Too Many Muscles?
Okay … TGIF, am I right?
So, I have this friend who has done an absolutely magnificent job of building his body with strength training.
He looks fantastic … he has huge arms and shoulders (which I admit to being quite the sucker for), plus well proportioned, defined and muscular chest, back, legs … basically “the works“.
And, while admiring the awesome job he’s done on himself, it got me to thinking …
Can a guy be TOO muscular?
Check it out:
Alright, so what do you think?
Is there such a thing as “too big” when it comes to muscle building (and again, we’re going to leave the steroid-users out of this particular poll, let’s just discuss natural weight trainers for the sake of argument). 
So, if a guy is NOT using steroids, can he build TOO much muscle and get TOO big?
What do you think?
Women: What do you like in a man’s physique?
Men: What are you trying to achieve with your own muscle building efforts?
Please let me know with a comment below and we’ll discuss this further in the next post.
Have a great weekend, and a fit, fun and fantastic day.
Girlwithnoname
6901
May 7th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Great site! Regarding your topic:
I’m a guy, and I see two ‘types’ from a men’s perspective. One being the bodybuilder types who feel the more muscle they have, the better (which is common sense, as they are doing it mostly for competition – aesthetics). Then there are the performance types, who train to enhance athletic ability, strength, speed, etc, and the more muscle they develop in isolation, the more their muscles only work in isolation and the less athletic they become.
Of course, I’d love to hear more women’s opinions though as to which they prefer :)
May 7th, 2010 at 11:02 am
As long as a guy is not using Steroids, the more muscles the merrier! :)
Arnold used to be massive and even his muscles did not seem unnatural.
When steroid users get unnaturally big that is when it is too much, in my opinion.
Cheers,
Garin
@GarinKilpatrick
May 7th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Can I guy get too big naturally? No. In my opinion, the majority of men cannot get freakishly big without the right “supplements.”
Too vain, yes. Too self-absorbed, yes.
May 7th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
HAHA Kathleen, tell me about it!! thanks for the comment!! xo
May 7th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
really eh? I think my next post might be interesting to you. Stop back here after the weekend, this girl is gonna take a couple of days down and come back with some more opinion!!
xo
May 7th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
I’m gonna yak on more about this in the next post so come back then. :-) should be immediately following a much needed weekend down. See you then.
May 7th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Hi, I hope I’m not too late in stating my opinion…but YES I definitely do think that a guy can get too muscular! That just looks really bad when a guy is nothing but muscle. I really had to work hard to put the steroid users out of my mind when answering this post! Can’t wait for the follow up! As an aside: I think you have a very nice body from what I can see and I love your hair color! :)
May 7th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
HA! thanks Princess (what’s your name?)… lots of time still to get opinions in… thanks for the comment on my hair. :-)
May 7th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
I’ve never really thought about muscle as something I need more or less of … I have always just focused on the performance goal at hand … for me that has been making weight for a fight or trying to get strong … if I get too lean I lose strength … If I get too muscular (heavy) I feel sluggish. There’s an optimal weight for most endeavors, and it changes depending on the person and the task.
I’m firmly in the ‘performance’ oriented category … I’ve never really worried about how much/little muscle I have … whatever works :)
May 7th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
you two ‘fightgeeks’ are confusing me now!! LOL. there’s two of you! Anyway Kira, yah, I hear ya there. I’m more talking about esthetics mostly with this particular one. appearance-wise can a guy bulk up too much?
May 7th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Hey jackie, you know what? I think there’s such a thing as too much muscle. When a guy gets overly bulky he is having too much muscle. He starts to look rounded and square! As an example, compare The Rock in his wrestling career with him in his acting career. I’d even venture to say that his former body was kind of disgustingly huge!
That’s why I only hang around specific sites like Rusty Moore’s fitness black book and Craig Ballantyne’s TT. They don’t tell you to do insane things to get insane muscle on your body. In my opinion, to grow insane muscle you must eat like a crazy idiot, provided you’re not on ‘roids. But to get the lean, angular GQ look/fight club physique, it requires a strict diet and loads of healthy foods, as well as training the right way – body part splits are fine, but I prefer the big, compound movements. Kettlebells and bodyweight exercises for metabolic conditioning and to develop strength will burn fat while gaining lean, tight muscle. That’s the reason I first converted to kettlebells, and the reason I love bodyweight exercises!
May 7th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Absolutely. Most bodybuilders have way too much muscle. It’s not for me. Just doesn’t look natural. I understand that bodybuilders compete and its all about aesthetics, but there nothing pleasing about some of the more extreme physiques I’ve seen.
I will be rebuilding my training regiment and a program to develop a sprinters body. For aesthetics, that’s the look I want to go for, and on top of that you get to develop other things like strength, agility, power, etc.
May 8th, 2010 at 7:18 am
Hi Jackie!
In my opinion (and everyone will have their own), a guy can be too muscular. I used to describe my ideal male physique as being that of a baseball or soccer player, rather than that of a football (american) player. I love the lean athletic look more than the huge muscled look. As Clement said, men who train like Craig Ballantyne or with kettlebells often have a muscular physique that I find attractive.
When I admire people in the gym (and I do – men and women), it’s generally more for what they can do than how they look. Some of the strongest people I see in there don’t aesthetically look as strong as some of the others.
May 8th, 2010 at 11:44 am
I think he is just right, not over the top, nice looking!
May 8th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Definitely. Men and women can be too muscular. My personal goals are just to stay fit, toned, and avoid injury.
May 9th, 2010 at 10:38 am
I think a guy can be too muscular. If he’s training to compete, it’s a different story. But at a certain point, it becomes too much. Aim to look healthy and fit, not artificial and veiny.
May 10th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
I would have to say no. i am an a bodybuilder in training, all natural of course, and i think that if you can keep yourself aesthetically pleasing while gianing masses upon masses of muscle there is nothing wrong with that. if your own personal opinion is that i have too much muscle than that is YOUR opinion. the only opinion i care about is my own and the judges at the contest. i eat healthy, so healthy in fact that it drives my wife and three young kids up the wall sometimes. i lift as heavy as i can while keeping good form, and i do hours of cardio a week (i used to be a fat boy and want to keep it off)
so no, i don’t think you can have too much muscle, with the right aesthetics and added flexibility all that muscle can be quite beautiful.
on top of being a bodybuilder i also play local sports like baseball and bowliing and having a lot of muscle does not interfere with either of these, or any other sport at that, and i am also capable of putting on my own socks!!lol
the two biggest guys in the world, in my opinion, look great with over 260 lbs of muscle on their bodies. (jay cutler and ronnie coleman)
May 21st, 2010 at 10:19 am
My name is Jill Jackie :)