Nick Walker dicussess his plan to “hands down” win 2023 Mr. Olympia and sees Derek Lunsford, not Hadi Choopan, his biggest threat
Pro bodybuilder Nick Walker laid out his plans for 2023 Mr. Olympia – and explained why he believes Hadi Choopan will not earn a repeat victory. In a recent interview on the Mutant and the Mouth Podcast, Walker goes into great detail about his Olympia contest prep, including the one detail he has to get perfect in order to win the competition. Based on his comments, it seems that he sees Derek Lunsford as his biggest threat over returning champion Hadi Choopan.
In a relatively short amount of time, Nick Walker has become one of the most anticipated bodybuilders in the IFBB Pro league. His massive size and conditioning have been lauded by fans and experts ever since he came onto the scene. Fast forward to 2022, Walker earned a third place finish at the 2022 Olympia – only behind champion Hadi Choopan and Men’s Open newcomer Derek Lunsford.
Nick Walker than jumped into the 2023 Arnold Classic just three months later. He brought a physique that was clearly more conditioned than his Mr. Olympia appearance but was perhaps slightly smaller and less full – reducing his famous “freak factor.” Due to this, he fell just short and landed second place.
Now Nick Walker has his eyes only focused on the 2023 Mr. Olympia competition. He plans to find the perfect balance between his full size in 2022 and his conditioning at the 2023 Arnold Classic. He believes that if he can strike that balance – he will “hands down” win the Sandow trophy this year.
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Nick Walker is focused on defeating Derek Lunsford and less worried about current Olympia champion Hadi Choopan
While speaking on the Mutant and the Mouth Podcast, Nick Walker discussed what he learned over the past year from his experiences in the 2022 Mr. Olympia and 2023 Arnold Classic. In doing so, he also revealed which competitor he believes will be the biggest threat to his success. Surprisingly, it isn’t the returning champion Hadi Choopan.
“I mean the two people that were in front of me were Hadi and Derek, and I think they are very comparable; I think that’s why they were one and two.”
“Listen, I love Hadi but I don’t see him repeating in my opinion and Derek, you know… he could continue to beat me now that he has a full off-season actually to put the work in and put size on now, so we’ll see. But everyone knows I improve drastically show to show. So, it’s just going to really come down to what me and him look like and who is in better shape, honestly.”
Nick Walker goes on to explain why he believes Derek Lunsford has nowhere to go but up – mostly due to 2023 being the first year he has a full off season as a Men’s Open competitor. Walker thinks that Choopan was comparable to Lunsford last year – but that Choopan is already at his limit and Lunsford has much more room to improve.
“People don’t understand, Derek is not small by any means. Like, he’s a big guy and he’s got great shape right? You know, so, what I was trying to do even for the Olympia and for the Arnold was improve the shape. That’s what I was trying to do. And I think it worked in my favor for the Olympia because I was still very very full, but I think when I came into the Arnold, I wasn’t as full, a lot more conditioned, and the waist was definitely more streamlined but I just didn’t have the pop that everyone likes, I guess.”
Nick Walker goes on to say that he believes the Mr. Olympia competition will come down to who is in better shape – Derek Lunsford or Nick Walker himself. Based on his statements in this discussion, it’s clear that Nick Walker’s first goal is to beat his own previous physiques. If he can do that, he thinks that Lunsford is the only competitor that has the size and potential shape to take him down.
Walker has been known for being extremely open about his process – and also very confident in his own abilities. So far, he’s been able to back up his words with action. Despite some slight wavering here and there – he has consistently improved year upon year and is often seen by most as an “when not if” competitor for winning the Mr. Olympia.
Will 2023 be Nick Walker’s year? And will he be correct about the lasting power of Hadi Choopan as an Olympia champion? Only time will tell – but this new generation of athletes has brought an incredible energy into the sport that has, refreshingly, made the results of big shows like Olympia harder to predict.
You can watch the full video with Nick Walker’s comments below:
