Nick Walker faced tragedy when he missed the Mr. Olympia 2023 due to a horrific hamstring injury. Despite fans rooting for him, he had to call it quits merely days before the event. However, he’s now back for another show, and things look positive.
The New York Pro is set to launch on May 18, 2024, and Walker has announced his participation. The icon will return with all his might, and he recently took his fans on a journey through his prep. His latest video shows a glimpse of an intense back workout with a long list of exercises.
Throughout the routine, Walker performed seven exercises, each dealing with a specific part of the back. He started with a few reps on the pullover machine for warm-up. Once he felt sufficiently prepped, he added more weights and performed multiple sets.
He then moved on to the Seated Single Arm Cable Lat Pulldown, Incline Bench Pull, and Cable rows. All of the exercises had him doing a few sets but pushing to failure. The bodybuilding icon had formed a new regime for himself by combining that with longer rest periods. This training technique helped Walker stay away from injuries.
“I think a main thing people lack is taking longer rest periods they think oh I got to move fast you know burn more calories…I get it but maximum growth comes from a longer rest periods.”
He then ended his final lap around the back workout with some reps on the Rear delt fly machine, dumbbell rows, deadlifts, and back extensions. Although he had already worked his back in a separate routine a few days ago, Walker was experimenting around this time.
“I just wanted to try some some things that were a little different just to see if I want to progress with the uh certain exercises.”
Since his terrible injury, the bodybuilding champion has taken things seriously and changed his routine to a large extent. While he still believed in the powers of volume training, his new routine came courtesy of his inspiration from veteran Dorian Yates.
How did Mike Mentzer and Dorian Yates inspire Nick Walker?
Before he passed, Mentzer had pioneered his version of the high-intensity training technique, called the heavy-duty routine. Yates, who had won his first Mr. Olympia at the time, became his protege and went on to reign the bodybuilding world.
Walker saw how the six-time Mr. Olympia would work out and decided to follow it. Mentzer has often spoken about how heavy-duty training prevented injuries due to the extended recovery periods. Since Walker adopted the technique, he has been feeling quite positive about his progress. Fans now hope that the icon aces the upcoming title.
