Tag: push day
Nick Walker Reveals Secret to Building a Huge Chest in Push-Day Workout
American bodybuilder Nick Walker has emerged as a major force in the Men’s Open division over the last few years. He’s gained a lot of hype based on his freakish muscularity and strong performances. In a recent video uploaded on YouTube, Walker shared his secrets to growing a huge chest.
Nick Walker first gained attention for his crazy muscle mass, size, and conditioning after dominating the competition at the 2021 New York Pro. He followed up by taking home the top prize at the 2021 Arnold Classic and concluded one of the most impressive rookie seasons with a fifth-place finish at the Mr. Olympia. In 2022, Walker made significant improvements in the off-season and returned stronger than ever at the Mr. Olympia, where he took third place.
Walker was last seen in action at the 2023 Arnold Classic four months ago. He brought a massive physique but missed out on gold to Samson Dauda in a close-fought battle. Following the show, Walker opened up on the changes he made to his training and structure. He also made the case for himself to have placed runner-up at the 2022 Mr. Olympia instead of Derek Lunsford.
‘The Mutant’ offered his morning cardio routine, supplementation, and diet two months ago. He revealed he weighed 283 pounds and laid out a green shake he’s utilizing to improve gut health. Then, Walker smashed past a brutal push-day workout where he stressed the importance of not reaching muscle failure in training last month.
Nick Walker joined forces with fitness sensation Tristyn Lee and Jared Feather for a grueling back-day workout three weeks ago. Walker provided tips on maximizing volume training for the best results.
The fan-favorite faced backlash on an epic body transformation snap he posted on his social media over two weeks ago. While some were in awe of the massive amounts of muscle he put on his frame, others criticized him for allegedly overusing steroids to get there.
Walker gave his breakdown of the upcoming 2023 Mr. Olympia two weeks ago. He backed 2022 Mr. Olympia Hadi Choopan, Derek Lunsford, Samson Dauda, Hunter Labrada, and himself to form the top five and counted out the chances of Andrew Jacked and former two-time champion Mamdouh ‘Big Ramy’ Elssbiay.
Nick Walker Builds Massive Chest in Push-Day Workout
In a recent YouTube video, Nick Walker worked on his chest while crushing a push-day workout.
Incline Dumbbell Chest Press
He started with incline dumbbell chest presses using 130-pound dumbbells and explained why it’s important to choose the right weight for performing slow and controlled reps.
“I will dumbbell press the 130s,” said Walker. “I could probably go a lot higher but there is really no need for me to try and ego lift. I’ve done all that in my earlier days, 170s, 180s, 200, 225s for that matter. Problem was everything had a bump on my chest. So, I lowered the weight. I go from 100 to 120s, 140 doesn’t feel good. I really bring it down as far as I can, stretch the chest, slightly pause, and explode up and when I explode up I squeeze and act like I’m bringing my elbows together. That is one thing I don’t see people doing. They just kind of *go half range* which yeah creates stimulus I’m sure it works to a degree but get the most out of the exercise. All the way stretch, slight pause, even in the stretch is also very most beneficial and actually squeeze at the top. So, all the way down, pause, come up, pretend like you’re forcing your elbows together and squeeze the dumbbells, slow negatives.”
For Walker, focusing on the stretch and the squeeze is the most important part of a rep.
“It’s all about the stretch and the squeeze, contracting the muscle throughout every rep. make every rep count. I feel like ever since I started doing this, my chest has progressed tremendously.”
Hammer Strength Chest Press Machine
Walker got some work in on the chest press machine using a full range of motion and slow negatives. While he didn’t offer specific tips for the exercise, he followed his usual principle of controlling the movement and not lifting to satisfy your ego.
Chest Dip Machine
Walker ranked the chest dip machine as one of the more difficult exercises to perform on push days. He believes using body weight should do the job on the movement and that there’s no need to add any additional weight unless it’s the first exercise of the training regimen.
“This will f**k you up. Again, just another cue, all the way down and stretch. Come all the way up and squeeze it. You don’t need weight with this. If I started with this, yeah probably but this is the last movement for chest. You don’t need weight, focus on just contracting.”
Pec Deck Fly Machine
Nick Walker offered a tip on improving chest muscle development by placing your elbows outwards to get a bigger contraction.
