Should tall (6ft+) people lift or train differently than average height individuals?

[wordomr]

Random question (as I am 6’3” myself).....should those that are tall have a different approach in bodybuilding/weightlifting/hypertrophy training vs those of normal/average height?

Does it matter at all?

 

[NEMSZ]

I think you’re over thinking it lol

For the principle of growing muscle; Lift heavy/hard/intense, eat right and sleep/rest right and you’ll grow... I think that’s the basic for everyone...

Now if you’re training for a specific sport or a type of athleticism then that will differ from sport to sport etc but not for height that I know of

 

[danieltx]

I say yes because at 6'+ you're more likely to have longer arms or legs than the average lifter.

While proper exercise form is proper exercise from regardless of limbs, when we specifically talk hypertrophy, adjustments are often needed to best stimulate the muscle.

Ex. for the back, if you have long arms and make your ROM on a row as far as your arms can pull, you're likely pulling past the musculature's true range. You're not efficiently stimulating it and not putting as much stress on it as you could if you just focused on where you feel the muscle working.

I'm 6' with long arms and legs and it took big adjustments to ROM on legs and back for me to make good gains.

 

[FK86]

I'm 6 feet and all I care about is beating my logbook.

 

[jeroendebleser]

I'm 6'4 and yes, like danieltx said you have to make adjustments to your training form if you want to keep tension on the target muscle. Most of the time that means shortening your rom (we're already doing more rom than others as it is). You'll also need more time to fill out your frame, more calories because we just need more muscle and unfortunately most of the time, higher PED-dosages as well. All because gaining 50 lbs of muscle might look great on most people, it just isn't enough for us taller ones.

It's a crap hobby to have if you're that tall, that's for sure. The good part about it is that most people prefer the tall muscle look (when you get there) over the short muscle look, especially the women.

 

[SOUR DIESEL]

I'm 6'4 and yes, like danieltx said you have to make adjustments to your training form if you want to keep tension on the target muscle. Most of the time that means shortening your rom (we're already doing more rom than others as it is). You'll also need more time to fill out your frame, more calories because we just need more muscle and unfortunately most of the time, higher PED-dosages as well. All because gaining 50 lbs of muscle might look great on most people, it just isn't enough for us taller ones.

It's a crap hobby to have if you're that tall, that's for sure. The good part about it is that most people prefer the tall muscle look (when you get there) over the short muscle look, especially the women.

^^^AGREED!! (..6'1 n' change here) ..very well said (..danieltx too)
..it made a very notable difference in my progress when i started NOT "locking out" at the top (..n' didn't "bottom out" either)

..food was another thing (..would not consider myself an ecto either) ..i don't think you have an option with this if you are taller ..you'v got to pound food to make consistent progress

^^^since we'v mentioned "food" ..over the years i heard fellas say "i don't see a diff between 750mg/TEST n' 1000mg/TEST" ..it's the food, IME
..i'v watched the same amount of gear produce better results time n' time again when these guys were convinced that higher doses did not make a difference

 

[Palifter]

I’m 6’2. There is no difference in training.

 

[IronLion2]

Lol duh, your exercise selection and movement pattern should be based off your bio mechanics

 

[NEMSZ]

I don’t understand this whole “range of motion” theory the taller guys are discussing... Full range of motion is full range of motion... Whether you’re 6’4 or 5’8, it doesn’t matter, you do the exercise to the full range of motion for your size.. But if i, being 5’8, touch my chest and squeeze all the way at the top to engage the muscle fully and you do the same at 6’4 then we’re both doing the same thing, you just move the bar further because you’re taller/bigger.. But it’s the same thing... It’s not like your muscles will respond differently or engage differently because you’re taller...

Not sure if I’m explaining myself correctly or if I’m not understanding what some guys are trying to say..

 

[trainlikeaboss]

Height is irrelevant IMO. Despite that yes it may be harder to have more tut and rom. You are still going to do the same thing any lifter does. Which is to find what works for you personally and do that.

To the eating remark. That’s based on metabolism. And the fact that you have a larger frame so obviously you look smaller at 220 than someone shorter. Takes much more mass to actually look big.


