The 2024 Mr. Olympia shook up the Men’s Open division with Samson Dauda making history as the 19th bodybuilder to earn the sport’s greatest title. In a recent Cutler Cast Podcast aired on October 21, 2024, Hany Rambod discussed how the timing of Mr. Olympia negatively affected Derek Lunsford’s and Hadi Choopan’s conditioning levels. In addition, he opened up on what’s next for Lunsford and Choopan.
Las Vegas, Nevada was full of surprises at the 60th anniversary of Mr. Olympia. All season long, fans expected Derek Lunsford and Hadi Choopan to steal the show. However, Samson Dauda nailed his peak, presenting an all-time best look that earned him not just a golden Sandow trophy, but a staggering $600,000 cash prize — the most money awarded at a bodybuilding show in the history of the sport.
Choopan secured the runner-up position while his teammate, Lunsford, was ousted from the throne in third place. To make sense of this new Open landscape, Rambod sat down with former Olympia winner Jay Cutler to give a glimpse of what’s on the horizon for Choopan and Lunsford.
Hany Rambod: Timing of 2024 Olympia Hurt Derek Lunsford’s and Hadi Choopan’s Conditioning, Discusses Derek’s Chances of Doing 2025 Arnold Classic
Rambod explained that having prejudging later at night affected the conditioning levels of all Open competitors, including Derek Lunsford and Hadi Choopan.
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I haven’t seen anybody like Andrew Jacked or Samson like their absolute [peaks] holy crap,” said Rambod. “It’s a different criteria because of the 10 p.m. prejudging.”
If they competed in the morning like Chris Bumstead did in Classic Physique, they would only have one or two meals in their system. However, when they took the stage at night, they had to present their physiques after eating five to seven meals throughout the day.
“That’s why none of them look crispy. Think of this. I have Hadi and Derek and they are getting on stage at 9:30 p.m. and they are finished by 10 or 9:15 or whatever it is and they are six or seven meals deep. How is that going to look conditioning-wise versus Chris Bumstead after two meals in the morning and he’s going at 9:30 a.m.?”
One solution to improve the conditioning levels of all Open contenders would be to move the athlete meet and greet until after the Olympia takes place.
“I do think that there’s a couple of things I wish they could change. One of them is also getting rid of the meet and greet. The meet and greet is one of those things that they need to push that after the show.
They need to be able to change that because our athletes are getting bombarded with thousands of fans in that meet and greet and they have to leave.”
As for Derek Lunsford, Rambod underlined that while he added size to his chest, it resulted in his legs appearing more flat and imbalanced on stage.
“I think Derek looked good but I think Derek needs to create proportionality and I think that his lower body and upper body need to jive up more. I think that he did a good job putting some size on but it was almost like, remember two years ago his chest was flat, this year his chest is bigger, and all that, but it also makes his legs look a little bit more flat, especially from the front.”
He specified that Lunsford needs to work on his leg volume to rectify this issue.
“He needs to get more of that bulbous quad,” said Rambod. “100 percent [it’s muscle maturity].”
Rambod believes Lunsford has options following his third-place performance. He understands that Lunsford may want to compete at the 2025 Arnold Classic as it could be an opportunity to fine-tune his conditioning and muscle maturity.
“I think you can play it either way. I think he could just say hey look, I want to do the Arnold and create more of that muscle maturity because I need to diet down and feel that or he could say hey look, I want to stop for a little while and reset.”
He adds that Lunsford’s body is not tired and believes he needs to season his muscles to bring out the quality of his physique.
“No. His body is not tired. No, it just needs to be seasoned, just like I said, all that new tissue, that new tissue in his legs that he got this year was more apt to be able to as you dry out, it tends to go away a little bit just like the year before that, his chest wasn’t as dense. This year his chest is denser but his original muscle was always his back.”
Lastly, Rambod touched on Chris Bumstead retiring on top.
“What Cbum did… being able to do it on your terms… is a rarity. To be able to still be at that level at the top and still say, it’s good,” said Rambod. “
If Derek Lunsford chooses to enter the 2025 Arnold Classic, there’s already some big names he’ll have to deal with on stage. Reigning Mr. Olympia Samson Dauda has promised to not be a one-show-a-year bodybuilder and announced his entry for Columbus, Ohio. Meanwhile, Andrew Jacked has also ensured fans he’ll be back at the 2025 Arnold Classic.
Should Lunsford actually enter the nearing event, it will be the first Arnold Classic competition of his career. Coach Rambod believes Lunsford could take the time to refine his physique with an off-season or find success with muscle maturity by competing imminently, keeping fans in suspense.
Watch the full video from the Cutler Cast YouTube channel below:
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