Squats etc. reduce your height?

rev <[email hidden]*an*> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I caught up with some old Uni workmates today after not seeing them for
about 8 years. While they were blown away with my general appearance in
terms of looking fit and lean, one person said that I looking shorter
than they recalled. At 53 years young I know that gravity is working
against me but while I was feeling great with the praise, I pondered my
height. I recall Keith in a post sometime back stating (if I recall
correctly) that he was probably shorter (due to weights) that he used to
be. So my question is, does doing compound lifts whilst standing up
(squats, deadlifts etc.) make a person shorter due to the ongoing
compression and if so it it associated with older age lifters or across
the board? Or does it make no difference? If there is an association,
can it be minimized? (by hanging from a chin bar or something)

Cheers

This is a well-known problem that's associated with certain free-weight
exercises. It's a major reason why most people who weight-train for
aesthetics, such as major Hollywood movie stars, physique models, and
professional bodybuilders shun squats and deadlifts in favor of the much
safer and ultimately more effective leg presses and hamstring curls.

Even such a luminary as Arnold would regularly hang upside down in gravity
boots to counteract the deleterious effects of squats. You can find many
beautiful old Weider promo pictures of Arnold in his glory days, blissfully
inverted, stretching himself after a heavy set of squats. In fact, during
his competitive phase, his height was 6'2" - a fact verified by many
independant observers. This impressive statue can be attributed to one
thing - inverted dead hangs. However, these days, when Arnold is
proscribed from doing any inverted stretches due to his chronic heart
problems, he has shrunk back to below six feet tall! This rock-solid
evidence of the degenerative effects of squats and deadlifts is all anyone
should need to make the decision to switch to machine movements.

In article <[email hidden]>, rev

*an* said:

I caught up with some old Uni workmates today after not seeing them for
about 8 years. While they were blown away with my general appearance in
terms of looking fit and lean, one person said that I looking shorter
than they recalled. At 53 years young I know that gravity is working
against me but while I was feeling great with the praise, I pondered my
height. I recall Keith in a post sometime back stating (if I recall
correctly) that he was probably shorter (due to weights) that he used to
be. So my question is, does doing compound lifts whilst standing up
(squats, deadlifts etc.) make a person shorter due to the ongoing
compression and if so it it associated with older age lifters or across
the board? Or does it make no difference? If there is an association,
can it be minimized? (by hanging from a chin bar or something)

I was more or less kidding. I doubt that a few sets of squats or
deadlifts, even done daily, has as much to do with my height change as age
and gravity. Having said that hanging from the bar is a good stretch and
cooldown exercise.

--
Keith

Renaldo <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

rev <[email hidden]*an*> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I caught up with some old Uni workmates today after not seeing them

for

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

about 8 years. While they were blown away with my general appearance

in

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

terms of looking fit and lean, one person said that I looking shorter
than they recalled. At 53 years young I know that gravity is working
against me but while I was feeling great with the praise, I pondered

my

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

height. I recall Keith in a post sometime back stating (if I recall
correctly) that he was probably shorter (due to weights) that he used
to be. So my question is, does doing compound lifts whilst standing p
(squats, deadlifts etc.) make a person shorter due to the ongoing
compression and if so it it associated with older age lifters or cross
the board? Or does it make no difference? If there is an association,
can it be minimized? (by hanging from a chin bar or something)

Cheers

This is a well-known problem that's associated with certain free-weight
exercises. It's a major reason why most people who weight-train for
aesthetics, such as major Hollywood movie stars, physique models, and
professional bodybuilders shun squats and deadlifts in favor of the

much

Quoted message said:

safer and ultimately more effective leg presses and hamstring curls.

Even such a luminary as Arnold would regularly hang upside down in
gravity boots to counteract the deleterious effects of squats. You can
find many beautiful old Weider promo pictures of Arnold in his glory
days, blissfully inverted, stretching himself after a heavy set of
squats. In fact, during his competitive phase, his height was 6'2" - a
fact verified by many independant observers. This impressive statue an
be attributed to one thing - inverted dead hangs. However, these days,
when Arnold is proscribed from doing any inverted stretches due to his
chronic heart problems, he has shrunk back to below six feet tall! his
rock-solid evidence of the degenerative effects of squats and deadlifts
is all anyone should need to make the decision to switch to machine
movements.

Tavington! Buddy!

Hugh

--
Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will attend no other.

"rev" <[email hidden]*an*> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I caught up with some old Uni workmates today after not seeing them
for about 8 years. While they were blown away with my general
appearance in terms of looking fit and lean, one person said that I
looking shorter than they recalled. At 53 years young I know that
gravity is working against me but while I was feeling great with the
praise, I pondered my height. I recall Keith in a post sometime back
stating (if I recall correctly) that he was probably shorter (due to
weights) that he used to be. So my question is, does doing compound
lifts whilst standing up (squats, deadlifts etc.) make a person
shorter due to the ongoing compression and if so it it associated with
older age lifters or across the board? Or does it make no difference?
If there is an association, can it be minimized? (by hanging from a
chin bar or something)

Another fan of bar-hangs chiming in. I do these regularly - typically
every few hours all day long - and after a few years of this, I measure
slightly _taller_ than I did most of my adult life. I appear to have
gained about 3/8 of an inch. Pavel reports in one of his books a short
guy who used to hang with his wife hanging on his waist for added
resistance, and that the guy gained an inch in height.

If I had the space and the money, I'd consider an inversion table or
boot setup but hanging from a simple chinup bar seems to be working well
enough for me.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com

Steve Freides said:

If I had the space and the money, I'd consider an inversion table or
boot setup but hanging from a simple chinup bar seems to be working well
enough for me.

I knew several folks who bought inversion setups. They reported
transitory height gain, but as you may guess, it needs refreshing. You
can't hang for a few minutes and count on permanant lengthening.

Then there was the guy who hung by his [censored]....

"Paul Cassel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Steve Freides said:

If I had the space and the money, I'd consider an inversion table or
boot setup but hanging from a simple chinup bar seems to be working
well enough for me.

I knew several folks who bought inversion setups. They reported
transitory height gain, but as you may guess, it needs refreshing. You
can't hang for a few minutes and count on permanant lengthening.

I'm not suggesting otherwise. The part of my message you didn't quote
says that I use a chinup bar several times per day, spaced throughout
the day, every day. If you're looking for "permanent" change, that's
the way to go.

Motivationally, it doesn't hinder my cause that I have a bad back -
hanging from the bar often relieves pain and tightness in my back, and
that's really why I do it - measure a tiny bit taller is a side effect I
could really care less about.

Quoted message said:

Then there was the guy who hung by his [censored]....

Ouch.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com

"rev" <[email hidden]*an*> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I caught up with some old Uni workmates today after not seeing them for
about 8 years. While they were blown away with my general appearance in
terms of looking fit and lean, one person said that I looking shorter
than they recalled. At 53 years young I know that gravity is working
against me but while I was feeling great with the praise, I pondered my
height. I recall Keith in a post sometime back stating (if I recall
correctly) that he was probably shorter (due to weights) that he used to
be. So my question is, does doing compound lifts whilst standing up
(squats, deadlifts etc.) make a person shorter due to the ongoing
compression and if so it it associated with older age lifters or across
the board? Or does it make no difference? If there is an association,
can it be minimized? (by hanging from a chin bar or something)

Cheers

--
Bob Volkmer
rev@IRC

Let's not forget, that if you add width (i.e. muscle mass "thickness"😉 it
will tend to make you look shorter (not so tall and skinny....)