Nick Walker is working hard to score a big win in the first major bodybuilding show of 2023. Walker is an American professional bodybuilder competing in the Men’s Open division of the IFBB Pro League. The 28-year-old has built a solid resume in a very short amount of time since earning his IFBB Pro card in 2020. He secured dominant wins at the 2021 New York Pro and the 2021 Arnold Classic in the first year of competing as a professional and made entry into the top echelons at the 2021 Olympia, finishing fifth in the Men’s Open division. Entering into the top five might be a decent achievement for some. However, Walker had his eyes set on winning the Sandows trophy and would not settle for a fifth spot.
He took an extended break from the Competition to improve his physique further and made a comeback at the 2022 Olympia, scoring a third place finish behind newly crowned Mr. Olympia Hadi Choopan and runner-up Derek Lunsford.
Walker announced that he would compete at the 2023 Arnold Classic and attempt to become the two-time winner of the second most prestigious professional bodybuilding competition in the world. He kicked off the Competition prep with a chest workout and has kept his followers updated with his progress with regular uploads so far. During this competition prep, Walker has also opened up quite candidly about his steroid cycle and shared his long-term health goals. He has made significant improvements in his midsection as his recent physique updates show. The Mutant will, however, have to defeat a solid line-up of opponents to realize the dream of becoming a two-time Arnold Classic winner.
The New Jersey native is not leaving anything to chance. On February 18, 2023 – two weeks out of the 2023 Arnold Classic – Walker shared an insane back workout on his YouTube channel. So without further delay, let’s take a closer look at the detailed account of the training session.
Nick Walker crushes a back workout
Cable Straight Arm Pulldowns
Walker started the training session with the straight arm lat pulldown to fire up the lats. He used Straight bar attachment in this workout but usually prefers to perform this movement with a rope attachment.
“For me, when I use the rope I feel like I get more triceps for some reason versus a Straight bar, I feel like I can concentrate more on the lats. My triceps don’t get engaged. Everyone’s different. For me, I used to always use the rope. When I use the bar I don’t really feel my triceps getting engaged,” Nick Walker replied.
After pushing through a few solid sets of cable straight arm pulldowns, the 28-year-old took to the next exercise.
Machine T-bar Rows
Vertical pulls like lat pulldowns help building a wide back. On the other hand, horizontal pulls give your back the thickness it needs. Therefore it is essential to incorporate both types of movements in the back training routine for complete development. Walker took to he first horizontal pulling movement of the day and performed T-bar rows on a plate-loaded machine.
“It’s not free weight but it is a little more stable for you to be able to hit the target muscle a little bit better,” Walker stated.
Nick Walker did 4 sets of this exercise with 12 reps in each set. He got a good contraction in the muscles with these and did not feel the need to do a drop set to wrap this exercise up.
Humblers / Machine Chest Supported Incline Rows
This is one of Nick Walker’s favorite exercises for back and he feels that it has really helped him develop his back over time.
Walker performed this movement using the rest-pause method and jumped into the next one.
Seated Cable Rows
The 2021 Arnold Classic winner attacked the upper back muscles with the seated cable rows. He used a straight bar attachment to enable wide grip.
Nick Walker usually performs this either as the first exercise of his back workout or one of the last exercises towards the end. However, he does not particularly go too heavy with the seated cable rows.
“I could probably rack it out but I don’t feel it’s really necessary. I use this more as… to get a good stretch and to get a good squeeze. Kind of volumized in this specific exercise than any of the other ones. But I feel this will create more detail for me overall…”
Nick Walker stated that many bodybuilders tend to increase the intensity of their training as they get closer to the show. While he has practised that method before, the Mutant does admit that it backfired on him without getting into more details.
“So now, I might do a little more volume in terms of sets but the intensifiers are not there. And when I do multiple sets, I won’t take as many to failure, which in return, in my opinion, will decrease the inflammation in the body. But because I am doing higher repetitions, moving a little bit faster, it will condition the muscle which will create more detail at the same time,” he added.
After getting a few solid sets of seated rows under his belt, Nick Walker jumped into the next exercise.
Reverse Pec Deck Flyes
The Mutant worked the posterior deltoid muscles and upper back with this exercise next and took to the final back exercise of the day.
Smith Machine Rack Pulls
Walker wrapped up the training session with some solid sets of rack pulls. He used a Smith machine for this exercise instead of free weights because the bar on the Smith machine moves along a fixed trajectory and there is no need to control the weight. This helped him focus more on the target muscles without having to engage the stabilizing muscles in the body.
This exercise served as the finisher to Nick Walker’s back workout as he went on to do a little bit of abs work next.
Hanging Straight Leg Raises
Nick Walker sprinkled this ab exercise at the end of his back workout to strengthen and develop the core and called it a day in the gym.
Overall, the workout included:
- Cable Straight Arm Pulldown
- Machine T-bar Rows
- Humblers / Machine Incline Chest Supported Rows
- Seated Cable Rows
- Reverse Pec Deck Flyes
- Smith Machine Rack Pulls
- Hanging Straight Leg Raises
2023 Arnold Classic will take place from Dec. 3 to 5 in Columbus, Ohio. The line-up for competition includes the likes of Andrew Jacked, Mamdouh ‘Big Ramy, Elssbiay, Samson Dauda and Shaun Clarida, to name a few. Each one of those bodybuilders has a proven ability to compete at the highest level of the sport. While experts like Chris Aceto are backing Walker to pull off a win at the 2023 Arnold Classic, some opined that other competitors can beat Walker with a better package.
However, Nick Walker is a man possessed to win the first major Pro show of the year and get the momentum on his side going forward. He has promised to bring better conditioning at the 2023 Arnold Classic than the 2022 Mr. Olympia in an effort to take the winner’s spot. It will be interesting to see how things play out in Columbus, Ohio on Mar. 5. Stay tuned with Fitness Volt until then for lightning fast updates.
You can watch the full workout video here, courtesy of Nick Walker’s personal YouTube channel:
Catch full coverage of the 2023 Arnold Classic, including pre-judging, event recaps, analysis, and final and full results at our Arnold Classic coverage hub: FitnessVolt.com/arnold-classic
Published: 19 February, 2023 | 9:18 AM EDT
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