Can your massive size ruin certain exercises?

Yes bodybuilder, you may find it hard to believe but building massive amounts of muscle doesn’t always equate to having superior athletic shape. Sure, you can look impressive with massive muscle and people will admire the gains you’ve made from all the hard training, but the bottom line is that despite all that massive muscle on your frame there’s a distinct possibility that you’ll suffer some diminishing returns.

Now what do I mean by that? Well, just take a moment to think about it. A bodybuilder can look like a superhero sure, but that doesn’t mean that he’ll run faster or jump higher. In fact it tends to be the contrary. Bodybuilding training is about putting on lean muscle and sculpting it in a way that looks similar to the Greek statues of yesteryear. It certainly looks impressive, don’t get me wrong, but there’s the distinct disadvantage of being less mobile and flexible. Granted my forte is in martial arts more than bodybuilding, but even the top bodybuilders have spoken about the drawbacks of having such a physique.

In an interview with Muscular Development perennial top ten contender Dennis Wolf stated in an interview how his massive physique has prevented him for utilizing one of his favorite exercises dips.

“This might have been the first exercise I ever did, long before I knew about bodybuilding. When I was a kid I was very athletic, and the school teams had access to a workout room where you could do things like dips and chin-ups. I might have been 11 or 12 years old when I did my first set of dips.”

“So I can tell you I do dips maybe once or twice a month. Years ago when I was lighter I liked them a lot more. Now, at over 300 pounds in the off-season, it just doesn’t feel like a safe exercise anymore. It’s my elbows in particular that hurt when I do them now.”

Though Wolf is considered to have one of the most impressive bodybuilding physique in the world it’s very telling that one of the exercises that got him into his impressive condition has been discarded because of his massive size. Like they say everything in moderation and if you want to have a truly impressive physique wouldn’t make more sense to aim for an athletic physique than purely massive size? Many will disagree with me, but the former is likely always going to be better than the latter.

So would you sacrifice athletic performance for a massive physique? Let us know in the comments and forums. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.

Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor and geek culture enthusiast. Follow him on Twitter and keep up with his latest exploits.

[wptouch target=”mobile”]