Men’s Open star Chinedu “Andrew Jacked” Obiekea is expected to compete at the second Mr. Olympia show of his career in November. Joined by Muscular Development’s Giles Thomas, Jacked revealed that he will focus on building his hamstrings and tightening his glutes to present his best physique possible in Orlando, Florida.
Despite a lack of experience in the IFBB Pro League, Andrew Jacked made up for it quickly with a monstrous frame, 3D proportions, and an imposing X-frame. His rookie season saw him run through most of the year with little resistance.
It started at the 2022 Arnold Classic Amateur, where he earned his IFBB Pro card. Months later, Jacked competed at the 2022 Texas Pro against popular names such as Martin Fitzwater and Steve Kuclo. Once again, Jacked took first place. With a qualification to his first Mr. Olympia in his back pocket, Andrew gambled on himself and entered the Arnold Classic UK last September, which he won decisively.
When it was time to step on the Mr. Olympia stage last December, Jacked suffered a 102-degree fever. Despite the setback, Jacked still managed eighth place. He’s only made improvements from show to show since. He recently took bronze at the 2023 Arnold Classic. Then, defended his Texas Pro title successfully last weekend in a showdown with Hunter Labrada.
Andrew Jacked Says He Was 3 Lbs Bigger in Texas, Talks 2023 Mr. Olympia Prep + Improvements
According to Andrew Jacked, his 2023 Texas prep focus was building his back and making it more refined. In preparation for his sophomore Olympia appearance, Jacked says he will aim to bring ‘bigger hamstrings’ and ‘tighter glutes.’
“Awesome, I feel good, I feel great, I feel good. I feel okay,” said Andrew Jacked. “Yeah [my back improved] because I think I’m still a work in progress and me and the guys we’re still trying to like – you know, just… we were still trying to get everything put in place. For the Arnold, it was more like being conditioned and we got that checked in the box.
For this prep, it was more like trying to get that back to come up a bit. So, that’s a check in the box. So for the Olympia, heading towards the Olympia, the focus now will be the hamstrings, bigger, the glutes, tighter, and you know, yeah, and slowly we will now be able to get another overall work done on it. But now I’m just hitting one brick by brick, we’re hitting one step at a time.”
Given that he competed at his last Olympia under stressful circumstances, he doesn’t believe it represents what he’s truly capable of as a top bodybuilder.
“As a matter of fact, I’ve put all these shows that I did, the amateur, the Texas of last year, the Arnold UK, I didn’t put the Olympia because I didn’t do anything at the Olympia; I wasn’t feeling so good. I was just maintaining, just trying to just stay in shape. I don’t count that. I put the Arnold and this one together, so yeah.”
He intends to fly home to Dubai and come back out to train with Chris ‘Psycho’ Lewis this September.
“I’ll be heading back I think this weekend back to Dubai and then I just have to regroup, I got work to take care of, some personal things. Stuff to handle there and then I think I will just be there for a couple of weeks. I’m looking at the third or fourth week of September I’ll be back and I’ll continue because we don’t have much time on our hands, you know what I mean, so yeah.”
Andrew’s coach Chris Aceto predicted Andrew would be around five pounds heavier in Texas compared to Arnold, and he wasn’t far off from the truth.
“At the Arnold, I think I only came in three pounds heavier. At the Arnold I was 273, but this competition [Texas] I remember I was about to step out and step on stage, I was 276. I think I was just three pounds heavier. If you compare both of them, the Arnold and this, I would say probably I’ll say weight-wise, they are not the same but perspective-wise I think they are the same.”
Instead of focusing on overall improvements, Andrew and his team are hoping to bring up body parts ‘one step at a time.’ He added that these preps have been drastically different from others because when he was with George Farah and Flex Wheeler, he received very little help or instruction.
“We’re not focusing on the overall improvement, we’re focusing on one step at a time because I will say I’m starting to be – I started to be a bodybuilder from this Arnold because I got, you know, a team and a different thing entirely I’m doing. Because last year, I literally trained myself, I like trained myself. I was with George but I was literally doing everything the same by myself. Training myself, why, so. So I wouldn’t count that. I would just count that as a beginner’s phase.
As much as that, I was still able to accomplish a lot. Literally on my own. But without them aside, but now, yeah, Flex also was there but due to his health situations, he only called me to get together for a couple of days. I wouldn’t count that. A couple of days of a full year, that’s not – it’s modernized like nothing, but I did gain some knowledge.”
With time to reflect on the recent Texas Pro, bodybuilding veterans have given their thoughts. In a recent Olympia TV production, Flex Wheeler offered some constructive criticism to both Andrew Jacked and Hunter Labrada.
Wheeler believes Jacked’s rear double biceps pose looked ‘amateur’ due to fidgeting too much on stage. As for Labrada, Wheeler said he was disappointed in his overall condition, and claimed he looked sharper in physique updates days before the show.
Aside from Wheeler, Jacked himself reacted to his latest victory. He thanked his adversaries Hunter Labrada and Carlos Thomas Jr. for helping push him to become a better bodybuilder. In light of the momentum he gained in Texas, fans expect Andrew Jacked to improve on the Olympia stage assuming he brings a tighter back, hamstrings, and glutes.
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