“The secret to getting a big chest is on the elbows. Example, especially on the pec deck, you see people take it and *do a limited range of motion* like they try to hug a bear. There’s been many people that say that. Yes, it works to a degree but it’s in the elbow where you want to *bring them out* watch the difference, no contraction before and when I bring out with the elbows, big contraction. Stretch, contract, you almost want to close the elbows together. At least imagine it. The contraction will feel a lot bigger doing this than this. So that is one of my tips to building a bigger chest.”
Dumbbell Lateral Raises
Although the push day workout was more focused on the chest, Walker made sure to get a shoulder exercise in with dumbbell lateral raises before moving on to the triceps. He recommended bringing the weight all the way up and avoiding the use of traps while performing the movement.
“This day is specifically more chest. I’ll duo one shoulder movement which usually is side laterals and then I’ll move onto triceps.”
“It’s not your normal side lateral here. You come all the way up. Basically, you’re going to hit all the side delt but you won’t incorporate trap, which is fine, not the biggest issue but I just like it better because I feel like I can hit the delt harder than stopping here. I get a bigger pump and I’ve noticed massive improvements in my delts doing it this way.”
Cable Pushdown
Next, Walker did the cable pushdown as the first exercise of the regimen targeting mainly the triceps.
Seated Dip Machine
Walker reiterated the benefits of controlling the full movement and choosing a weight that you can properly squeeze and stretch the muscle with for optimal results. He also revealed he got the most gains in his arms using a rep range of 12 to 15.
“Don’t ego lift. Especially with this, if you do it right, it allows you to bring your elbows back and get a full stretch. Then it goes down for you in that type of motion and you can lock out and squeeze. That’s it. It’s the same like a pushdown you want to get the stretch at the very top holding and then control it. I do find with a higher rep the arms grow a little better. No less than 10 but I would say even no more than 20. Best range for arms for me to grow was like 12 to 15ish. You stay in that range, you’ll grow.
Machine Triceps Extension
Walker concluded his session with machine triceps extension, which is the one exercise he likes to go heavy on. He racked the full weight set as he believes the movement feels lighter than others.
“On this machine, I pretty much contradicted and racked the whole thing but anyone who has used this machine understands it’s not that heavy so it’s okay. I’m doing like 15 to 20 reps perfect control, even a pause at the bottom, slow down. It’s a great machine just a little light.”
Overall, the workout included:
Incline Dumbbell Chest Press
Hammer Strength Chest Press Machine
Chest Dip Machine
Dumbbell Lateral Raises
Cable Pushdown
Seated Dip Machine
Machine Triceps Extension
‘Stop ego lifting!’: Walker reveals the secret to growing a full chest
Walker highlighted the importance of proper technique and not trying to lift too heavy.
“The secret to growing a big chest, which primarily is the secret to growing a big anything is stop ego lifting. Stop thinking you can come up here and be macho man, control the weight, control the eccentrics, and explode up, contract that muscle as hard as you can. That’s what makes it grow.”
Nick Walker gives prep update 17 weeks out from the 2023 Mr. Olympia
Nick Walker shared updates on his progress 17 weeks out of the Olympia.
“Today, we’re going to be doing a push day,” said Walker. “This will be primarily for my chest. We are about 17 weeks out from the Olympia now and not too much has changed. We did lower the foods a little bit, increased cardio a bit, baby steeps that’s why we do long preps, just ease the body into it so we don’t have to rush and come all the way down. Goal is by the time we hit three to four weeks out, we’re going to pull back a little bit, let the body rest, recover, come back to life a little more.
“Overall, training’s been really good, strength still going up, food is still relatively high, no reason to be low right now, and cardio is good.”
Nick Walker is confident Hadi Choopan would not retain his title at the 2023 Mr. Olympia later this year. He plans to assert himself first and expects a fierce showdown with Derek Lunsford on stage.
Walker also provided tips on growing huge quads while crushing a lower body workout last week. Then, he gave his take on the game plan he was devising for Mr. Olympia. Based on the latest update, Walker is leaving no stone unturned in his pursuit of Olympia glory.
RELATED: Nick Walker Signals Intensity Shift in Training/PEDs for 2023 Mr. Olympia: ‘Growing Now, Strength is Up’
You can watch the full video below:
Published: 15 July, 2023 | 9:21 AM EDT
Nick Walker Crushes Push Day Workout, Emphasizes The Value of Avoiding Muscle Failure in Workouts
The gap between Nick Walker and Mr. Olympia title is narrowing each passing year. Having made it into the top three at the 2022 Olympia, Walker now trains to snatch it from reigning Mr. Olympia Hadi Choopan and recently went through a chest, shoulder and triceps workout as a part of this effort.