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[Powerlifter]

The extra range of motion a taller lifter does has more so to do with recovery. Lets say a shorter lifter benches 225 10 reps and each rep the bar moves 10 inches. A taller lifter benches 225 for 10 but they have to move the bar 15 inches per rep. That set of 10 is 100in for the shorter lifter and 150in for the taller lifter. Now add that up for an entire workout and the taller lifter does more work even if the weights are the same.

I’m about 6’2 and squats/front squats are a terrible exercise for me if I want to build my quads. Because of my structure, these 2 exercises put more stress on my posterior chain and not on my quads. Leg presses and hack squats are a much better option for me when trying to get my legs bigger.

 

[NEMSZ]

The extra range of motion a taller lifter does has more so to do with recovery. Lets say a shorter lifter benches 225 10 reps and each rep the bar moves 10 inches. A taller lifter benches 225 for 10 but they have to move the bar 15 inches per rep. That set of 10 is 100in for the shorter lifter and 150in for the taller lifter. Now add that up for an entire workout and the taller lifter does more work even if the weights are the same.

I’m about 6’2 and squats/front squats are a terrible exercise for me if I want to build my quads. Because of my structure, these 2 exercises put more stress on my posterior chain and not on my quads. Leg presses and hack squats are a much better option for me when trying to get my legs bigger.

I don’t understand how that makes any sense...

Just because you’re taller doesn’t mean you’re doing more work, you’re just doing the right movement/range for your body.. If you move the bar 15in it’s because you can’t move it any more and you’ve reached the full range of motion to stimulate the muscle, the shorter guy physically can’t move the bar more than 10in because his body won’t allow him, that’s his full range of motion for his size but you’re both stimulating the muscle fully.. If you move the bar 10 inches like the shorter guy you’ll be doing a half rep/half ass workout... But by both of you moving it the full range of motion, regardless of who has to move it more because of height I guarantee you’re both hitting the muscle the exact same way and feeling the same soreness the next day lol

Same thing for squats I believe, I’m 5’8 so we’re obviously not going to have the same stance when squatting, but if you and I both go ass to grass, we’re doing the same thing.. Now that you found an exercise for legs that’s more comfortable and gives you better results is a different story, which is what we should all be doing individually anyway, finding what works for us...

 

[Pericles]

I don’t understand this whole “range of motion” theory the taller guys are discussing... Full range of motion is full range of motion... Whether you’re 6’4 or 5’8, it doesn’t matter, you do the exercise to the full range of motion for your size.. But if i, being 5’8, touch my chest and squeeze all the way at the top to engage the muscle fully and you do the same at 6’4 then we’re both doing the same thing, you just move the bar further because you’re taller/bigger.. But it’s the same thing... It’s not like your muscles will respond differently or engage differently because you’re taller...

Not sure if I’m explaining myself correctly or if I’m not understanding what some guys are trying to say..

Might want to look up anthromopology . Taller lifts have significant disadvantages on certain lifts. Lookup Lee boyce on Twitter. Hes got lots of videos about it

 

[Pericles]

I don’t understand how that makes any sense...

Just because you’re taller doesn’t mean you’re doing more work, you’re just doing the right movement/range for your body.. If you move the bar 15in it’s because you can’t move it any more and you’ve reached the full range of motion to stimulate the muscle, the shorter guy physically can’t move the bar more than 10in because his body won’t allow him, that’s his full range of motion for his size but you’re both stimulating the muscle fully.. If you move the bar 10 inches like the shorter guy you’ll be doing a half rep/half ass workout... But by both of you moving it the full range of motion, regardless of who has to move it more because of height I guarantee you’re both hitting the muscle the exact same way and feeling the same soreness the next day lol

Same thing for squats I believe, I’m 5’8 so we’re obviously not going to have the same stance when squatting, but if you and I both go ass to grass, we’re doing the same thing.. Now that you found an exercise for legs that’s more comfortable and gives you better results is a different story, which is what we should all be doing individually anyway, finding what works for us...

The amount of distance the bar travels with someone with longer arms vs shorter equals more work. Do you understand physics?

 

[Powerlifter]

When you bench the weight and you are done at your 10in range of motion, I still have 5 more inches to go. Most powerlifters try to decrease their range of motion because the shorter the bar moves the easier the lift. If range of motion didn’t matter then lifters wouldn’t try and arch in the bench etc

Any lift where you increase the range of motion is harder and when you decrease it, it’s easier.

