For those who think that size doesn't matter, you're wrong!

in #steemitbjj7 years ago (edited)

As you may have gathered from previous posts, fitness is pretty important to me, and my current challenge is being able to do pull ups. I suck at them! In fact, sucking is a bit of an understatement since I can’t even do a single one of those exercises. This means that if I were to be hanging on the edge of a cliff, I couldn’t even save my own life. How pathetic is that????

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I’m not a giant, but I’m on the tall and slim side with my 1.75cm in height and 55 kg weight. I have extremely skinny bones, and a strong person could probably snap my wrists in half with one hand.

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This is me standing next to world champion Mackenzie Dern

I used to always complain about my upper body strength, cursing at my long, skinny spaghetti arms for not doing their job properly. No matter how much I workout, I do not look muscular and my biceps do not get any bigger. Upper body strength is paramount in BJJ if you want to become good at it, but it’s also very useful in general (think cliff situations!).

A few weeks ago, I’ve decided to remedy this shortcoming by buying a pull up bar for my house, the kind that you can mount on a door frame. I thought to myself: I will try this every day, until I can do at least one pull up. Turns out this shit is much harder than I thought!

As I grew increasingly frustrated with myself for failing, and witnessed my shorter training partners being able to pull themselves up several times in a row, I started analyzing the situation, and wondered whether their size (all other things being equal) had something to do with their success. So, I did some research about the role of height on strength.


Turns out size does matter (sorry guys!), and it’s simply a matter of physics.


Believe it or not, body types make a huge difference when it comes to working out, and tall people tend to have more difficulties doing body-weight exercises in general. These include push-ups and pull up exercises. There are several reasons for this.

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We have more mass to lift


Tall people have more mass to lift (think longer body, hence much more surface), and therefore the exercise becomes more difficult since we need to do extra work compared to a shorter person.

Going back to the pushup example, the longer you are, the more distance there is between your hands who are holding your weight, and your toes. Your entire body is up in the air and needs to be sustained by your core in order to avoid your hips sagging, and by your hands who will do the pushing up. Again, it’s all about physics, and the more distance there is between your toes and your hands, the harder it will be to keep the hips off the ground.

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We have longer limbs which means, longer levers


When tall people perform a pushup for instance, they have to cover a longer distance from the floor up than a shorter person. Hence, the more distance we have to cover compared to someone with short arms, the harder the challenge to perform the exercise.

It’s the same with pull-ups. Our arms have to make a much longer movement (more distance between the bar and our elbow) to pull up our body. This makes the whole (damn) exercise much more difficult for us. This is because our levers are longer. If tall and skinny people want to be able to do pull ups, we have to work much harder than a shorter bulkier person in order to get there.

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It’s not fair, is it?


OK, I won’t complain. I’m always the person being asked to get something from the top shelf, and if I wanted to, I could probably be good at basketball. When I take one step, others take 2 and I usually need to wait for my friends when we walk together.

On the other hand, my legs always get squished on the bus or on the airplane, and living in Latin America where most men are a head smaller than me, I have to look down on people a lot when I speak to them, which makes me uncomfortable (unless I want to intimidate).

How does this apply to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?


In BJJ there are similar disadvantages to being tall. Shorter people tend to have a speed advantage, are more flexible, fit in smaller spaces, and are better at performing explosive movements. Shorter people also leave less space in control positions meaning less chances to give up a good position, and may have better balance in general. Shorter people may also find it easier to escape positions.

Tall people have longer limbs, and therefore more to submit! We have a harder time hiding our arms to avoid arm locks, and unfortunately we also leave more space in positions like side-control or rear naked chokes. This is inevitable, but thankfully there are several techniques that work well for us lanky people.

BJJ Techniques for tall people

Some techniques work especially well for us, such Darce, Anaconda, or triangle chokes. While our smaller counterparts have a hard time wrapping their legs around us, we have no problem closing the guard around a bigger person, or getting a triangle position without much effort.

Spider guard and de la Riva guard are also easier for us, since we can wrap our legs around our opponent’s much easier. I personally HATE De la Riva. It’s probably because I don’t master it well, but also because I don’t see myself using something like that in a self defense context...So I focus on chokes and arm locks instead.

Having long arms also means that we have better reach (think grip fighting), and our long legs help us keep the distance with our opponent in open guard situations.

In conclusion, there are pros and cons for all body types, and the important takeaway is that you have to use the techniques that work the best for your stature.

Here are some tips I got on YouTube that I found helpful!

That being said, I won’t give up on those pull-ups and will eat lots of spinach to transform from Olive into Popeye.

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Have you noticed any advantages or weaknesses due to your body type?



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You can buy a rubber resistance band that will hold your weight and tie it around your pull up bar to support yourself as you build your strength up. This is a DIY version of the suported pullup machines you see in commercial gyms ;)

yes that helps for sure =) Thanks @ura-soul

Size definitely matters. And size and body type definitely matters in bjj. You are right, certain bodies are able to apply certain subs, and work certain positions. And, of course, this also changes depending on your opponent's body type.

I love pull-ups. It's one of the best things to build strength. Over grip, neutral grip, and under grip chin ups. For those who are getting used to them, it's also a great idea to use an assisted machine, or to use one of those large rubber bands for assisted pull ups.

I have had some issues in my shoulder and elbows lately, so i'm really not able to do the amount of pull ups I used to. But I've been using the band for assisted pull ups.

I'm sure it's different being a taller women in South America, but that can definitely be useful if someone is getting out of hand. Let them have it :)

don't worry I'm not giving up on pull-ups =) It will just take a little while until I get there, that's all =). I still remember when I couldn't even do one pushup...now they're not an issue anymore. I'm sure I'll get there...

try the bands :)

Great post. It's hard explaining this to people. I'm a little above 6' 2" and people always say it's easier for taller people. I think it just depends. I like your take on it. Very well put. You put what I've been thinking into words.

thanks @bjjlifestyle. I'm happy I learned this too, I was blaming myself until now...

WTF whed did u met with Mackenzie?? And I was talking shit about her on Discord hahha :D Regarding size, of coourse it matters :D And I love doing Gi pullups - just hang a gi on a bar, grab it and puuull! :)

LOL yes, we train under Megaton , and we went to their gym to train and party over xmas in 2015 =). She's TINY but OMG, rolling with her is super humbling..

I know how you feel, I struggle with pull up all the time. I’m on the shorter side, but I’m decent shape and have been working out for a while now.

nice @anonymity =) It's a struggle but we just have keep trying =)

Eventually we’ll get there . Lol

Wow, that is interesting! Never thought of pull-ups in this way. What you figured out makes perfect sense, however, I have seen way too many super lanky guys who had no troubles with pull-ups at all. But this gives you hope Eve :)) Dont give up. Back in the old days when I was in my 20s and was working out hard, I could do 30 pull-ups in a row (177 cm / 77 kg) and based on the videos of you I have seen here, I am sure you will master this exercise too ;) Hang in there! :))

ahahahah I'm hanging, litterally LOL

Poor Eve, eating too much green is turning you into a plant stem!

(joke ofcourse :P)

LOL FT!! Honestly I'm at my highest fitness level now (no joke) compared to when I ate chicken kebabs every day lol

I was cursing my long arms as I was doing pull-ups today, too. 🤣

ahhhh but at least you can do them =) I need to catch up ahhaha

I can assure you they weren't pretty, but I keep on working at it. ;) It's like anything else, if you put in enough work you'll eventually get there!

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