The competitors list for the 2025 Arnold Classic contest has been released, prompting bodybuilding veterans to assess the Men’s Open lineup. In a recent YouTube video shared on December 15, 2024, coach Chris Aceto discussed if Derek Lunsford’s legs have come up enough to win gold in Columbus, Ohio, and defended Nick Walker’s decision to not compete at the event.
Although Derek Lunsford and Hadi Choopan were the on-paper frontrunners at the 2024 Mr. Olympia, it was Samson Dauda who pulled through as the number-one bodybuilder in the world. With dense muscularity packed on his tall frame, he became the 19th man to earn the Sandow trophy. As for Lunsford, he found himself in third place, having missed the mark, with many fans pointing out his lackluster leg volume.
To redeem himself, Lunsford has thrown his name into the 2025 Arnold Classic, where he’ll rematch Dauda at the sport’s second-most important event of the season. A hefty $500,000 cash prize awaits the Open winner, leading Aceto to assess the lineup and offer his two cents on what’s to come.
Chris Aceto Defends Nick Walker’s Decision to Skip 2025 Arnold Classic, Discusses Derek Lunsford’s Leg Progress
While speaking with Rx Muscle’s Dave Palumbo, Aceto expressed doubt about whether or not Derek Lunsford has brought up his legs since the 2024 Mr. Olympia.
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“Maybe it’s Instagram lighting [in his latest physique update]. A lot of people have trouble keeping legs. Legs are hard to keep when you build them.
Yeah, they will come back. At first, things fall apart. Whatever body part I guess. The pecs, you overdiet or just get tired or rundown, your pecs go. It takes a long time to build the pecs,” said Aceto.
He added that Lunsford and Choopan looked better in 2023 whereas Dauda showcased his all-time best at the latest Mr. Olympia. He also touched on Dauda’s recent guest posing event in Italy.
“I really believe that Samson was at his best this year’s Olympia,” said Aceto. “I feel that Hadi and Derek looked better last year and this year Samson looked better this year. What you’re asking is the Derek of the year before have beaten the Samson of this year…I don’t know.”
“I think he looks great [now],” said Aceto. “That’s impressive [Samson Dauda’s recent guest posing in Italy]. It’s impressive because you are looking at him and he looks round but keep in mind you can’t really gauge the height. He’s not standing next to anyone, which is his benefit. He actually looks bigger than standing next to people than he does posing like this by himself.”
While fans would love nothing more than to see Nick Walker back on stage, Aceto believes it was the right move to skip the Arnold Classic. He argued that his best weapon, mass, wouldn’t hold up against the current version of Samson Dauda.
“No, it wasn’t a mistake. No. I think he would struggle to win it,” shared Aceto. “He’s rusty. He has not been on the stage. That doesn’t mean that he can’t have a tremendous comeback.
It’s a very big show. The show has an incredible amount of depth. There’s a lot of talent in that show and he’s quote the mass monster and I don’t think he would challenge in terms of mass, Samson.”
In addition, Aceto suggested that Walker’s freak factor wouldn’t overwhelm Dauda at this juncture.
“Already, if you can’t overwhelm people, if you’re not going to overwhelm on what your highlights are, you’re struggling out of the gate,” explains Aceto. “He’s a freaky guy, so to speak, the freak factor, I don’t think the freak factor overwhelms Samson.”
Between ‘rust’ and being ‘too rested,’ Aceto underlined that Walker needs more time to present his best physique.
“Sometimes you can be too rested,” he shares. “People coming off a show with a rebound, sometimes you get a great rebound. Sometimes you know, I said rusty, you can be too rested. You can be too rested and judging by the way he looked coming into the Olympia, he was in the hole so, the Olympia was not that long ago.
There’s not time to rebuild all the mass that I’m sure he wants to add back onto that body before he starts whittling it away. I think it’s a smart move not to do this particular show.”
He believes Hadi Choopan also needs time to make the necessary changes to his physique.
“The Hadi that showed up at the Olympia was not the Hadi that showed up at the Arnold so maybe he feels that he needs more time to regroup and make some changes to his physique that he may need to do to get back to that Arnold look.”
With such a stacked lineup, Aceto emphasized that Nick Walker and Hadi Choopan need more time to prepare for a firefight against Dauda. As for Lunsford, he has a unique opportunity in front of him. Should he take out ‘The Nigerian Lion’ in Ohio, he’ll have huge momentum heading into the 2025 Mr. Olympia.
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