NICK WALKER’S BIG BACK WORKOUT
Build a big back with IFBB Pro bodybuilder Nick Walker as he prepares for the 2022 Mr. Olympia.
Nick Walker’s Supplement Stack
Nick’s workout is supercharged by stacking CDX Cluster Dextrin, Strawberry Kiwi BLOODSHOT non-stim pre-workout, and Orange Pineapple SILO[9] essential amino acids.
Nick Walker’s Back Workout
Single Arm Plate Loaded Lat Pulldown
Nick likes to do this movement one arm at a time. This allows him to focus on contracting his lower lats. Each rep, he drives his elbow down towards his hip and then returns the weight back to the top allowing for a good stretch at the top of the movement. Nick performs 2-3 warm-up sets, increasing weight each set, and performs one peak set of 12-15 reps to failure. He then drops the weight by 20-25% and does one more set to failure.
Chest Supported T-Row
Nick does this movement with a slightly wider than shoulder-width grip. He lifts the weight off the rack and begins pulling the bar towards his chest. Here he focuses on driving his elbows back and contracting the lats. He controls the weight back down each rep and gets a good stretch at the bottom. Nick performs 2-3 warm-up sets, increasing weight each set and performing one peak set of 12-15 reps to failure, and then performs 1 back-off set similar to the previous exercise.
Dumbbell Row
Nick is warm at this point and goes right into his working sets of dumbbell rows. He performs 2 sets of 12-15 reps per arm to failure. With each rep, he drives the weight up towards the ceiling, leading with the elbow. He performs these with perfect form; he is conscious of getting a full stretch at the bottom of the movement and keeps his torso in a fixed position. Nick does not swing or jerk his body to use more weight or get more reps.
Seated Cable Row
Nick moves on to the seated cable row. Here with a V-handle, he performs cable rows. He likes to pull the cable just below his ribcage, contracting his lats as hard as he can. This helps to emphasize the upper mid part of his back to help bring out more detail and thickness on the stage. He does 2 working sets of 12-15 reps. On his last set, he performs a drop set where he takes the set to failure, lightens the weight 20-25%, and then continues to perform as many reps as possible to failure again.
Straight Arm Pulldown
This movement is all about focus. Nick lightens the weight and focuses on hard contractions, slow negatives, and a good stretch. He will do 2-3 sets of this exercise as a finisher on back day or to pump more blood into his back.
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
Nick finishes his workout with wide grip pulldowns. He sets up two handles (this can be performed with a single handle if your gym doesn’t have a dual pulley) slightly wider than shoulder width. With an overhand grip, nick drives his elbows down towards the floor and slowly controls the weight back up. He does one warm-up set and then 2 sets to failure at 12-15 reps. On the last set, Nick does a rest-pause set. This means that Nick will perform 15 reps to failure, pause with the weight in the stretched position for 15 seconds, do another 5 reps, pause again, and then complete 5 more reps.