The table is set for a massive showdown at this year’s Mr. Olympia contest, prompting Chris Aceto to break down some of the Open class’ top contenders. In a recent YouTube video published on August 25, 2024, Chris Aceto explains why he believes Nick Walker to be a ‘shoo-in’ for the top five at Mr. Olympia and gave his opinion of Hunter Labrada trying to qualify last minute for the prestigious event in October.
Despite many in the bodybuilding community counting out ‘The Mutant,’ Chris Aceto isn’t. He sees Nick Walker doing some real damage at the nearing 2024 Mr. Olympia contest. Based on his track record, Aceto might be on to something. Walker has never dropped placings on the Mr. Olympia stage. In his first outing in 2021, Walker secured fifth place in his debut on the big stage.
A year later, he registered a career-high placing after taking home third place in a close-fought event with Hadi Choopan and Derek Lunsford. While the 30-year-old star was labeled a huge favorite ahead of the 2023 Olympia show, he was forced to pull out mere days from the contest due to an excruciating hamstring and calf tear. He watched Lunsford defeat Choopan to become the latest Sandow-holder as well as the sport’s first two-division Mr. Olympia champion.
In a sport that waits for no one, Walker got right back to work, laying claim to gold at the 2024 New York Pro. Now with his qualification in hand and his injuries fully healed, his bid for the Mr. Olympia title will continue in just a few short weeks.
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Chris Aceto Says It’s ‘Ludicrous’ Leaving Nick Walker Out of Top 5 at 2024 Mr. Olympia, Talks Hunter Labrada’s Last-Minute Plan to Qualify
According to Aceto, Walker is a ‘shoo-in’ for the top five at Olympia, specifying that he has very few weaker poses. In the past, the quality of Walker’s front lat spread has been brought into question.
“Nick is, in my mind, a shoo-in for top five. And I just don’t know where he places but he has potential to be much higher than fifth. I don’t think, I think there’s some poses that there may be one pose or two, one, that he’s not really strong at but other people have poses where frankly they’re not strong at.
And he has some poses where he’s close-ish to — I wouldn’t say dominating on but he has some poses where he will catch the most experienced judges’ eyes. That being potentially I think he’s got a great side triceps, I think he’s got a great side chest, I think he’s got a great back double, I think he’s got a great front double. I think he’s got a great most muscular,” said Chris Aceto.
Aceto, who has coached bodybuilders for decades, believes leaving Walker out of the top five is ‘ludicrous’ given the amount of muscle he packs on his frame.
“To talk about him not being in a factor for the top five seems to me like ludicrous because he carries a lot of muscle and the Olympia is still about muscle.
The Olympia is about muscle. It’s about conditioned muscle, but it’s still about muscle. And he’s shown that at every show he’s competed at, he’s either in very good condition or superlative conditioned.”
While he’s yet to offer a prediction, Aceto expects Walker to look at his best this October.
“Nobody knows how they’re going to look on stage,” says Aceto. “It’s fun to make predictions but I would not have — and it’s hard to make predictions. It’s easy to make a prediction but it’s hard because it’s just total speculation.”
“I would speculate that Nick Walker will be at his best.”
Aceto also briefly assessed the strengths of Hadi Choopan, Derek Lunsford, Behrooz Tabani, and Samson Dauda.
“Hadi is going to be hard. Derek is going to be hard. I think Behrooz looks great. I think Samson is a wild factor in terms of what he’s going to look like. I’m sure he’ll look great. He’ll probably be improved as well. I thought he looked great at the Olympia last year.
I thought in some poses he was most muscular at the night show. I thought your eyes go to him, side chest was very impressive. Side tricep was very impressive. I think he got put away on the back shots versus Derek and Hadi and the front double too, surprisingly. I think he struggled a little bit with Derek and Hadi.”
The only issue he has with Hunter Labrada attempting a last-minute qualification (September 8 at 2024 Promuscle Italy Pro) is that he risks being sick for the Olympia as preps often put athletes’ immune systems in a compromised state.
“The only reason it’s not a good idea [for Hunter Labrada to qualify late] is simply that if you get sick the last week, like legit sick, and you can’t make it to the show. I’m just talking just genuine sickness, people get sick. They’re eating crappy chicken all the way through their diet. I mean, let’s say, or eating the same fish and you know their immune system is just toast at the end of the diet.”
“That’s why people do get sick towards the end because their immune system is shot because they just over dieted or dieting on edge or overtrained or training on edge, and you’re just frazzled living off energy drinks and you get sick and you can’t do the show. That’s the only risk.”
With the deadline to qualify for Mr. Olympia expiring on September 15, we’ll soon have the full Open competitors list for the show’s 60th anniversary. Don’t miss live 2024 Mr. Olympia coverage with Fitness Volt from October 10-13.
Watch the full video from the Rx Muscle YouTube channel below:
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