America’s own Nick Walker competes in the Men’s Open division of the IFBB Pro League. In a short span of three years, the 28-year-old has emerged to be a top Olympia contender. His resume includes impressive performances in six Pro bodybuilding shows. He holds dominant wins at the 2021 New York Pro and the 2021 Arnold Classic. The two Olympia appearances saw him secure fifth and third place finishes at the 2021 and the 2022 Olympia, respectively.
Making a quick turnaround after the 2022 Olympia, Nick Walker attempted to bring home the second Arnold Classic title in 2023. Walker was a massive favorite heading into the show. Experts in the bodybuilding community expected challengers like Andrew Jacked, Shaun Clarida and Samson Dauda to present a formidable challenge but rallied behind Walker to secure the win anyway. However, British bodybuilder Samson Dauda emerged as a dark horse and snatched the win from Walker after a neck-and-neck competition.
Nick Walker / Instagram
Although The Mutant had to be content with a runner-up finish, many people contested the result and opined that Walker deserved the judges’ nod. But he moved on from the argument quickly and started focusing his energies on improving the physique further to leave no doubt in judges’ minds the next time around.
As a part of his quest to win the Mr. Olympia title, Walker recently went through an off-season chest and triceps workout. So let’s check out how the 2021 Arnold Classic winner is pushing the limits to be the next Mr. Olympia.
Nick Walker goes through a push day workout
Pec Deck Flye
Nick Walker started the training session with pec deck flyes. Flye, an effective chest isolation movement, helps build adduction strength of the upper body. Additionally, the pec deck flye ranks high in terms of pectoral muscle activation, losing only to the bench press. As a result, it is a great exercise for achieving hypertrophy.
Walker stated that the angle of the machine used in this workout was slightly different, which presumably helped with muscle activation. The Mutant performed a couple of warm-up sets of this exercise and followed them up with two top sets to direct the blood into the chest. He stated that he does not need to push to failure every single time and only pushes to failure once in a while. Walker said:
“I have the size already so training to failure is good once in a while. But I’m also here for longevity. So doing an extra set of something rather than pushing one set to ultimate failure… Sometimes this isn’t a bad thing.”
He added:
“I still believe in training to failure. But I think utilizing reps from the reserve can also be beneficial in terms of growth. Because I feel like sometimes if you push the body too much and train to failure too often, you’re just fatiguing the body more… Not necessarily giving the rest your body truly needs, which is where reps in reserve come to play where instead of doing one or two sets to failure maybe do three sets of 12. But the reps… This is where you have to be really in tune with the muscle.”
Even though this method is less fatiguing, Walker feels it can lead to more growth. Following this, he took the first heavy compound exercise of the day.
Incline Dumbbell Press
Incline movements emphasize the clavicular head of the pectoralis major muscle and help build the upper chest by giving it a more fuller look. Walker took to the incline dumbbell press next and annihilated a few good sets. He started with the 40 lbs dumbbells for the warm-up set and slowly worked his way up, performing eight to ten rep in each set. Walker made sure that he performed the eccentric phase of each movement with really slow and controlled motion to keep the muscles under tension for a longer duration.
Machine Chest Press
After working with the free weights for the previous exercise, the New Jersey native jumped into the machine chest press. Weights on the machine move along a fixed trajectory and hence eliminate the need to control the weights. This results in overall reduced chances of injury.
The machine chest press served as the final chest exercise in Walker’s routine as he got a few sets of the exercise under his belt and shifted the focus on other muscle groups.
Lateral Raise – Machine and Cable
After wrapping up the chest routine, the 2021 Arnold Classic winner took up the shoulder exercises and performed machine lateral raises to work the medial deltoids. He cranked out 2 sets of 15 reps of the exercise on a machine.
Nick Walker’s shoulder routine typically consists of only medial and anterior deltoid exercises. For him, posterior deltoids deserve a place in the back workout. Walker explained:
“I normally always do two side delt exercises but I might start incorporating like maybe one press, one side or one side and one front. And I just think about side delts – they can never be too big in my opinion. I like to keep rear delts with back now. To me, I just feel like rear delts could be part of shoulders so if you train with shoulders, completely fine in my opinion. But for me it’s part of back.”
The Mutant then moved on to the cable machine variation of the same. Cable machines keep the muscles under tension throughout the range of motion and help bring about hypertrophy more effectively. While doing the lateral raises, Walker raises his hands higher than usual. Explaining the logic behind this, he said:
“I don’t really train the traps directly because I do feel like doing the side laterals really high, even though it really targets the side laterals really well, I do think no matter what, you’re going to engage a little bit of traps in there. So I really don’t think I need to directly hit traps.”
After pushing through a few sets of cable lateral raises next, Walker took to the final exercise of the day.
Smith Machine Skull Crushers
With chest and shoulder exercises in the books, it was time for the New Jersey native to target the next important muscle group for pushing – triceps. Walker first performed the skull crushers on a Smith machine to emphasize on the xx head of the triceps and then jumped into the final exercise of the day.
Machine Overhead Triceps Extensions
Walker wrapped up the training session with this exercise. Overhead triceps extensions work the muscles from a stretched position as well as a different angle. Hence they help emphasize the long head of triceps.
Walker did a few sets of the exercise with furious intensity to add the final bit of stimulus to the muscles and called it a day in the gym.
Overall, the workout consisted of:
Nick Walker has made tremendous progress in his career so far. When the 2023 Olympia weekend kicks off, Derek Lunsford and reigning champion Hadi Choopan will probably be the only competitors Standing in Walker’s way if he continues to train with similar intensity in the months to come. Whether he can get past them or not depends solely on his drive to push the limits of his body.
You can watch the full workout video here, courtesy of Nick Walker’s personal YouTube channel:
More on Push Day:
Published: 16 June, 2023 | 10:57 AM EDT
Nick Walker Demolishes an Arduous Push Day Workout
Nick Walker is training like a man possessed to take the 2023 competitive season head-on. “The Mutant” is constantly experimenting with new machines and trying to get the most out of his workouts.
Walker is one of the select few IFBB Pro bodybuilders who wasted no time running through the division and established themselves as top-notch competitors. The Men’s Open division bodybuilder won the 2021 New York Pro and secured a direct qualification to the 2021 Mr. Olympia. Shortly after, he returned to the stage and emerged victoriously at the 2021 Arnold Classic, considered the second most prestigious bodybuilding competition in the world after Mr. Olympia. Remarkably enough, Walker achieved this within a year of turning Pro.
Walker secured a fifth-place finish at his Olympia debut in 2021. However, he felt he needed to improve his physique further to compete against the top crop.
The longest off-season of The Mutant’s career followed. He returned to the 2022 Mr. Olympia in December, and a strong performance warranted him a third-place finish at the show.
The 2023 Arnold Classic was Walker’s most recent competitive appearance, and he missed the second Arnold’s title by a razor-thin margin to Samson Dauda. Walker now trains to achieve the ultimate goal of winning the Mr. Olympia title in 2023. Recently, he went through a push-day training session with an emphasis on shoulder training.
The workout video was posted on The Mutant’s YouTube channel. Walker walked the viewers through the workout and shared some important bodybuilding tips that would greatly benefit professionals as well as fitness enthusiasts. So let’s see what Walker has in store for us.
Nick Walker goes through a push-day workout
Walker shed light on the nature of this training session before starting and explained:
“There will be a lot more shoulder movement. We’re gonna do about three chest movements for this workout, probably do about three shoulder movements, and we’ll probably do one tricep for this one.”
He revealed that he is no longer doing too many arm exercises but is satisfied with the growth anyway. This explains the reason for having only one triceps exercise in the entire session.
Chest Workut
Pec Deck Fly
Walker started the training session with chest exercises first and performed pec deck flyes on the M Torture machine. According to Walker, doing chest flyes at the beginning of the workout helps him build a better mind-muscle connection. He explained:
“I always feel like I’m able to connect better throughout the rest of the workout with my chest. I know they say, ‘Oh, it’ll affect the pressing’ whatever… But in my opinion, I’m still pretty strong even when I do fatigue a little on the flyes… And again, I’m just worried about the contraction. So if I start with pressing, the contraction is not as strong for me if I started with the flyes to really get the blood flow.”
Walker did a few warm-up sets and then proceeded to do the working sets of pec deck flyes. Before moving on to the next exercise, The Mutant gave an essential chest training tip to budding bodybuilders and said:
“I’m a big believer… When you get in that stretch(ed position), you want to hold that for a quick minute because, in my opinion, when you hold the stretch even for the back, it helps you flare out even more and even for the chest… To hold the stretch creates the width within the chest as well. So those are the cues I always incorporate, including the very slow eccentric reps.”
Walker added that lifting heavy can get you to fatigue the muscles as well. However, lifting heavy is not everything that the bodybuilder should focus on.
“The goal is to contract as hard as we can and as fast as we can and get the f*** out to get the recovery process started,” He added.
Following this, Walker performed the working sets with a 10 to 12 rep range and moved on to do some free weight exercise giving in to popular demand from his fans.
Incline Dumbbell Press
This compound dumbbell exercise was the only free-weight movement in The Mutant’s training session. He performed the warm-up sets with 110-pound dumbbells and slowly worked his way up to the top set of eight to ten reps with 132 pounds. The 28-year-old hit a back-off set of 10 to 12 reps with 110-pound dumbbells to focus on the movement and took to the next exercise.
Machine Chest Press
Walker employed a Newtech plate-loaded machine next to perform the chest press. While speaking about the movement pattern of the machine and how it affects the pectoral muscles, Walker stated:
“The way this press is set up, it kind of goes down like a decline, but it closes in to really squeeze (the pecs). So we’re actually going to do more neutral grip on this one.”
By this time, Walker’s muscles had been sufficiently warmed up, and he did not need to do as many warm-up sets. Therefore he performed a heavy working set after one quick warm-up set.
Walker believes it is essential to recover completely before the next training session for the same muscle group. Therefore he would not train chest for at least the next two to three days. After wrapping up the chest exercises, he shifted his focus to working the shoulders.
Seated Machine Shoulder Press
Starting with the anterior/front deltoid movement, Walker performed the seated machine shoulder press. The Mutant shed light on his preferred volume to get the most out of shoulder exercises and stated:
“I think for me, the shoulders really get the most out of the 10 to 15 range. So as for the real delts and sides, I don’t like to go any lower than 12.”
After a couple of warm-up sets, Walker subjected himself to straight working sets of machine shoulder press, maintaining a 10 to 15-rep range. He continued further and annihilated a back-off set before taking up the next exercise.
Machine Seated Lateral Raise
This medial deltoid exercise followed next, and Walker used a plate-loaded machine to put in the work. Slight modifications in posture can drastically affect the outcome of this exercise. The Mutant voiced his opinion that leaning forward a little bit can engage the posterior deltoid muscles during machine lateral raises, and keeping your head low can activate the traps. Therefore, he assumed an upright stance and kept his head high to keep the focus on medial/lateral delts.
Conventional wisdom states that raising the arms above shoulder level defeats the purpose and engages other muscles. However, Walker feels:
“I get a better workout going a little higher with a little lighter weight than, kind of, just stopping here (at shoulder height).”
A few solid sets of machine lateral raises found their place in Walker’s workout. The 2021 Arnold Classic winner took to a posterior deltoid movement next.
Cable Rear Delt Fly
Posterior deltoids need a dedicated exercise to bring them to par with other shoulder muscles. Although they are activated during many back exercises, it is essential to include exercises that specifically target them. Walker performed his favorite rear delt exercise next — the cable rear delt fly.
His philosophy for shoulder development is fairly straightforward, and he laid it out while doing this exercise. The Mutant explained:
“I believe pressing plays a huge role in obviously huge shoulders but when you’re pressing for chest, especially on the incline, you’re incorporating the front delt a lot. So I think the main thing for shoulders is to really murder the side and the rear delts.”
The New York native cranked out two sets of the exercise and wrapped up shoulder training.
Walker shifts focus to triceps
Seated Machine Overhead Triceps Extension
Overhead exercises work the triceps from a lengthened/stretched position and put more emphasis on the long head of the tricep. Machine overhead triceps extension was the only triceps exercise in Walker’s workout, and he utilized a plate-loaded machine for the same.
After annihilating a working set of overhead triceps extensions of 15 reps, The Mutant finished the training session with the second set of nine reps to failure.
The entire chest, shoulder, and triceps training session saw Walker ‘push’ through these exercises:
Chest Workout
Shoulders Workout
Triceps Workout
Walker updated his fans about his weight during the workout and stated that he is gaining weight pretty effortlessly without retaining a lot of water.
“Weight is now starting to skyrocket pretty high. Woke up this morning (and weighed) 277 pounds, and I like to think this is probably my leanest without holding on a sh** tons of water too which is really good for me.”
Right now, the goal for the 28-year-old is to manage his diet and training in a way so that he feels energized. Therefore he is in a caloric surplus but not overdoing it.
Many experts believe Walker is a future Mr. Olympia. If he irons out a few things and continues on the path that he is on, it could very well become a reality sooner than later.
You can watch the full workout video below, courtesy of Nick Walker’s YouTube channel:
Published: 5 May, 2023 | 9:13 AM EDT