Nick Walker has set his sights on the 2023 Mr. Olympia title as his off-season efforts are well underway. In a recent Mutant and the Mouth podcast, Walker discussed his diet and game plan to take the title from the reigning champion Hadi Choopan in November.
“I feel great. Now that recovery is better, oh my God, fantastic,” Walker said regarding the next stage of his off-season.
Impossible to ignore, Nick Walker emerged as a Men’s Open frontrunner after winning the 2021 New York Pro and Arnold Classic consecutively. His freakish muscle mass, size, and hardness set him apart from his contemporaries. Though perhaps his massive arms were his biggest claim to fame, so much so, his biceps have even been compared with icon and Mr. Olympia kingpin Ronnie Coleman. With considerable momentum, Walker entered his first Mr. Olympia and finished fifth.
Instead of defending his Arnold Classic title, ‘The Mutant’ stuck to the sidelines in favor of making improvements to his physique, most notably to his waistline. Having taken full advantage of his 2022 off-season with an appearance at the Pittsburgh Pro guest posing spectacle, it was evident Walker was a favorite at the Olympia contest, which was hosted in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Hadi Choopan would raise gold above his shoulders at 2022 Mr. Olympia, but Walker still left with his head held high after earning third place and the Olympia People’s Champ Award. In a quick turnaround, the 28-year-old made a splash at the 2023 Arnold Classic and despite his status as a favorite, he lost to Samson Dauda, which admittedly, was a difficult outcome for Walker to accept.
Nick Walker Targets 20-Week Prep But ’12-Week Mark, That’s When It’s Really Game Time’
Typically, Walker’s preps start at 20 weeks but says the intensity of his diet and training change at 16 weeks, and then intensifies again at the 12-week mark.
“I usually always start the prep 20 weeks out which is kind of just like getting in the groove. Okay, not necessarily strict exactly but this is kind of where we’re headed, 16 weeks out, we dry up a little more, and then you get to the 12-week mark, and that’s when it’s really game time.”
“My waist honestly can say I don’t think my waist has changed much at all,” Walker said regarding his progress. “I’m not overeating, I’m trying – I don’t feel the need to where I have to eat so much food to pack on size and I think that plays a big role. Like I said, we’re eating enough where it’s going to put me in a surplus to give me the energy I need to get stronger make improvements in the gym that need it but not just blow up everywhere. I don’t need that anymore. I think that it keeps the waist obviously a little tighter. It just helps.”
“I’d rather start prep and my weight barely budges… you know, because you know you’re in a good fuc**ng spot right now.”
Nick Walker said his strength is rising and his physique is growing. He specified that his food intake hasn’t drastically changed but they are reintroducing supplements and steroids.
“Off-season really just kind of officially started now, so just training, growing now,” said Walker.
“Now officially means what did you start incorporating the drugs, did you increase the food?” asked Guy Cisternino.
“Yeah, pretty much. Supplements got incorporated now, food is a little bit higher. Training volume is starting to increase a little bit for me. Weight, right now, I’m 280,” added Walker. “My protein doesn’t really change, like after the Arnold even after the Olympia when we did a quick little rebound, it’s 224 grams, which is like eight oucnes, it doesn’t change.
Honestly, since we did start the off-season now, incorporating supplements, the food hasn’t drastically changed from what it was prior because he kind of wants to see what does what and then we’ll start going up in the food. The food is already… you know I’m eating enough to where my recovery is fine, training performance is fine, strength is going up, food wasn’t necessarily the issue but I’m doing say average 5, 600 grams of carbs a day right now for me. My fats are around 80 [grams] he’s pretty big on fats right now. Strength is going up,” said Walker.
At his heaviest weight where he pushed over 300 pounds, Walker said it wasn’t that bad, but he didn’t feel great. This season, however, his focus is not on acquiring more muscle tissue.
“Even when I was 300 and that was pretty fuc**ng heavy for me, I felt like crap, but it wasn’t that bad,” said Walker. “I definitely had moments but it wasn’t that bad.”
Guy Cisternino and Walker hope to train with Dorian Yates in Canada in the next few weeks after Nick guest poses in Pittsburgh.
“We live Wednesday to Pittsburgh because I guess I’m guest posing at the Pittsburgh Pro. She’s going to fly back here, but I’m driving back down with them to Canada – it’s a 5-hour drive, I’m going to be there for like two weeks when I get there that following weekend it’s that Fit Log, or some big thing in Canada, a fit expo or something, we’ll stay another week and doing a lot of content for them [HD Muscle] and then I’ll come back.”
“I was thinking maybe you and Dorian and those guys were out there, I really wouldn’t want to drive, if I was going to go do it I’d take a quick flight over there,” said Cisternino. “I thought that would be pretty cool, me and you could link up and do that to [train and do content with Dorian Yates].”
Walker hasn’t stopped training even though he’s competed at two shows in the last six months. He recently demonstrated a grueling chest and triceps workout that involved seven different movements. Just last week, the Open star demolished a push day workout where he offered insight on how to maximize gains during the training session.
As one of the most popular and beloved Open bodybuilders in the league, fans would love to see Walker push the current champion Hadi Choopan at the next Mr. Olympia contest, which is slated to take place November 2-5 in Orlando, Florida.