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One of the perks of being in the IFBB Pro League is that athletes can change divisions if they feel one would be better suited for the current statuses of their physiques. Several male competitors transition from Men’s Physique to Classic, while quite a few female athletes switched from Bikini to the new Wellness division.
Stan De Longeaux made waves in the Classic Physique division early on in his career. After finishing 10th at the 2019 Olympia, he made the decision to jump up to the Open. He told Dennis James on the most recent episode of The Menace Podcast that he wasn’t alone in thinking that the choice was the correct one.
“First of all, when I started my prep, I was 270 pounds, and I was working with Chris Aceto, and we were like 10 weeks out,” the French bodybuilder told James. “He was like, ‘What’s your weight limit again?’ I was like ‘207.’ And he was like, ‘We’re not doing this again.’”
Within weeks of stepping offstage at the 2019 Olympia, he competed in the Yamamoto Cup, this time as a Men’s Open competitor, finishing in sixth place. This confirmed to both the coach and the athlete that they had made the right choice.
“Between the two shows I just ate, and I went back up to like 228 (pounds),” de Longeaux said. “I was onstage at 228, and I was the most conditioned guy onstage.”
Stan De Longeaux returned to the stage in 2021 at the Legion Sports Pro in Reno, NV. He would leave that contest with a seventh-place finish, but he placed ahead of some pretty big names in his new division.
“I was ahead of Cedric McMillan and Maxx Charles,” he stated proudly. He feels that is a sign of progress. “I competed in the California Pro in Vegas, and Maxx, Maxx Charles was second there. So, I’m like, you know, slowly going up.”
When the host asked him about his plans for 2022, de Longeaux didn’t hesitate — he wants to return to the Olympia now that the Olympia is returning to Las Vegas in December. He has a plan that he feels will help him do just that.
“I’m going to take the next six months to grow, and put on some size in the right spots, and then we’ll see what show I can do before the cutoff date,” he explained.
James and “Stanimal” talk about his upbringing in France and Switzerland, the influence of Jay Cutler, as well as the passing of 2018 Mr. Olympia Shawn Rhoden, and more. Catch the episode as well as every episode of TMP over at the M&F YouTube channel. Episodes drop every Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern time.
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