Nick Walker Reveals Secret to Building a Huge Chest in Push-Day Workout
American bodybuilder Nick Walker has emerged as a major force in the Men’s Open division over the last few years. He’s gained a lot of hype based on his freakish muscularity and strong performances. In a recent video uploaded on YouTube, Walker shared his secrets to growing a huge chest.
Nick Walker first gained attention for his crazy muscle mass, size, and conditioning after dominating the competition at the 2021 New York Pro. He followed up by taking home the top prize at the 2021 Arnold Classic and concluded one of the most impressive rookie seasons with a fifth-place finish at the Mr. Olympia. In 2022, Walker made significant improvements in the off-season and returned stronger than ever at the Mr. Olympia, where he took third place.
Walker was last seen in action at the 2023 Arnold Classic four months ago. He brought a massive physique but missed out on gold to Samson Dauda in a close-fought battle. Following the show, Walker opened up on the changes he made to his training and structure. He also made the case for himself to have placed runner-up at the 2022 Mr. Olympia instead of Derek Lunsford.
‘The Mutant’ offered his morning cardio routine, supplementation, and diet two months ago. He revealed he weighed 283 pounds and laid out a green shake he’s utilizing to improve gut health. Then, Walker smashed past a brutal push-day workout where he stressed the importance of not reaching muscle failure in training last month.
Nick Walker joined forces with fitness sensation Tristyn Lee and Jared Feather for a grueling back-day workout three weeks ago. Walker provided tips on maximizing volume training for the best results.
The fan-favorite faced backlash on an epic body transformation snap he posted on his social media over two weeks ago. While some were in awe of the massive amounts of muscle he put on his frame, others criticized him for allegedly overusing steroids to get there.
Walker gave his breakdown of the upcoming 2023 Mr. Olympia two weeks ago. He backed 2022 Mr. Olympia Hadi Choopan, Derek Lunsford, Samson Dauda, Hunter Labrada, and himself to form the top five and counted out the chances of Andrew Jacked and former two-time champion Mamdouh ‘Big Ramy’ Elssbiay.
Nick Walker Builds Massive Chest in Push-Day Workout
In a recent YouTube video, Nick Walker worked on his chest while crushing a push-day workout.
Incline Dumbbell Chest Press
He started with incline dumbbell chest presses using 130-pound dumbbells and explained why it’s important to choose the right weight for performing slow and controlled reps.
“I will dumbbell press the 130s,” said Walker. “I could probably go a lot higher but there is really no need for me to try and ego lift. I’ve done all that in my earlier days, 170s, 180s, 200, 225s for that matter. Problem was everything had a bump on my chest. So, I lowered the weight. I go from 100 to 120s, 140 doesn’t feel good. I really bring it down as far as I can, stretch the chest, slightly pause, and explode up and when I explode up I squeeze and act like I’m bringing my elbows together. That is one thing I don’t see people doing. They just kind of *go half range* which yeah creates stimulus I’m sure it works to a degree but get the most out of the exercise. All the way stretch, slight pause, even in the stretch is also very most beneficial and actually squeeze at the top. So, all the way down, pause, come up, pretend like you’re forcing your elbows together and squeeze the dumbbells, slow negatives.”
For Walker, focusing on the stretch and the squeeze is the most important part of a rep.
“It’s all about the stretch and the squeeze, contracting the muscle throughout every rep. make every rep count. I feel like ever since I started doing this, my chest has progressed tremendously.”
Hammer Strength Chest Press Machine
Walker got some work in on the chest press machine using a full range of motion and slow negatives. While he didn’t offer specific tips for the exercise, he followed his usual principle of controlling the movement and not lifting to satisfy your ego.
Chest Dip Machine
Walker ranked the chest dip machine as one of the more difficult exercises to perform on push days. He believes using body weight should do the job on the movement and that there’s no need to add any additional weight unless it’s the first exercise of the training regimen.
“This will f**k you up. Again, just another cue, all the way down and stretch. Come all the way up and squeeze it. You don’t need weight with this. If I started with this, yeah probably but this is the last movement for chest. You don’t need weight, focus on just contracting.”
Pec Deck Fly Machine
Nick Walker offered a tip on improving chest muscle development by placing your elbows outwards to get a bigger contraction.
