Nick Walker does a four-day training split following his hamstring injury.
Nick Walker is a promising professional bodybuilder with a fantastic track record. After turning pro in 2020, he went on to win the Arnold Classic in 2021 and came second at Mr. Olympia in 2022. However, despite his best efforts and preparation, Walker had to pull out of the competition in 2023 due to a hamstring injury. Nevertheless, “The Mutant” is already back in the gym training his hamstrings. However, before that, he had to take things easy on the road to recovery. In this post, we follow Nick Walker as he trains after a long hiatus from the gym and look at his exercises, including the machine lateral raise and training tips that athletes might find helpful while recovering.
Nick Walker’s Recovery Training
You can watch Nick Walker’s complete chest and biceps workout that he uploaded to his YouTube channel on December 26, 2023, below:
Before the workout, Nick Walker takes a pre-workout drink and does some cable chest fly as a warmup to get his blood flowing. Warmups improve your performance and help you avoid injuries while training (1). Walker also shares that he’s doing a four-day split training.
“So um, that’s like I said, that’s the four-day split, you know. I do like a Monday, Tuesday, off Wednesday, uh Thursday, and Friday, and I take off weekends. Sometimes, I might take off Friday and then train some legs on Saturday and take off Sunday. Just kind of depends, um, what the week looks like for that. But this is what I’ve been doing. I feel like it’s been working. Um, I’m not overly taxing the body throughout the week.”
Nick Walker also says he’s sticking to his regular training principles, which include using a full range of motion and training to failure. In addition, he’s taking longer rest periods and has noticed that he’s getting bigger pumps and experiencing more muscle growth.
Nick Walker’s Chest & Biceps Exercises
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Nick Walker does a mix of machine, free weight, and bodyweight exercises for his chest and bicep workout. He keeps his rep ranges between 10 and 15, within the optimum range for muscle hypertrophy. Here are his exercises and how to use them to grow your chest and arms.
| Exercises |
| Incline Dumbbell Press |
| Machine Chest Press |
| Incline Dumbbell Fly |
| High Cable Fly |
| Preacher Curl |
| Cable Curl |
| Seated Dumbbell Curl |
| Machine Lateral Raise |
| Incline Pushup |
Incline Dumbbell Press
Nick Walker starts his workouts by doing incline dumbbell presses using 90lb dumbbells. He keeps his reps between 10 and 15 and then ups the weight to 110 lbs. For the next set, Walker lowers the weight, and in each set, he takes it to failure and ends with some partial reps to fully fatigue the muscles. Incline dumbbell presses work on your upper pecs, triceps, and anterior delts.
Machine Chest Press
Next in this training, Nick Walker does a machine chest press on a plate-loaded machine. He does each rep slowly, focusing on the contractions and squeezing his muscles. Once done, he advises everyone to always rack their weights after working out. As the name says, the machine chest press works on your pecs; however, this exercise also builds your delts and triceps.
Incline Dumbbell Fly
Nick Walker uses a full range of motion for the incline dumbbell fly, allowing him to get a deep stretch and putting his muscles under tension for longer. He also shares that the deep stretch and pause make a difference in intensity. The incline dumbbell fly is an accessory exercise that focuses on your pectoralis major in the upper chest.
High Cable Fly
The high cable fly is another exercise where Nick Walker shows incredible form. He does each rep slowly, focusing on the mind-muscle connection. Walker shares that his contractions with this routine were good, and he felt it worked where he wanted it to. So he won’t increase the weight and end up sacrificing his form. The high cable fly places a greater emphasis on your pecs and limits the involvement of the arms, leading to more chest muscle growth.
Preacher Curl
Next, Nick Walker does preacher curls, which he says are his favorite exercise, and does around 12 to 15 reps. He uses a preacher curl machine that offers different resistance points and says he likes to load it up in the middle. This type of loading makes the stretching part of the curls the hardest, which Walker believes leads to more growth. Preacher curls work on the long head of the biceps and brachialis (2).
Cable Curl
After the preacher curls, Nick Walker goes to the next exercise, which is cable curls. He does this slowly and with focus, keeping his chin down and elbows close to his body. Walker uses a lat pull-down attachment with a shoulder-width grip for this routine. Cable curls primarily work on the biceps and recruit the brachialis and forearms.
Seated Dumbbell Curl
For seated dumbbell curls, Nick Walker starts heavier with the weight and states that he isn’t too sure about his form for that set. So, he lowers the weight for the next set and does the routine slowly and with proper focus. At the end, he alternates his curls. Seated dumbbell curls are isolation exercises that increase the strength and size of your biceps and forearms.
Machine Lateral Raise
Although this training is for the chest and biceps, Nick Walker shares that he enjoys doing one shoulder exercise on the same day. For this, he uses a side lateral machine to do a machine lateral raise.
“On this day in particular, I like to do just one shoulder exercise as well, so uh, some sort of side lateral, so probably use the side lateral.”
Incline Push-up
After the machine lateral raise, Nick Walker stacks two plates on the floor for an incline pushup to round up his chest and biceps training. This increases his range of motion, allowing him to go lower at the bottom part of the movement. Incline push-ups target your lower chest, anterior delts, and triceps.
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References
- Fradkin, A. J., Zazryn, T. R., & Smoliga, J. M. (2010). Effects of warming-up on physical performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 24(1), 140–148. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181c643a0
- Nunes, J. P., Jacinto, J. L., Ribeiro, A. S., Mayhew, J. L., Nakamura, M., Capel, D. M. G., Santos, L. R., Santos, L., Cyrino, E. S., & Aguiar, A. F. (2020). Placing Greater Torque at Shorter or Longer Muscle Lengths? Effects of Cable vs. Barbell Preacher Curl Training on Muscular Strength and Hypertrophy in Young Adults. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(16), 5859. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17165859
