It’s really starting to look like 2026 will be the year of Andrew Jacked. I mean listen a lot of times fans will talk up a big game for their favorite bodybuilder without much to go on. The same thing happens with overzealous supplement companies that really want to push their athletes to the largest possible audience. They accomplish this by making all sorts of outlandish claims about what a competitor can do on stage, what they have done on stage, and what they will do. A lot of times it just comes down to marketing puffery. It’s basically just a lot of talk with very little substance. But in the case of Andrew Jacked, we have all of the makings of what could become a very clear-cut path to the 2026 Olympia winner circle. And this is because in 2025, he was able to earn top three status at the Super Bowl of Bodybuilding. Then a few months later he goes to Columbus, Ohio and he not only beats former Mr Olympia’s in Hadi Choopan and Brandon Curry, but he’s able to defeat Nick Walker looking his best in years. He’s also able to hold his own against Martin Fitzwater, another Top 5 Olympian.
So what does this mean? Well what it means is that Andrew is in a unique position. He is in such a unique position that pretty much everybody in the sport of bodybuilding, including reigning Champion Derek Lunsford, has now been forced to take immediate notice of the tall man with the perfect X-frame. That is because Andrew towers over guys like Derek, guys like Hadi, and even guys like Martin. In reality, if the Olympia became a showdown between Andrew and Samson, everybody else would stick out like a sore thumb. Could this be a turning of the proverbial page in the sport? Could we be seeing a change of the guard? These are all very good questions, so let’s jump right into the action!
Tyler [Manion], the vice president of the Federation, just came out publicly to explain why Andrew won the contest over Nick. There has been a little bit of conversation on the various message boards and Facebook groups, but the reality of the matter is that the Federation got it right. And not only did they get it right, but the vice president took to the airwaves to defend the position. Ultimately what you have is a mass monster in Nick, with freakiness, veins popping everywhere, and tons of size. But at the end of the day is that really the direction that bodybuilding wants to go in? It’s a direction the sport knows all too well; sometimes with drastic consequences.
Bodybuilding is a sport that has always been about symmetry, balance, and flow. Anybody that looks at Andrew’s physique next to Nick’s physique, is going to want Andrew’s physique to be what the trophies look like and what every competitor strives to achieve. It’s okay for Nick to be one of a few mass monsters, but that’s not the direction the sport should go in. And while politics do factor in, I can honestly say that the Arnold Classic is the least political of all the shows. So it makes me very happy to see Andrew emerge victorious from this particular show.
It should also be noted that the Arnold Classic is the second most prestigious bodybuilding show on the planet. Not only is it the second most prestigious, but it is the first in terms of purse. Nobody pays more money than the Arnold Classic and the fact that Andrew was able to win this contest sends a very strong message to his competition some months down the road at the Olympia. Also, even though Arnold is not a judge, there have been years where he expresses his dissatisfaction with the judges’ decision. That did not happen at the 2026 Arnold Classic. If anything, I would say that Arnold was supportive of the decision.
At the end of the day, guys like Nick Walker are not what Arnold likes to see winning his show. The reason is because Nick is a far cry from everything that bodybuilding represented in Arnold’s day. Andrew, on the other hand, represents the aesthetic beauty that old school bodybuilders identify with. But it’s not just in terms of the physique it’s in terms of the posing. Even though Nick did win some poses, and no one’s taking that away from him, I would say that Andrew won the majority. I would say that Andrew won the prejudging and I would say that Andrew won the finals. In my humble estimation, there was no robbery. There was no shadiness. Nick looked very good and has a lot to be proud of, but the best Nick Walker does not beat an aesthetic and symmetrical wizard like Andrew or Samson. It’s happened in the past where a mass monster defeats an aesthetically-superior competitor, but just because it’s happened in the past, does not mean that it was right then and it certainly wouldn’t be right today.
In reality, Andrew is the number one contender. I don’t think it’s Hadi, even though he took 2nd at last year’s O. We’re going to talk more about him in another article, but I think the problems related to the war in Iran, his loss of supporters on Instagram and other social media platforms, the fact he lost his sponsor in Iran, among other things, contributed to self-sabotage. He did not look his best in Columbus and he was noticeably struggling. Even when he did press, it seemed like he was hiding in stairwells and dark hallways. This was not a good outing for one of the best bodybuilders on the planet and I don’t believe he’s going to be able to recover lost ground by the Olympia. The reason I say this is because he’s adamant that he’s going to continue living in Iran and if things get worse between our countries, a day may come when he doesn’t get a visa. That said, his whole family is there. Iran is home to Hadi, but that part of his life may very well compromise the bodybuilding part of it. If he can’t travel, he can’t compete. So far, he’s had luck on his side, thank goodness!!
With regards to Derek, Derek may not be able to hold Andrew back. Their physiques couldn’t be any more different than what they are. And while Derek has very good back poses, his chest and many of the front poses are not exactly what I’d call, unbeatable. I think that if both Derek and Andrew are 100%, I think Andrew can take the Sandow. Not only that, but if Samson can get back to where he was, I think it’s an Andrew and Samson show. I think everybody else is just going to have to settle for third place and back. Because if it becomes a tall man’s showdown, between guys with x-frames and aesthetics, Nick, Hadi, and the others have some serious problems on their hands.
With regards to the Olympia, however, it’s also about popularity and relevancy. I believe that this major win in Columbus is definitely going to put Andrew on the map. He’s been on the map for quite some time, but he’s really on the map now. He beat Hadi. Let that sink in. He beat Hadi. He beat a very good version of The Persian Wolf. Was it his best? No, not by a long shot, but it was a very good version of him. And that makes Andrew’s stock so much more valuable than before this past weekend. If he can beat Hadi, he can beat Derek. If he can beat Derek, Andrew is Mr Olympia.
So what say you? Do you agree with my assessment that Andrew Jacked is far more dangerous now than ever before? 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 bound 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.
