the moment and the thought process in his head as he posed on stage, saying:

"I’m someone who was super shy, quiet, and hated crowds and got anxious being in front of people, let alone speaking or posing when I was younger. But I’ve built the skill of being present and really enjoy the moment on the stages of the Olympia and that’s why I love it so much, because you can just turn off the world and be on stage under the lights."

He added:

"There is a feeling of absolute presence that you can’t even explain. This kinda took away from that. I was like, F**k, I'm kind of being hard on myself. I also put a lot of expectations and pressure on myself this year having such a good prep and brought my favorite package last year to the Olympia."

Cbum said that he wanted to come in and crush Mr. Olympia 2022. He went on:

"I remember Hany came up to me like, ‘What the f**k are you doing?’ I was like, ‘What? What do you mean?’ He’s like, ‘Smile up there man. You look f**king crazy, great, crushing it, just be up there and smile. Enjoy it. This is what you worked for. I was like, ‘F**k you’re so right.’ I washed the sh*t out of my brain; And I was able to get out there, getting in the first callout."

Chris Bumstead revealed that his arm got worse and swollen that night. The bodybuilder received another pep talk from Hany Rambod (his coach) and it made him laser-focused.

Bumstead claimed he had one of his Cbum moments. He said:

"Then, I had one of my ‘CBum’ moments in the bathroom crying. I got on my knees in front of this mirror in this private bathroom and I looked at myself. I was just like, ‘What’s going on man? All this work you’ve put in, all the effort you’ve put into this, all the love you have for this, the years I have come into this and how many times you’ve done this and you’re stressing about it now? Like this is out of your control.

"All the fans and friends who’ve supported you, who are excited to be here. You should be excited for that. Not even you should but that you get the opportunity to be here and enjoy this. This is a privilege and a blessing to be here. I’m going to choose to like push this aside and enjoy this moment."

Cbum said his bicep would have gotten way more torn. He further added that every year he has had something come up like external stress during his prep that he had to battle. Chris Bumstead said despite all these issues, everything came together for Olympia and he enjoyed the Olympia. He revealed that his bicep was swollen on the morning of the show as well.

He termed the swollen bicep situation a new challenge he had learned to overcome. Cbum said this was another reason why he loves bodybuilding. Chris Bumstead said he went out there and did his routine. The four-time Mr. Olympia Classic Physique winner said it was a proud moment for him competing in Mr. Olympia.

Towards the end of the video, Cbum provided an update regarding his bicep. He said:

"My bicep now update. It’s only mildly torn, it’s not off the insertion, just in the muscle belly so it’s really not that bad. They said six to eight weeks to recover. I’m stubborn so I’m going to say five to six weeks on that one. But I haven’t trained back or biceps. I really haven’t trained at all in four weeks to be honest. I’m just letting it heal, letting it recover, keeping down inflammation."

He shared some photos of his swollen bicep in the video. With his bicep recovery taking six to eight weeks, Cbum will be using this time to live in the moment and enjoy his fourth Mr. Olympia Classic Physique title. We can definitely say that Chris Bumstead will be looking forward to adding a fifth Mr. Olympia Classic Physique title to his trophy cabinet at the 2023 Mr. Olympia.