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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 \u201cno.\u201d To a lot of people that doesn\u2019t 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\u2019t 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?<\/p>\n
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\u2019t. When you look at guys like Frank Zane, Lee Labrada, Phil Heath and the late great Shawn \u201cFlexatron\u201d Rhoden, you can\u2019t then look at a guy like Nick Walker or Markus Ruhl and wonder who wins. It\u2019s nonsensical.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s 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\u2019t going to be any Top Olympians there. You won\u2019t have Andrew, you won\u2019t have Samson, you won\u2019t have Derek or Hadi, either. You might have Martin, but I don\u2019t 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\u2019t let him go for the easy win. What happens if it\u2019s d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu and Lunsford jumps in again at the 11th<\/sup> hour? And Martin spells trouble, too. He might have been off a couple of times in the recent past, but you can\u2019t argue the man\u2019s 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\u2019s a hard worker. He is able to successfully go through a prep whether he was assisted or not, that doesn\u2019t really matter. I have seen Nick really, truly impress me, but at the same time it\u2019s still Nick. It\u2019s still that blocky look, it\u2019s still that massive look; he does not have the aesthetic beauty that it\u2019s necessary to be the best in my humble opinion. Now, I\u2019m 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\u2019s nothing against him, but it\u2019s 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\u2019s willing to make that kind of investment in terms of time and effort. Because you can\u2019t really re-invent a physique.<\/p>\n \n