The race to the 2024 Mr. Olympia show is underway, with bodybuilding veterans chiming in on who they believe will walk away victorious. In the latest Prime Time Muscle Podcast, Chris Cormier revealed that Derek Lunsford needs to bring up the details in his chest, legs, and abs to defeat Hadi Choopan this October.
Considered one of our era’s greatest rivalries, the showdown between Lunsford and Choopan will set the bodybuilding community on fire in just a few months. Last year, Derek Lunsford accomplished the unthinkable after besting Choopan in an extremely close battle at the 2023 Olympia. As a result, he became the only athlete to ever win the 212 Olympia and Mr. Olympia titles.
In the show’s aftermath, some thought ‘The Persian Wolf’ deserved the victory. And while things turned dark atop the Men’s Open division for a second, Choopan and Lunsford graciously accepted the outcome. With the marquee competition around the corner in four months, Cormier dived into what Lunsford has to do to prevent Choopan from winning a second Sandow trophy.
Chris Cormier Says Derek Lunsford Needs to ‘Revamp’ Whole ‘Front Side’ to Defeat Hadi Choopan at 2024 Mr. Olympia
Cormier is adamant that if Lunsford looks similar to the 2023 Olympia, he won’t have the firepower needed to stop Choopan on stage.
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“Derek is coming with guns blazing. He will need to improve over last year because last year just wasn’t good enough to hold off this new challenge from Hadi,” said Cormier. “What Hadi brought to the Arnold Classic is just a smidgen of probably what he is going to bring to the Olympia. So, we all thought, watching the Arnold Classic that if he would have looked like that, he may have won the title this year from Derek.”
Moreover, Cormier suggested that unless Lunsford ‘revamps’ his ‘whole front side’ he doesn’t envision him becoming a two-time Mr. Olympia.
“With that being said, his whole front side, to me, needs to be revamped. I feel like the abs got improved, the lower quads I would like to see some striations because I’ve seen them before, I want to see them at the competition in Las Vegas this year.”
According to Cormier, Lunsford needs to add lean muscle to his chest and improve his abs ahead of his title defense.
“If he can get the lean muscle mass in the chest, in the abs, I don’t want to see a vacuum, I want to see you going head-to-head with the serratus, with the–I want to see all of that. He’s got that tailor-made shot, that front double biceps, I love it more than possibly everybody else in the division.”
Should Lunsford bring up his abs, legs, and chest, Cormier believes he will be the ‘clear-cut’ winner this October.
“If he can keep that waist tight and improve on those legs and improve on those abs and improve the definition in his chest, we are going to see a clear-cut winner again but if he doesn’t, if you don’t, Derek, then I’m just telling you that it’s going to be hard to keep that tile. Everyone is hungry to beat you. You have a target on your back. You are the rabbit, and they are the hound dogs,” said Chris Cormier.
Although much of the world’s attention has been fixated on Lunsford and Choopan, bodybuilder Sergio Oliva Jr. refused to count out Nick Walker, who recently won gold at the 2024 New York Pro. Oliva Jr. says 2024 is the ‘year of the short guys’ and believes ‘The Mutant’ compares well next to the on-paper favorites at this year’s Olympia.
With off-seasons coming to an end, the world’s top bodybuilding contenders are readying their physiques for war. Given the unpredictable nature of the Men’s Open division, fans are in store for a historic showdown on the horizon.
Watch the full video from the Olympia TV YouTube channel below:
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