Resilience has defined Derek Lunsford‘s path back to the Mr. Olympia crown. On Oct 15, he revealed that he sustained a serious chest tear just four weeks before reclaiming his title at the 2025 Mr. Olympia.
In 2024, Lunsford’s mission to defend the prestigious title fell apart. He missed his peak, his legs were down, and Samson Dauda took that as an opportunity to become the 19th athlete to earn the Sandow trophy. Lunsford could have shelved his posing trunks and waited for the next Olympia, but opted to carry on competing.
He battled Dauda at the Arnold Classic and got revenge. In pursuit of the first-ever ‘Triple Crown,’ Lunsford threw his name into the Pittsburgh Pro. He took out Nick Walker after a sudden-death tie-breaker round, giving him crucial momentum before aiming to win back his Olympia title.
Lunsford ultimately reclaimed the Olympia title, inching past Hadi Choopan on the scorecards by two points. Having time to reflect on the accomplishment, the two-division Mr. Olympia shared new details about the struggles he faced before making history.
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Derek Lunsford on Chest Tear 4 Weeks Before 2025 Mr. Olympia: ‘I Just Saw My Career Flash Before My Eyes’
In the video, Lunsford revealed that he tore his chest on 70-kilogram dumbbell incline presses.
“I had a very serious injury to my chest. I actually tore my chest doing dumbbell presses. It felt light; I actually was trying to be conservative and go a little lighter.
It was 70-kilo dumbbell presses on the incline. For me, that’s a moderately heavy weight, but that day it just felt very good. I actually thought to myself I should go 75 or 80, but no, let me just stick with the 70s and control the reps.”
He admits his career flashed before his eyes as soon as the injury occurred.
“Every rep was feeling good, I got a couple of reps in and [ripping sound]. I instantly knew what happened. I knew something not good happened here, and I just saw my career flash before my eyes because I didn’t know what it was going to look like when I stood up, flexed it, and looked in the mirror.”
“No bruising right away. I’m like, okay, that’s a good sign. I could kind of flex it. It was inflamed, but there was no immediate aesthetic issues. I knew when it tore, it was not good,” he said.
The day after he flew to New York, Lunsford woke up with noticeable bruising in his chest.
“I flew the next day to Pittsburgh, no bruising, very inflamed and swollen. That same day, I flew to New York, and the following day, I woke up with some bruising in the chest.
Since then, the last couple of weeks, extremely bruised but by the grace of God, I’m telling you this has been healing so fast.”
According to Lunsford, this was the second-worst injury of his career.
“I had one other injury in the past that I never told anybody about. I have videos of it as well, and it took me a lot longer to recover, and between this one and the other injury, I don’t know which one was worse.
Because this is healing so quick, I’ll say this is the second-worst injury I’ve ever had. Nonetheless, this was a very serious injury that could have taken me out of this year’s Olympia and potentially my entire career.”
Having won the title at the 2025 Arnold Classic, questions about Lunsford’s next show are piling up. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that the Men’s Open winner at the 2026 Arnold Classic will be awarded a $750,000 purse, the biggest in bodybuilding history.
Lunsford isn’t the first Mr. Olympia champion to turn injuries into triumph on the Olympia stage. Former six-time winner Dorian Yates won titles during his tenure, pushing through a biceps and triceps tear to extend his reign in the Men’s Open.
Despite injuries, Lunsford has shown he can push through and defeat the best bodybuilders in the world, making his latest performance all the more impressive.
Watch the full video from the Derek Lunsford YouTube channel below:
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