Sam Sulek’s Arnold Classic Prep for 2026: Calories, Weight Cutting Strategy, and How He’s Approaching It All – Muscle & Fitness

Sam Sulek is close to making his professional debut and competing in the Arnold Classic, so the decisions he makes leading up to the biggest night of his bodybuilding career to date are crucial. Fortunately, the 24-year-old remains typically chilly about this monumental moment, but he did share a strategy in one recent YouTube video.

Sulek went from social media star to bona fide bodybuilder when he earned his IFBB Pro card with a victory in the Classic Physique division of the 2025 NPC Arnold Amateur. This year he will join the pros in Columbus, Ohio. So to perfect his physique, the influencer explained that he currently eats about 2,600 calories a day while leaning forward in front of the stage, but he’s not against upping that a bit in the coming days if he feels his workout needs extra fuel. This flexibility was a hallmark of his Arnold preparation.

Sam Sulek’s strategy to set the stage for the 2026 Arnold

In his vlogposted 23 days after the biggest event of his career to date, Sulek revealed that his current weight is 229 pounds. In the next two weeks he wants to get this number down to 227-228 pounds. “Even just 228, that’s fine with me,” he told his 4.41 million YouTube subscribers. While the rising star must meet a weight limit of 227 pounds under Classic Division rules, Sulek knows he will lose even more weight in the final days and hours before the show.

“The weight is not what I care about,” Sulek said. “I don’t have to struggle to gain weight. Like, I’m there. The day before the weigh-in, if I pull my water and dehydrate a little, that will drop me about 5 pounds,” the bodybuilder shared. “So I’m going to be well under that 227, I don’t even have to think about it.”

Instead, Sulek thinks about how he will appear on stage from a visual perspective. “The number on the scale is an indicator of how my weight is changing, but I just want to get a little more granular, a little more peeled, you know, thin out the fat layer on my sides, my lower back and my glutes, so all those little extra lines creep out a little bit.”

Sulek also revealed that he had wondered if he had gotten to the right weight a little too quickly about three weeks ago, but that he was able to be flexible with his calorie intake and made sure to nourish himself and pause the diet so that his muscle mass wouldn’t suffer. “Abso-freaking-lutely perfect,” he concluded.

Sam Sulek will try to bring the perfect package to the Arnold 2026 on March 5-9, and the Arnold UK on March 27-29.

To follow Sam Sulek on YouTube, click here.