Featured Athlete: Jonathan Rouch – 2023 Arnold Classic Europe Overall Champion.

October 27, 2023

Featured Athlete: Jonathan Rouch – 2023 Arnold Classic Europe Overall Champion.

Evolutionofbodybuilding.net is honored to have French bodybuilding star, Jonathan Rouch, as their latest Featured athlete.

Jonathan is one of the best amateur bodybuilders in the world, who has just won the overall title at the 2023 Arnold Classic Europe championships.

Jonathan Rouch is 31 years old and he was born on 20 March 1992 in the South of France, Lavelanet.

The beginnings

Jonathan’s love for bodybuilding started at a very young age, thanks to his father. His father was never interested in the sport of bodybuilding before Jonathan’s bodybuilding career started. But his father was always a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s filmography, and at a very young age, he and Jonathan used to watch films such as the Terminator film series.

At the same time, every Wednesday, while staying at his grandmother’s, in the afternoon there were always great adventure movies on TV, especially the famous Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer films. Jonathan loved these heroic films, and Jonathan was captivated by Arnold’s physique, and even more by his charisma.

At that time, Jonathan was about eight years old, not old enough to start weight training, but he was a gymnast. Jonathan was involved in gymnastics between the ages of 3 to15. From 10 to 15, Jonathan practiced gymnastics at a very high level, and intensity, at a rate of 20 hours per week.

Every day Jonathan trained gymnastics for approximately four hours. Jonathan’s coach picked him up from school at 4:30 pm and his mom picked him up at 8 pm.

Jonathan would have dinner and continue with his studies. Jonathan’s mother made sure he continued to get good grades.

During the school holidays, Jonathan had internships. He was in the gym on a regular basis training in gymnastics.

During the 20 hours of training that he did, Jonathan focused on specific physical preparation. Mainly bodyweight training, which consisted of pull-ups, pumps, ropes, and abs. Two times a week, Jonathan’s coach made use of a training method called “PPL” (Heavy Physical Preparation). The kids used heavy metal parts as barbells from factories nearby.

Jonathan immediately fell in love with this kind of training, and he never cheated, unlike his fellow classmates. Jonathan immediately started to build his physique faster than his friends, and while on vacation, his friends called him “muscular”.

When Jonathan stopped training gymnastics, he moved on to the national sport of rugby at the age of 15, but with all the running, Jonathan thought it would be a shame to lose the muscle mass he had achieved through his. It was at that time, he walked into a bodybuilding gum for the first time.

Jonathan was lucky to find a trainer at the gym to teach him the basic exercises. Jonathan believes that not having YouTube, Instagram, or any other social media at that time was an advantage. Jonathan had the opportunity to learn the true art of bodybuilding without any distractions.

Jonathan continued to play rugby for eight more years at a high level, but the gym was more of an attraction to him.

Early beginnings to winning a pro card

At the age of 22, Jonathan gave up rugby to devote 100% of his time to bodybuilding, and he decided to enter his first competition, the French Junior Heavyweight Championship in 2015. Jonathan placed second, behind a future famous IFBB Pro, Florian Poirson.

Jonathan immediately joined the French team, and the team manager, Philippe Eichler, sent him to his first international competition, the Mediterranean Games. Unfortunately, there were no Junior bodybuilding events, so Jonathan had to move up to the Seniors – 90kgs category.

Although Jonathan was in fantastic condition, he placed. Regardless of his placing, Jonathan was still very happy, considering he competed against athletes with much more experience.

For the next two years, Jonathan refrained from competing and concentrated on building his physique.

Jonathan returned to the stage in 2017 and competed at two national competitions that were at a very high level. Jonathan placed second at the Blanc Classic and also placed second at the Grand Prix des Pyrénées. Jonathan competed in the up to 90kg category.

Following these great results, Jonathan took another two years off, to continue to build his physique and move up to the 100kgs.

Jonathan returned to the stage in 2019 and was crowned the Champion of France in the Senior -100kgs category. This was the result that Jonathan needed to join the National Team, representing France in the IFBB.

Jonathan competed at the IFBB Diamond Cup, where he placed fourth behind a Russian and two Spaniards. Jonathan was the highest-placing French athlete.

Jonathan tried his luck at the Grand Prix des Pyrénées again, where he placed second again.

The horrible pandemic arrived in 2020, and this derailed Jonathan’s prep for the IFBB European Championships.

Jonathan would return to the stage three years later, in 2022. Jonathan had a completely new look, and this would be a turning point in Jonathan’s career.

On his debut at the IFBB European Championships, Jonathan finished second in the up to 100kgs category. 15 days later, Jonathan won the Overall at the IFBB Diamond Cup Lyon and won his first IFBB Elite Pro card.

Following this victory, the IFBB Spanish, Jose Ramos, invited Jonathan to the IFBB Mr. Universe Spain. Jonathan went on to win the overall title and second Overall and with his victory, he was awarded his second Pro card which was given to him by IFBB President Rafael Santonja himself. Rafael also invited Jonathan to compete at the Mr Europe IFBB Elite Pro, as an amateur, on the same evening.

It was an incredible experience for Jonathan and the best surprise of the year for him as he ended up finishing in the top 6 out of 11 athletes in the Open Bodybuilding category.

Encouraged by these results, Jonathan’s coach immediately pushed Jonathan to start preparing for the IFBB World Championships.

Jonathan always had a goal to compete at the IFBB World Championships, since it’s one of the most prestigious bodybuilding events in the history of the sport.

Jonathan managed to place second, but he was unfortunately relegated to third because of a technical fault in his free posing which he received a red card. Despite this incredible result, this decision prevented Jonathan from enjoying his second-place finish.

The next stop for Jonathan was the Mediterranean Championships. Jonathan finished in second behind the reigning world champion.

Finally, Jonathan ended the 2022 season with a victory at the Diamond Cup in Rome, winning the +100kgs bodybuilding category.

This 2022 season was very intense for Jonathan with 43 weeks of preparations, out of 52 weeks in the year. Thanks to his consistency during the competitive season, Jonathan finished second in the IFBB World Rankings.

Just recently, Jonathan won the overall title at the 2023 Arnold Classic Europe amateur event.

Jonathan decided not to activate his pro card. His main goal is to win at the 2023 IFBB World Championships.

Training and Diet

Jonathan’s training routine is spread over 9 days with 6 days of training and 3 days of rest.

Training Split: 2/1/2/1/2/1

Day 1: Quads / Calves
Day 2: Chest
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Back / Abs
Day 5: Shoulders / Traps
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Hamstrings-Glutes / Calves
Day 8: Biceps/ Triceps/ Abs
Day 9: Rest

Jonathan has intense workouts all year round, whether for mass or during prep. Jonathan’s training is inspired by six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates.

Jonathan’s diet consists only of fresh and unprocessed foods, gluten-free, and lactose-free to improve digestion and assimilation. In the off-season, Jonathan eats about 7000kcal per day, and during contest prep, he gradually reduces food intake but the type of food remains the same.

Jonathan hopes to activate his pro card in 2024 and try to participate and compete at the IFBB Elite Pro World Championship Elite Pro.

Hobbies

Jonathan loves nature, walks in the mountains in his native region of the south of France, the Pyrenees, fishing, and mushroom picking since childhood.

In his adopted region of Bretagne, Jonathan enjoys the beauty of the ocean landscapes as often as possible.

Above all, Jonathan likes to spend time with his family, organizing big gatherings with good meals.