Mike Sommerfeld, who defeated former champion Wesley Vissers in the 2025 Arnold Classic is leaving no stone unturned to defend his title.

On February 5, 2026, the German IFBB Pro released a YouTube video with his coach, Neil Hill, where the duo discussed how Sommerfeld went through a stomach related health scare after Mr. Olympia 2025. However, he is completely fit now and is maintaining a strict workout routine and diet to prepare for the Arnold Classic 2026 which is just "five-and-a-half weeks" away.

Sommerfeld said his goal was “to actually create a perfect 3D look. A three-dimensional look, comparable, competitive, from each and every angle”.

He continued, "If we’re able to achieve that, that will be my personal goal. That has nothing to do with the weight or anything else. I just want to create a polished, nice, full, round, hard, great look. A great Classic Bodybuilding look."

And Mike seems to be on a good path in his preparation and has got attention from other bodybuilding veterans.

On the January 16 episode of the Menace Podcast, Chris Cormier appreciated Sommerfeld, saying, "It looks like Mike is in really good shape. His shape is just going to carry him and the experience he has; I just don’t see that being a problem for him."

Even Milos Sarcev praised him, saying, “Yeah, he is by far the favorite”.

However, the road to defending his title won't be easy for Sommerfeld. While the 31-year-old detailed his end goal in the video, his coach shed light on his diet and preparation for the 2026 Arnold Classic are different from last year.

Neil Hill breaks down Mike Sommerfeld’s 2026 Arnold Classic preparation

Hill said that Mike’s medication period has ended, but his microbiome and healthy bacteria are “not ideally where it needs to be”.

And that's why they are carefully monitoring the period during which Sommerfeld will be in a calorie deficit and also keep an eye on how hard he works out.

Hill said, “Even though his fat levels are coming down, Mike doesn't have that hardness and that dryness and that nastiness about his muscles like he did before”.

Currently, his body has shown a strong pump during workouts. Hill gives him a high-carb diet of nearly 250 grams on days, but they are considering rotating the amount based on low and high days.

With very few days remaining until the Arnold Classic, the coach admitted that Mike now needs to “increase the ability to pull down on more calories but also feed his body at the same time”.

Slowly, he is also adding more cardio to Mike’s routine as he works out 2 times a day. However, it is hard to analyse the process until the event day because Hill reviews Mike's progress daily.

Do you think he will be able to defend his Arnold Classic title this year?

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Written by

Supradeep Dutta

Edited by

Souvik Roy