by Matt Weik
Coming out of the 2015 Mr. Olympia contest, Dennis Wolf secured yet again, another 4th place slot in the record books—the exact same spot he finished back in 2014. His best placing at the O was back in 2013 when he finished 3rd behind Phil and Kai. With all the anticipation leading up to the 2016 Olympia, Dennis had an unfortunate injury that resulted in shutting down his competition season and having surgery in early 2016, making this past Olympia the first year he didn’t grace the Vegas stage in 10 years.
This German monster stands in at 5’11” and is considerably taller than many of the competitors on stage today. That being said, this giant’s most recent injury left many wondering if The Wolf would ever be able to make it back on an IFBB stage or if this would lead to Dennis’ retirement. Rumors filled the industry that Dennis had a serious injury and some rumors were even that he had died, luckily, neither were the case. Wolf made a statement via social media where he announced he was having some pain in his shoulders, back, and spine. After several MRI’s he was told he has fractures of his vertebrae from C4 to C7 that are pinching his nerve canal, causing the pain and discomfort. He mentioned surgery was the next step and that recovery would be fairy fast according to the doctors.
After surgery, Dennis posted pictures on Instagram showing a MUCH smaller form of The Wolf. In fact, many said it looked like he had lost all his gains—his legs looked to be a fraction of the size they were and his arms seemed to dwindle away along with his upper body mass. Dennis indeed mentioned that he lost a lot of weight during the recovery period, but was quick to put it to rest by saying he will be back in the gym soon enough to start prepping for the stage.
One thing is for sure, when The Wolf shows his teeth, he means business. Dennis took just the right amount of time necessary to let his body heal from the surgery and as soon as he got clearance from the doctors, he was back in the gym the same day training. So while many counted him out to never come back to the stage, Dennis is already making huge gains and starting to look like his former self. Getting under the bar and lifting heavy weights is nothing new to Dennis, so expect nothing less from him in his prep this off-season.
2017 will be a telling-tale for The Big Bad Wolf. Will he be able to add all the mass back that he lost and possibly even further his gains? Or will he step on stage a shadow of his former self leaving many fans disappointed? One thing is for sure, when Wolf steps on stage he’s hungry, which isn’t good for the other competitors in the line-up. If Dennis can get his size back, nail his conditioning, and do it all while keeping his waist as small as possible, we could all see him back in the top 5 in the very near future.
