Samson Dauda doesn’t plan on making the same mistake twice. In a July 24 YouTube video, he revealed why he pulled back his 2026 Mr. Olympia preparations after his body started responding too quickly.
At the 2025 Mr. Olympia, Dauda fell to fourth place and lost his title to Derek Lunsford. Throughout last season, the bodybuilding community thought Dauda would hold the throne for years, just as long as he dialed in his conditioning.
However, Dauda’s pursuit of a drier, more detailed physique backfired, with judges taking notice of his downsized look. This shortcoming left the door open for shorter contenders like Lunsford, who used his dense muscle to reclaim the Sandow trophy. Looking ahead, Dauda believes he’s reached a crossroads in prep, where doing less might result in more when he makes his way back to Vegas.
Samson Dauda’s 2026 Mr. Olympia Prep Update
In the video, Dauda explained that he slowed down his prep after his body responded too quickly to diet and cardio:
“It’s almost like you have this ability where you just hold on to muscle and you just chip away as harshly as you can, and that’s great,” he shared.
“We made changes, and then we had to slow down a bit because we immediately we made a little bit of change; I started coming in too fast. We had to slow down a bit and gradually put those changes in, with the food cuts and everything else. So, we did that, and the body stabilized. Great, everything was good.”
He noted that just two days of cardio caused his physique to rapidly change:
“This week we introduced cardio, two days of cardio, and the effects of that was so rapid that I’ve never been in a position where my body can change and respond that fast to get in shape for a show without really pushing it. Because of that, you haven’t even tried to cut the food anymore, because we’re just responding so quickly.”
While some competitors would welcome the changes, Dauda emphasized that he won’t abandon his muscle or size to chase better conditioning:
“People think that’s a good thing, yeah, great, but people need to understand that we fell for this last year. It was happening fast; just go with it. It doesn’t matter. Just go with it. We just want to be in shape. Don’t worry about the size, don’t worry about muscle, just go with it. And look what happened? We are now learning from last year.”
“Just because your goal is to get in condition doesn’t mean that you should put all your focus on that regardless of holding on to the size and muscle you’ve fought all year to put on. Now, we’re being really smart with it.”
The Nigerian star revealed that he reached out to others who also said he was ‘way ahead’ of schedule.
“This is not just us seeing it; other people are seeing it as well. You’re way ahead. It’s nice at the beginning; you enjoy that you’re coming in fast, but there’s always blowback to that. We are trying to make sure we don’t fall into the idea of get in shape, get in shape, and sacrifice muscle and size for that,” shared Samson Dauda.
Dauda intends to showcase more size at the Olympia this year, but not everyone thinks it’s a winning game plan. Former eight-time champ Lee Haney argued that Dauda is overtaxing himself with added size. He doesn’t expect the former Mr. Olympia to be at his best when he returns.
Dauda believes adapting to adversity will be his ticket back to the title. The 2026 Mr. Olympia is set for September 24-27 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
