Men’s Open bodybuilding star Nick Walker is locked into preparations less than four weeks from the 2023 Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio, on March 2-5. Speaking on the Mutant and the Mouth podcast, Walker shared which PEDs he eliminates before bodybuilding shows and updated fans on his current preparations.
In 2021, Nick Walker established himself as a top threat in the Open class after winning back-to-back shows at the New York Pro and Arnold Classic. At his first Olympia competition, he earned fifth place, and took the 2022 season off to make improvements, one of which was tightening his waistline.
Last December, Walker made his sophomore Olympia appearance, finishing third, behind only Derek Lunsford and Hadi Choopan. Immediately after earning bronze in Las Vegas, Walker stated publicly that he wasn’t going to compete at the 35th annual Arnold Classic. However, after the prize money unexpectedly soared to $300,000, Walker was all-in.
With only three and a half weeks until competitors meet in Ohio, Walker spoke in detail about keeping his stomach tight, using PEDs, and staying ahead of prep by getting ready early.
Nick Walker Explains PED Prep Process, Says Oral Steroids ‘Stay in The Whole Time’
To present the freshest physique possible, Guy Cisternino and Walker agreed that removing most PEDs 10 days before a show is ideal.
“As I was coming up, I always stopped my injections 10 days out,” says Guy Cisternino.
“Correct. What we did, what we normally do, we keep orals in the whole time, we don’t take those out. We’ll remove that [Clenbuterol], I’m talking about orals,” says Nick Walker. “Yeah, the Proviron stays in the Winnie [Winstrol] T3 stays in… all those, Clen will come out – 10 days out we stop test, seven days out we’ll stop everything else.”
Walker specified that Growth Hormone is ‘sometimes’ stopped two weeks out from a contest as well as Testosterone and Trenbolone. He and his coach avoid injectables/oils right before a show because they can make a physique hold water.
“No, we’ll actually stop Growth – for me… sometimes two weeks out. Test, Tren, Mas. A couple of reasons, he [Matt Jansen] doesn’t want any inflammation from the shot. Two, the oils and injectables do make you hold some type of water. So, he pulls them all out. The orals stay in. The AIs stay in, then we kind of just go for the dry out process,” says Walker.
Cisternino said Charles Glass told him that any synthetic stimuli put into the body will produce a cortisol response, which will result in some sort of water retention.
“Charles Glass is the one who explained it like this to me: any sort of synthetic of anything you put in your body right, whether it’s an injection, an oral, even taking vitamins right, that’s an outside stimulus that you’re putting into your body.
Anything from the outside that you put into your body is going to cause some sort of cortisol response. So, if you’re injecting your body with testosterone there’s some sort of cortisol response in that, and that cortisol response is going to cause some sort of water retention, how much that is or how little that is, I don’t fuc**ng know,” says Guy Cisternino.
Walker Says He’s A Little Bigger 3.5 Weeks From 2023 Arnold Classic
While preparing for the Arnold, Walker revealed a few of the common meals he’s been relying on for fuel.
“Right now, he upped the protein a little bit just because I’m a little bigger, so he thinks I need a little bit more. So we do 224 grams of chicken. You’re referring to an off-season right now right. We’ll say 350 grams of rice, 100 grams of banana, and 20 grams of almond butter,” says Walker.
“Mainly I just do jasmine [rice] I just go to Costco now and get this bag ass 30-pound bag of jasmine rice,” Walker added. “I feel good right now. I had a good workout today, had a good workout yesterday. Mentally, I feel really well. So that’s my main thing at this point. Mentally, I have to be good because if I’m not, nothing is going to follow suit.”
Despite having competed in mid-December, Walker said his fatigue isn’t too bad.
“Yeah, I mean for three weeks out, three and a half weeks out, I don’t feel shitty. You know that shitty tired feeling you’d normally feel at this point, I don’t really have that. My muscles are just a little more sore, I’m doing a little more frequency, learning the volume part of thing. As far as being fatigues, tired and shit, it’s really not that bad. I’m okay. Around this time for the Olympia, I was fuc**ng beat bro.”
Walker explained that sometimes pulling back during preps is beneficial to looking fresher and fuller on stage.
“I rather get ready early. Because I think, say you wait till the last minute to get in shape, you may come on stage looking a little flat, a little stringy, a little beat down right. Say you’re ready a few weeks out, you can pull back now. You can pull back on cardio, feed a little bit, and your body looks fresher, fuller, everything pops. Ideally, yeah, I think in my opinion, being ready early is the best way to go about it.”
The last time Walker spoke up about steroids, he discussed his use of them in the off-season. He mentioned that his primary goal was to keep dosages moderate at all times. Unlike contest preps, he revealed that he doesn’t use oral steroids in the off-season.
William Bonac, who is competing at the 2023 Arnold Classic, recently admitted to kidney problems following an intense Olympia prep. Given the risks present in bodybuilding, Walker believes it’s important to know when to pull back to preserve one’s health.
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