Derek Lunsford finished 2nd place at the 2022 Mr Olympia. While veteran bodybuilder Iain Valliere dropped 4 places this year. He went from 7th to 11th. Iain was very vocal about Derek getting a special invite and said he would be very UPSET if Derek did end up beating him.
Head Judge Steve Weinberger mentioned in an interview that the 2021 Mr. Olympia 212 champion, Derek Lunsford, needed to work on his chest and quads from the front. This was very interesting as everyone was wondering this year if Derek’s chest, shoulders, and arms would be as hard and conditioned as the rest of his body. This year, Derek was much bigger and fuller, but we were still able to see the same problems with his chest, shoulders, and arms. Now that he has a whole year before the next Olympia, I believe Derek will come back improved in all those areas.
What separates Derek from everyone else in the show is his waist. What he needs to be able to do is improve his chest, shoulders, arms, and quads without losing his waist size, which will make him untouchable at next year’s Olympia.
Iranian professional bodybuilder and the Mr Olympia 2022 winner, Hadi Choopan, has a lot of muscle maturity over Derek. Hadi Choopan is a veteran of the sport and has been working consistently on his musculature & dieting, which makes his muscles more mature than Derek’s.
Derek needs to keep the same focus on getting into the best shape possible to be able to improve on his placing. He was getting lots of backlash for getting a special invite this year, which made a lot of the open bodybuilders mad and jealous that he had 15 months to prepare for this contest and didn’t have to do a qualifying show. Derek was very impressive as he went to his first open bodybuilding show at the 2022 Mr Olympia and nearly won it. Derek won the 212 division last year and this is the first time in history anyone has done what Derek accomplished. He has had an amazing success story and competed with the biggest guys on the planet, proving many people wrong.
Watch full video below, article coming soon !
