Nick Walker is ready to shake up the Men’s Open division once again. On June 10, via YouTube, he shared his reason for hiring Prabh Dhaliwal as his new coach. He also touched on adjustments to his current training split leading into the 2026 Tampa Pro.
Walker was counted out after finishing sixth at the 2025 Mr. Olympia. When he made his way to the 2026 Arnold Classic, he bounced back and pushed Chinedu Andrew ‘Jacked’ Obiekea to the brink of defeat. Though he left Ohio with the silver medal, he still earned a win over Hadi Choopan for the first time in his career.
Initially, the Men’s Open star teased a possible break from competing. However, just recently, Walker announced his entry for the Tampa Pro. And if he dominates the event as many expect, he’ll have a chance to stand against the best bodybuilders in the world at the 2026 Mr. Olympia.
Nick Walker Opens Up on Decision to Hire New Coach and Training Changes Ahead of 2026 Tampa Pro
In the video, Walker opened up about why he hired a new coach despite recently presenting one of his best looks to date. According to the Men’s Open Pro, he wants to offload some of the mental challenges that come with preparations.
“The news is out. Tampa Pro. I’ve got a coach. A little background on that, though. Listen, I did the best of both worlds, right? I had a coach for the majority of my career. I did the self-coaching by myself for the Arnold, which, obviously, arguably was probably one of my best packages to date.”
“But that being said, I think overall, I just like being a robot. If I can find somebody that I know I can trust, I’ll pick the robot. The process itself was extremely fun. I enjoyed doing it, learning my body, learning the ins and outs, going through the peaking process, but this shit is hard, man.”
He notes that a coach is especially helpful on peak weeks when brain fog kicks in:
“It requires a lot of thinking, it requires a lot of brain power,” he adds. “During peak week, I just don’t want to fucking think. I want to just be chill.”
Ahead of the Tampa Pro, Walker shared changes to his training split. He added an extra back day briefly before removing it due to excessive fatigue. For now, he doesn’t feel a need for an arm day.
“Still training four days a week. I tried going to five. I added an extra back day. It just felt a little too much for me. So I just went back down to four. Like I said, what I do is on Thursdays, after I do some shoulders and tris, just do a little touch-up on back, maybe a little chest too. Big leg day on Friday, weekends off, and I’m golden.”
Bodybuilding coach Chris Aceto raised concerns over Walker’s latest move. He doesn’t understand why he chose to hire a new coach after nearly beating Jacked at the Arnold Classic. Even with Dhaliwal in his corner, Aceto stressed that the Tampa Pro won’t be a slam dunk.
Walker is making sure each change produces measurable results during his prep. Fans look forward to seeing him make a statement at the 2026 Tampa Pro, scheduled for July 30 to August 1.
“Seven and a half weeks to claim what’s mine.”
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