“The secret to getting a big chest is on the elbows. Example, especially on the pec deck, you see people take it and *do a limited range of motion* like they try to hug a bear. There’s been many people that say that. Yes, it works to a degree but it’s in the elbow where you want to *bring them out* watch the difference, no contraction before and when I bring out with the elbows, big contraction. Stretch, contract, you almost want to close the elbows together. At least imagine it. The contraction will feel a lot bigger doing this than this. So that is one of my tips to building a bigger chest.”
Dumbbell Lateral Raises
Although the push day workout was more focused on the chest, Walker made sure to get a shoulder exercise in with dumbbell lateral raises before moving on to the triceps. He recommended bringing the weight all the way up and avoiding the use of traps while performing the movement.
“This day is specifically more chest. I’ll duo one shoulder movement which usually is side laterals and then I’ll move onto triceps.”
“It’s not your normal side lateral here. You come all the way up. Basically, you’re going to hit all the side delt but you won’t incorporate trap, which is fine, not the biggest issue but I just like it better because I feel like I can hit the delt harder than stopping here. I get a bigger pump and I’ve noticed massive improvements in my delts doing it this way.”
Cable Pushdown
Next, Walker did the cable pushdown as the first exercise of the regimen targeting mainly the triceps.
Seated Dip Machine
Walker reiterated the benefits of controlling the full movement and choosing a weight that you can properly squeeze and stretch the muscle with for optimal results. He also revealed he got the most gains in his arms using a rep range of 12 to 15.
“Don’t ego lift. Especially with this, if you do it right, it allows you to bring your elbows back and get a full stretch. Then it goes down for you in that type of motion and you can lock out and squeeze. That’s it. It’s the same like a pushdown you want to get the stretch at the very top holding and then control it. I do find with a higher rep the arms grow a little better. No less than 10 but I would say even no more than 20. Best range for arms for me to grow was like 12 to 15ish. You stay in that range, you’ll grow.
Machine Triceps Extension
Walker concluded his session with machine triceps extension, which is the one exercise he likes to go heavy on. He racked the full weight set as he believes the movement feels lighter than others.
“On this machine, I pretty much contradicted and racked the whole thing but anyone who has used this machine understands it’s not that heavy so it’s okay. I’m doing like 15 to 20 reps perfect control, even a pause at the bottom, slow down. It’s a great machine just a little light.”
Overall, the workout included:
- Incline Dumbbell Chest Press
- Hammer Strength Chest Press Machine
- Chest Dip Machine
- Dumbbell Lateral Raises
- Cable Pushdown
- Seated Dip Machine
- Machine Triceps Extension
‘Stop ego lifting!’: Walker reveals the secret to growing a full chest
Walker highlighted the importance of proper technique and not trying to lift too heavy.
“The secret to growing a big chest, which primarily is the secret to growing a big anything is stop ego lifting. Stop thinking you can come up here and be macho man, control the weight, control the eccentrics, and explode up, contract that muscle as hard as you can. That’s what makes it grow.”
Nick Walker gives prep update 17 weeks out from the 2023 Mr. Olympia
Nick Walker shared updates on his progress 17 weeks out of the Olympia.
“Today, we’re going to be doing a push day,” said Walker. “This will be primarily for my chest. We are about 17 weeks out from the Olympia now and not too much has changed. We did lower the foods a little bit, increased cardio a bit, baby steeps that’s why we do long preps, just ease the body into it so we don’t have to rush and come all the way down. Goal is by the time we hit three to four weeks out, we’re going to pull back a little bit, let the body rest, recover, come back to life a little more.
“Overall, training’s been really good, strength still going up, food is still relatively high, no reason to be low right now, and cardio is good.”
Nick Walker is confident Hadi Choopan would not retain his title at the 2023 Mr. Olympia later this year. He plans to assert himself first and expects a fierce showdown with Derek Lunsford on stage.
Walker also provided tips on growing huge quads while crushing a lower body workout last week. Then, he gave his take on the game plan he was devising for Mr. Olympia. Based on the latest update, Walker is leaving no stone unturned in his pursuit of Olympia glory.
You can watch the full video below:
