Sometimes you can get a lot out of a simple one-word response on an Instagram post. When a fan asked Nick Walker if he would be competing at the New York Pro or the Pittsburgh Pro, the giant bodybuilder simply answered with a “no.” To a lot of people that doesn’t say a lot, but to those of us in the media it says everything. Nick Walker quite possibly may be a broken bodybuilder. It might be very much like when he made his return to Pittsburgh thinking he was going to win everything in sight and Derek jumped in the last minute and gave him a reality check. Nick has felt the pain of not being able to emerge victorious on multiple occasions in the recent past. We saw this happen at the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio just last month. The man was defeated. While he was happy for Andrew and he looked incredible, Walker probably realized that he would never be Mr Olympia. He could bring in tremendous condition and extreme vascularity, but at the end of the day the sport is going to go in the direction of guys like Andrew and Samson, not guys like him. Perhaps, he didn’t get the wake up call. Maybe he has been hearing it for years but has just been reluctant to give it any kind of validation. At the end of the day how could anybody compare Nick to a guy like Andrew or Samson?
Bodybuilding is a sport about aesthetics and beauty. When you look at a physique that truly flows in perfect harmony, how can you compare that even to the biggest bodybuilders in the world? The answer is you can’t. When you look at guys like Frank Zane, Lee Labrada, Phil Heath and the late great Shawn “Flexatron” Rhoden, you can’t then look at a guy like Nick Walker or Markus Ruhl and wonder who wins. It’s nonsensical.
What’s crazy is that the Pittsburgh Pro has a purse of $100,000. Nick could swoop in and get that bag without any problem because there aren’t going to be any Top Olympians there. You won’t have Andrew, you won’t have Samson, you won’t have Derek or Hadi, either. You might have Martin, but I don’t think Nick really wants to mess with Martin too much because Martin has an exemplary physique. Maybe Nick is staying away because of The Martian or maybe his pride won’t let him go for the easy win. What happens if it’s déjà vu and Lunsford jumps in again at the 11th hour? And Martin spells trouble, too. He might have been off a couple of times in the recent past, but you can’t argue the man’s structure and the flow of his muscles leaves Nick in the dust. I think that Nick understands that he is at a severe disadvantage against those guys. This is why he hires and fires coaches because he needs someone to blame. This is not about anything against Nick. If anything, the man has earned my respect because he’s a hard worker. He is able to successfully go through a prep whether he was assisted or not, that doesn’t really matter. I have seen Nick really, truly impress me, but at the same time it’s still Nick. It’s still that blocky look, it’s still that massive look; he does not have the aesthetic beauty that it’s necessary to be the best in my humble opinion. Now, I’m not a judge, and I never will be, but I do know bodybuilding. And with regard to the purists in the sport, they as well do not see Nick ever becoming Mr Olympia. It’s nothing against him, but it’s just the reality. He has an awful lot to be proud of though. He was able to win the Arnold Classic somehow and was also able to be a Top 6 Olympian on more than one occasion. Could he change totally reinvent his look and be aesthetically pleasing? Maybe, but probably not. Plus, I doubt he’s willing to make that kind of investment in terms of time and effort. Because you can’t really re-invent a physique.
At the end of the day guys like Nick are going to go down in history as real freaks and mass monsters. I give the man his props. I give the man his respect. Nobody can work an audience like Nick Walker because Nick Walker is a superhuman looking dude. And the fans love that. They love the idea of having someone like him on top – even though they know that that’s highly unlikely. That’s why guys like Markus Ruhl never won the O. Then again, you look back at 1997 when Nasser almost won it and it gives you some hope for the possibility of maybe Nick getting closer to the Sandow than he ever has. But then again Nasser did have some aesthetics and he did have structure. He was a mass monster and he was a freak, but he didn’t have an ugly physique. Unfortunately, if you have an ugly physique that’s mostly genetics. I don’t know too many guys that can reverse that much no matter how long they have to work with. Look at Dexter Jackson, the man was Mr Olympia, he was a multi-year Arnold Classic champion, had 40 professional wins, but was never able to develop good calves. That’s not because he wasn’t disciplined, that’s not because he wasn’t patient, that’s just because the man was born with substandard calves and he just had to deal with that. But that’s only one body part, imagine having to revamp an entire physique. I don’t know if that’s even possible and I don’t know that Nick has the time to do it. Plus, as I said again and again and again, I don’t know that it would be enough. It’s just not fair to put a guy like Nick next to a guy like Samson or Andrew.
That said, Nick can beat the ankle biters. I do believe he can beat Derek and I do believe he can beat Hadi. What’s interesting is that perhaps in a weak year Nick could be Mr Olympia, but I just don’t see any weak years ahead. In fact, I have to agree with Jay Cutler and echo his point that we should definitely see an Andrew and Samson posedown at the 2026 Mr Olympia. If it went down to the wire between those two stellar athletes, Nick would not have a leg to stand on, nor would Derek or Hadi. I could see Martin in the mix, but really it would be a two-man show between the giants. So, when Nick says he’s not doing New York or Pittsburgh, it leads a lot of fans to believe he may not try to qualify for the ’26 Olympia. Perhaps the Arnold Columbus was his one and only try for the Super Bowl of Bodybuilding. Let’s hope that’s not the case, but the fact is, he is passing up winning a FOURTH New York Pro title or winning his first Pittsburgh one. Everybody thought that he was very close last year and without Derek or any of the other top six Olympians there this year, Pittsburgh SHOULD be his for the taking. But the thing is, Nick might be scared, defeated, maybe a little bit of both. Or, maybe something it’s something else?
So where will Nick qualify if he does decide he wants to be at the 2026 Olympia? Is he done for 2026? These are all questions that I believe the fans are going to be asking themselves all throughout the year until Nick actually gets a W next to his name. It’s already happening on the Facebook groups, the message boards, and the various Instagram pages. And don’t even get me started on YouTube. Everybody’s talking about Nick Walker and if and when he’s going to qualify for the biggest show in bodybuilding.
As always, I hope you enjoyed reading my article, here, at IronMag. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Please be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on all your social media feeds. it is guaranteed to generate lively conversation.
Author Bio:
Christian I. Duque is the owner of StrengthAddicts.com, a physique and strength website founded in 2008. He has worked for a number of bodybuilding websites, including RX Muscle and Muscular Development. Christian has written nearly 1,000 published articles for IronMag Blog, as well as articles for StrengthAddicts, RX Muscle, and others. By day, he is also a licensed attorney practicing in the areas of family law, immigration, and criminal defense.
