“The Mutant” prefers to take a rest day close to leg day.
Nick “The Mutant” Walker is making a solid comeback and setting his sights on a standout performance at the Olympia following a hamstring and calf injury that temporarily sidelined him last year. He has already secured his spot for the 2024 Mr. Olympia by clinching the 2024 New York Pro title, signaling his readiness to compete at the highest level. Walker faces formidable competition, including his rival Derek Lunsford, Hadi Choopan, and last year’s third-place finisher, Samson Dauda.
On July 22, 2024, Nick Walker shared details of his push day routine, a key component of his preparation for the 2024 Olympia. Traditionally favoring a bro split, The Mutant is now focusing on this specific routine to enhance his leg training, aiming for maximum impact. Below, we delve into the specifics of his rigorous push-day routine.
| Full Name: Nick Walker | ||
| Weight | Height | Date of Birth |
| 270 – 295 lbs | 5’7″ | 08/03/1994 |
| Division | Era | Nationality |
| Bodybuilding | 2020 | American |
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Nick Walker’s Push Day Exercises
With just 12 weeks to his major Olympia competition, Nick Walker is determined and intends to take what is his. “Yeah, so today’s a push day… We’re just going to train hard.” Walker says. Here is a list of his push day exercises.
| Exercises | Sets | Reps |
| Incline Dumbbell Press | 3 | 6-8 |
| Atlantis Machine Seated Chest Press | 2 | 10-12 |
| Machine Seated Chest Fly | 2 | 10-12 (10-second iso-holds at the bottom) |
| Smith Machine Shoulder Press | 3 | 10-12 |
| Atlantis Machine Lateral Raise | 3 | 10-15 (myo reps) |
| EZ Bar Triceps Pushdown | 3 | 12-15 |
| Seated Machine Triceps Dip | 3 | 12-15 |
Incline Dumbbell Press
Nick Walker starts his push-day exercises by grabbing a pair of dumbbells and lying on the bench to do an incline dumbbell press. Research shows that the incline dumbbell press works on the pecs, delts, and triceps (1). He starts light first and says, “Strength is going up. I’m probably going to hit the 150s today. I haven’t done that in forever. So I’ll see how many I can do.” He does a couple of reps by applying slow concentric movements. While performing this exercise, he has a spotter behind him and completes his sets for his first workout.
Atlantis Machine Seated Chest Press
Walker does a couple of reps with the seated chest press machine and acknowledges that it is as smooth as butter. He takes a break and discusses how he intends to do his push-day exercise.
“First exercise, we went heavy. I mean, we’re always going to train heavy but we did a little lower reps, 6-8, and one back-off set. About 10 reps. We’re going to keep these reps in particular a little higher. Around 10-12, if we get a set of 15, that’s fine, but this will be a little higher rep.”
Before hitting his final set, Nick Walker answers, “Is a pump the end all be all of a good workout?” He said, “For me, it’s a yes and no answer. Yes, because for one, I think it’s a feeling, you know, who doesn’t love a good pump in the reality of things and a pump also means a lot of blood flow into the muscle, which means more nutrient assumption will go into that muscle which in returns means more growth,” said Walker.
“Facts but if you are training you feel good, you’re progressing on lifts, whether it’s a rep, whether it’s weight whatever the case is and the pump wasn’t maybe as good as normal it doesn’t mean it’s a bad workout. You still improved. That’s still a plus, so is the pump end all be all? I don’t think so, but to some degree, you should have a very good pump.”
He hits the chest press machine and does his last set, applying slow concentric movements. Overall, Walker does two sets of this exercise with a rep range of 10 to 12.
Smith Machine Shoulder Press
The Smith machine shoulder press is next for the 2024 New York Pro champ. He uses a shoulder-width length grip, applying slow concentric movements. He has a spotter assisting him with his final reps for this exercise. The Smith machine shoulder press is effective for building your shoulders (lateral and anterior deltoids), triceps, and chest muscles.
Machine Seated Chest Fly
Nick Walker sets up the seated chest fly machine to build his chest next. He loads his appropriate weights and uses a neutral grip for this exercise.
“What we did was, two chest movements, one shoulder movement. Now we’re going to go back to finish the chest off. When it comes to push-pull legs, I have found that you can become stronger by giving certain muscle groups a break within the workout and coming back to hit it later.”
Atlantis Machine Lateral Raise
Next, Nick Walker uses another Atlantis machine for lateral raises. He utilizes a full range of motion with slow eccentric movements, hitting his lateral delts better and strengthening his shoulders. A study shows that eccentric exercises and movements can increase muscle strength and muscle mass more effectively than concentric exercises (2). Walker does a couple of sets on this exercise and switches to partial reps as he is about to hit failure.
EZ Bar Triceps Pushdown
Nick Walker performs his next exercise, using an EZ bar with a cable machine for several reps, and applies concentric movements for the triceps pushdowns.
Seated Machine Triceps Dip
To round out his intense push exercises, Walker hops on the dip machine to perform several reps. He extends his arms down to keep tension on his triceps and slowly controls his movements using concentric movements.
Watch Nick Walker’s full push-day workout courtesy of his YouTube channel below:
Wrapping Up
After his workouts, Nick Walker runs us through the process of his exercises. He also briefly shares his push-pull for leg day. Walker explains:
“I’m doing push-pull-legs, and the way it is set up, it’s a push-pull off day legs, and then we take off again. So we take our off days basically around our leg days so that way we’re extremely fresh going into leg days, and then we recover after the leg days. That way, we’re even fresh for, you know, the two days that are coming up, so that is basically how we are training push-pull for legs.”
Walker acknowledges he is really in a good place physically and mentally. The star is motivated and intends to take the Mr. Olympia title this year. We can’t wait to see what he brings to the stage then.
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References
- Rodríguez-Ridao, D., Antequera-Vique, J. A., Martín-Fuentes, I., & Muyor, J. M. (2020). Effect of Five Bench Inclinations on the Electromyographic Activity of the Pectoralis Major, Anterior Deltoid, and Triceps Brachii during the Bench Press Exercise. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(19), 7339. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197339
- Roig, M., O’Brien, K., Kirk, G., Murray, R., McKinnon, P., Shadgan, B., & Reid, W. D. (2009). The effects of eccentric versus concentric resistance training on muscle strength and mass in healthy adults: a systematic review with meta-analysis. British journal of sports medicine, 43(8), 556–568. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2008.051417