A deficit deadlift is harder than a rack pull.
A cambered bar bench is harder than a board press.

 

[TheOtherOne55]

Even as a taller lifter (about 6'2) I somewhat agree with NEMZ here.

Too many people are overanalyzing and overcomplicating this shit. Do I think taller lifters, like myself, need to find what movement work for them based on leverages and different ROM?? Yes, completely. Am I going to discuss my recovery ability because I moved the bar an extra 6 inches? Uhhh, no I'm not. That's insane.

 

[Powerlifter]

TheOtherOne55, it doesn’t change the way I train or something I ever think about. It was just something we noticed amongst many powerlifters that shorter guys would usually recover faster than taller lifters especially when we used accommodating resistance.

 

[NEMSZ]

Might want to look up anthromopology . Taller lifts have significant disadvantages on certain lifts. Lookup Lee boyce on Twitter. Hes got lots of videos about it

I’m aware that taller lifters have disadvantages for certain lifts compared to shorter lifters but that’s not what I’m really talking about...

The amount of distance the bar travels with someone with longer arms vs shorter equals more work. Do you understand physics?

Yea I actually do... Do you understand relativity?

Moving a weight YOUR full range of motion is what I’m talking about... Just because you’re taller or shorter doesn’t mean you’re doing more work as it’s relative to your size, it’s NORMAL for you...

If I’m 5’8 and I squat ass to grass with 225 for 10 reps and the weight moves a total of 2 feet down and 2 feet up and you’re 6’4 and the weight moves 3 feet, but because you’re taller so that’s how far it has to move for YOU to get full range of motion and go ass to grass and engage the muscle fully, it doesn’t mean you’re doing more work... Going by that logic it means that if you were to move the weight 2 feet like me you’d be putting in the same amount of work and getting the same muscle stimulation... Which you wouldn’t, obviously..


Regardless, being taller or shorter has nothing to do with anything in bodybuilding when it comes to training... You have to find what works for you and lift heavy/hard/intense, with full range of motion to get the best stimulus and engage the muscle fully. Period.. How does being taller change that? It doesn’t...

Now do you have to carry more mass when you’re taller to look bigger than guys who are shorter? Yes, of course... But what does that have to do with going about training?

 

[NEMSZ]

When you bench the weight and you are done at your 10in range of motion, I still have 5 more inches to go. Most powerlifters try to decrease their range of motion because the shorter the bar moves the easier the lift. If range of motion didn’t matter then lifters wouldn’t try and arch in the bench etc

Any lift where you increase the range of motion is harder and when you decrease it, it’s easier.

A deficit deadlift is harder than a rack pull.
A cambered bar bench is harder than a board press.

Granted and I see your point but I’m talking about lifts that don’t involve those “adjustments” (arching the back or rack deadlifts etc)

If you and I are bench pressing flat, no arching or adjustments and we both do 225lbs to chest and full extension, we both did the same thing.. Regardless of height...

Now that just gave me an interesting thought;

If I (5’8) arch my back on a bench press to reduce range of motion and by doing so I’m able to reduce ROM by say 20% what percentage does a person who’s 6’4 and arching for a bench press reduce it to? If they both achieve a 20% reduction then it’s the same thing...

I’m looking at it on an individual basis, not the distance the weight needs to move as we ALL have different distances in order to get full ROM to engage the muscle fully.. Doesn’t mean anyone is working more or less if they’re doing the exact same thing..

 

[maldorf]

One could argue that people with longer limbs have to do more work to complete a lift since they are doing more work. work =force X distance. Moving a given weight through a shorter distance is going to be easier. I just don't think it changes that much though about building a muscle bigger.

Some movements though are going to have a larger mechanical disadvantage to taller people, but I don't think it is going to affect too much bodybuilding, how the muscle is stimulated. Lighter weight is going to be used though since it is more work and a bit harder mechanically, and you could argue that affects stimulus for growth in a negative way.

I think though for the most part that the exercises that build muscle on shorter guys is going to work for tall guys too.

Powerlifting though, it is a big advantage having shorter limbs.