What do Samson and Snakes need to improve if they want to win Olympia? Recommendations from bodybuilding legends

Samson Dauda and Hadi Choopan are undoubtedly among the best professionals in the open category at the moment. Except for all previous competitions, they confirmed this at the recent Arnold Classic, which Hadi narrowly dominated over the aforementioned Samson. However, when former professionals and judges look at these athletes with their experienced eye, they naturally see their weaknesses as well. That's why Chris Cormier and Terrick El Guindy decided to give some recommendations in a recent podcast on what both athletes should improve on if they want to succeed at Mr. Olympia 2024.

The peak of the bodybuilding season is scheduled for October 10-13 this year and as usual it will take place in Las Vegas, USA. Both Hadi and Samson will have relatively enough time to prepare and improve their weaknesses, although Samson, for example, is definitely planning to compete even earlier - perhaps at the upcoming Arnold Classic in the UK.

El Guindy, who is regarded as one of the best judges of today, first went into his assessment of Hadi Choopan's character in a recent podcast:

"Hadi should go back to the form he showed in 2021. He should make sure that his shoulders don't overpower his whole physique and that he has the same back separation as he did then. But of course, he needs to prevent further expansion of his midsection in width, which is my biggest concern when I see these bodybuilders gaining volume. I think Derek's waist will expand a bit in volume, and that's where readiness should make the difference."

Said El Guindy on Hadi and current Mr. Olympia title holder Derek Lunsford.

Chris Cormier has a similar view of Hadi, but he is a bit more skeptical due to the older age of the Iranian professional.

"As you get older, the quadriceps can shrink a little bit and the waist can expand a little bit, so I don't know how much Hadi can improve in those quadriceps, for example. It seemed to me, on the contrary, that his legs were already a bit weaker in the side poses."

What does Samson need to do instead? Although this athlete has huge potential, even his form hits some limits.

"When you are born with such a really small and tiny waist, everything else looks better. The quadriceps look better, the whole body is more powerful,... A small waist is, in short, a huge advantage. But he has to do two things to win. The first is definitely better conditioning. You have to see a lot more separation in that physique. And the second, of course, is the width and depth of the back," advises El Guindy.

Samson knows that the back is still a weakness and recently shared his training approach to it, so it's possible that he'll be able to deal with that deficiency well in the future. And since he parted ways with trainer Milos Sarcev after Arnold, it's possible that under the watchful eye of another expert, his training will also take a slightly different approach.