"I thought Derek had won" - Flex Wheeler reacts to Hadi Choopan's win over Derek Lunsford

Derek Lunsford finished as the runner-up in the 2022 Mr. Olympia Open Division. He impressed everyone with his physique at the 2022 Mr. Olympia despite Hadi Choopan eventually winning the title.

During a live stream on OlympiaTV on January 6, 2023, Terrick El Guindy, Shawn Ray, Flex Wheeler, Robert Cicherillo, and the 2022 Mr. Olympia runner-up Derek Lunsford were involved in an interaction which included discussions about Derek and several other topics.

Wheeler spoke about Derek Lunsford's performance at the 2022 Mr. Olympia and said:

"If I was just to look at it and critique, I thought Derek had won. I thought his waist was smaller, actually, I thought he was more detailed from the rear.

"That old saying, 'Olympias are won from the back,' I was like, 'obviously that's not true anymore.' I really thought he (Derek) would win. I really did, I thought he was going to win. I don't think anyone would argue if he had won, that's how close it was."

Flex insisted that the Olympias aren't 'won from the back' nowadays. The former bodybuilder continued:

"Just looking at everything: his back was tighter, his waist was tighter, and he was flowing better so that's just my opinion, it's not personal"

Wheeler had some words of advice for Derek Lunsford, as he said:

"I always tell my athletes, steal a pose if you can. I would say to him do both versions (of the front double), but know your legs were a little too wide, and I think that's because your hamstrings are so thick and you want to show all of it but sometimes that's negative because it can take away from your look of being symmetrical."

He also stressed that being bigger isn't better. Wheeler said:

"Listen Derek, bigger isn't better, better is better, remember that. So, you're almost at your peak of what you can do. I would probably say argumentatively, uh, maybe 15 percent you can add more before you start going back downwards. So just remember that. That's what I didn't understand when I became a pro."

Flex claimed that in 1993 in his second competition at IFBB, he achieved his peak. He stated that he made a mistake by thinking 'bigger is bigger' when he tried to catch up to Ronnie Coleman when they competed against each other.

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Shawn Ray shared his opinion about Derek Lunsford

Shawn Ray, the 1994 and 1995 Mr. Olympia runner-up, spoke about what was stopping Derek from claiming victory in Mr. Olympia. He said:

"Historically, I think right now, we've seen the best that Hadi (Choopan) has to offer. What is he going to work on next year? The back, but we've seen the best back he has to offer. What Derek has is youth and time, and that's something you just can't buy. I think that the (muscle) maturity comes over time. Derek doesn't have to do again, a whole lot of changing to his physique structurally. Weight wise he doesn't have to get bigger."

Shawn told Derek Lunsford that he has been restricted to the 212 category so far in his career. The former bodybuilder feels that one of Derek's problems is with muscle maturity. He further added that Lunsford doesn't need to add more to his frame because if the 2022 Mr. Olympia runner-up does add then he is going to be blocky.

Ray further stated that the same was followed by Jay Cutler and Dexter. They didn't try to compete against Ronnie at this peak but waited for their chance to shine, according to the former bodybuilder.

Towards the end of the conversation, Derek Lunsford said:

"I would always go to the gym thinking, 'no one is going to beat my back'. Whether it's the lats, traps, and every portion in between, the rhomboids, rear delts, just making sure that you don't miss any angles from the gym. Throwing heavy weight around is great but being able to connect with the muscle and stimulate it is far more important than just to throw around crazy amounts of weight".

Derek Lunsford will be looking forward to the 2023 Mr. Olympia, where he will be awaiting another shot towards the Mr. Olympia title. He will once again face competition from 2022 champion Hadi Choopan and other bodybuilders.