"Exposed his shoulder to quad ratio" - Milos Sarcev on why Nick Walker came up short at the 2023 Arnold Classic

Walker recently finished second behind Sarcev's athlete Samson Dauda despite being one of the biggest threats to any Open division bodybuilder. His sheer size, conditioning, and energetic posing routines make him one of the most entertaining bodybuilders in the world today.

Despite his clearly visible strengths, Walker lost out on the 2023 Arnold Classic title to Nigerian-Englishman Samson Dauda, who came in with a championship-worthy physique. Walker had to settle for a close-second. In a recent episode of the Cutler Cast podcast, Dauda's coach Milos Sarcev revealed why he thinks Walker lost out on the $300,000 paycheck. According to him, Nick lost too much muscle in his legs in an attempt to maintain his top-notch conditioning. This resulted in the judges potentially viewing him as a little disproportionate.

"As far as Nick Walker. Let’s talk. Nick would be in a category of you – you go for your strengths and you were winning the shows. And Nick could go for his strengths and win the shows. Crazy conditioning, yes. But I think he sacrificed a little too much from Olympia and lost size in the legs. That now created even more imbalance from the upper body to lower body and it exposed his shoulder to quad ratio."

Bodybuilding veteran and four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler agreed with Sarcev. In his reply, he said that Nick Walker's legs were certainly much smaller than his showing at the 2022 Olympia.

"I mean, I could see where Nick you know – he definitely – the legs… unless it’s just, hey this might be the Nick Walker we saw at the Olympia but we’re just looking at two guys that obviously he didn’t stand on this stage in front of you know."

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"There’s not enough detail" - Sarcev on Big Ramy's physique at the 2023 Arnold Classic

Ramy is undoubtedly a veteran of the game, but times are looking tough for the former Mr. Olympia. At the 2023 Arnold Classic, Ramy's redemption arc was left in the wind as he finished in fourth place. Sarcev believes the reason behind this was a lack of detail in his structure.

"Was Ramy better than the Olympia? Especially, Saturday, I think he was. Here [prejudging] so-so. There’s not enough detail and not enough beauty comparing to the guys next to him."

Sarcev noted that the judges moved Ramy after one-minute of posing. He believes that they instantly noticed the lack of detail in Ramy's build.

"When they came out, Ramy was in the middle and the first comparison – right away, Ramy and Samson moved. They moved him. They replaced him. So, they didn’t give Ramy even one pose chance to be maybe there. They immediately said, ‘okay,’ seeing what they saw in that one-minute pose, they determined, ‘okay, it’s between these three.’ [Dauda, Walker, and Andrew] So, they put Ramy on the side."

Ramy went to the 2023 Arnold Classic looking for redemption after losing his Olympia title to Hadi Choopan. However, his fourth-place finish has left him unqualified for the Olympia at the moment.

Ramy has two options on his plate right now—attend another show in an attempt to qualify for the 2023 Olympia or take a whole year to rebuild his title-winning physique and get back on stage in 2024.