Is lifting harder for tall people?

[djartek]

Tendons.

you forgot ligaments as well damn you

[djartek]

did you read the rest of his post, or are you just retarded?

I think I agree!

You're just giving yourself excuses; men as tall or taller than you have reached squats near 1,000 pounds (equipped). Go eat something and do some serious strength training.

I do serious training. Just because I can't lift a crap load of weight doesn't mean I don't work hard or I'm not strong. When I weighed about 178lbs 3 years ago I couldn't crank out about 900+lbs PSI of punching power at the USOTC, but thats not strength as a result training. I wasn't trying to make excuses I was giving examples and I'm not trying to squat 1000lbs.

[Above Existence]

I'm 6ft. and have long arms, but it doesn't stop me from lifting ALOT of weight.

[PoW]

yes they have longer range of motion but dont have the extra muscle mass or strength to compensate...

WTF, where do you come up with this ****. Of course they have extra muscle mass to compensate. Where in the hell are you getting this from?

[jude-o]

Just because I can't lift a crap load of weight doesn't mean I don't work hard or I'm not strong.

Um...as a matter of fact, not being able to lift a lot DOES mean you're not strong. For a 217 pound Olympic hopeful athlete to not be able to deadlift more than 225 almost sounds like you're kidding us. Something is very wrong with either your training methods and/or diet if you've been making any serious effort to gain strength and not gotten any further than this.

[Jon Harris]

I'm 6ft. and have long arms, but it doesn't stop me from lifting ALOT of weight.

6-0 isn't the kind of tall I am talking about.

[jjf1988]

It is defintely harder for taller people to lift more/build muscle. We have more area to cover, and a much longer rep than someone who is 5'9''. Doesn't mean it should be an excuse though, anyone can get stronger...

[SwagMorris]

If you lack the testicular fortitude.

[oldmanmarley]

no

their muscles are longer, which allows for greater lbm, and overall muscle size/strength. Everything is relative. If it were true, then all the world's strongest men, would also be the shortest...

That would be true if there were no events that demand the athlete to lift something to a certain height, like the atlas stones. Some of the events just seem to be designed for taller people. Of course, the rest of them are easier for the short-limbed.

I'm tall with long arms, and I believe in the laws of physics. It takes more work to push something farther. When I'm lifting with some of the shorter guys, I might not be able to push as much weight, but I have the benefit of inducing more hypertrophy because I can move the bar farther. It's like they're doing a 3/4 rep compared to me. The ability to have my humerus at a greater angle with respect to the horizontal plane makes it a more challenging exercise for the pectorals. I really don't give a **** about having an impressive answer when people ask me "howmuchd'yabench?".(punctuation?)

[oldmanmarley]

Um...as a matter of fact, not being able to lift a lot DOES mean you're not strong.

That depends on your definition of "strength." I'll take a full ROM 300lb bench press over a arched-backed belly-press of 310lb any day. But that's just me, of course.

[FunkLord]

Leverage and all else aside*

In terms of physics, the farther you move a weight, the more work you are doing. If a 6'6" person and a 5'5" person both deadlifted a weight a distance proportional to their height, the taller person would have done more *work*.
If more work = harder, then from a physics standpoint, lifting is *harder* for taller lifters.

[phat_endo]

I wish I had the strength and muscle to go along with my shorter range of motion.

[Tallnstrong]

in my experience lifting for tall guys is easy as long you do it in a progressive manner...i am lifting for 1.5 month seriously doing ripptoe and my squat went from 100 lbs to 200 lbs so is my deadlift 200 to 300 lbs and i don't see any range of motion problems...only thing i can't increase is bench press due to a shoulder injury

[Striver]

It's not about height, but build.

I am tall, with decent length arms, a thick chest and very wide shoulders which is a good build for lifting. There just seems to be a common misconception that everyone over 6ft is lanky.

Afraid not boyos.

[djartek]

Um...as a matter of fact, not being able to lift a lot DOES mean you're not strong. For a 217 pound Olympic hopeful athlete to not be able to deadlift more than 225 almost sounds like you're kidding us. Something is very wrong with either your training methods and/or diet if you've been making any serious effort to gain strength and not gotten any further than this.

actually I can deadlift 405lbs. And do you read or do you just make dumb comments, when I use to box I don't pursue a career in boxing anymore. Educate yourself and begin to read. Where did you get the idea that i can't deadlift more then 225lbs.
BTW punching power is not that relative to lifting weights as you may think. A guy squating a 1000lbs doesn't mean he can hit hard. You do what is relative to the sport that you are competing in.

[Beklet]

I think a lot depends on the exercise too. I've seem some tall, long-legged men doing squats (a rarity in my gym, by anyone!), and they always look so awkward, whereas I feel frustrated doing squats and leg press because my legs are so short it feels like I'm not getting the full range of motion, even though I am.

[BigWu]

I think a lot depends on the exercise too. I've seem some tall, long-legged men doing squats (a rarity in my gym, by anyone!), and they always look so awkward........

Talk about awkward. I'm one of the tallest guys (6'4") I know that does squats at the gym. Sometimes, I get "the stares." Is lifting harder for taller people? Maybe for someone that would rather lift excuses than weight. It's taken some time for me to pack on some mass, but I've gotten some. DiamondDelts said it best, "it's an uphill battle." It can be done if you work at it like everyone else, disregarding all the science and proportional jargon that people use to support the arguments.

This kinda reminds me of this thread.......

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=1569701

[jude-o]

actually I can deadlift 405lbs.

Then why does your bodyspace say 225?

[Dark_MadMax]

Actually more I think of -yes tall people may not lift as much, but long reach gives advantage in combat sports . If a tall guy gains muscle and power it doesnt matter if he cant squat 800 lbs - he can still keep shorter guys at bay. Can you say Mirko CroCop or Chuck Lidell?

[djartek]

Then why does your bodyspace say 225?

because i don't update it, maybe thats why... hence you failed to again to read the part that it says last updated "Last Updated: Nov 8, 2006 3:39pm"

[jude-o]

because i don't update it, maybe thats why... hence you failed to again to read the part that it says last updated "Last Updated: Nov 8, 2006 3:39pm"

So...it took you twelve years of training to get to 225, but you made it to over 400 in the past five months?

[PoW]

So...it took you twelve years of training to get to 225, but you made it to over 400 in the past five months?

lol, awesome

[waywardryan]

maybe he started taking protein?

[MonarchX]

I think its more about the build than about the height.

Most tall people are ecto. Most shorter people are either meso or endo.

I saw some tall meso people and they lift heavy.

You can a short ecto and lift little.



I hate and love myself for being 6'0. Muscles look way better on me than on shorter people. Getting muscle isn't any harder, but I need more muscle to make a visual difference.


ALSO, it f*cking sucks that lifting heavy weight above your head or on your back EASILY gives you back injury.

[TheCore]

The problem is taller people have a hard time ever filling out there frame. This is why most bodybuilding contests especially the high ones (olympia and arnold) tend to be dominated by people in the 5 ft 9 to 5 ft 11 range. People like Priest are to short to ever win and people like Gunter are to tall to ever win.

Aren't most strongman very tall? Compared to their bodybuilding counterparts?

[HawkLifter55]

Aren't most strongman very tall? Compared to their bodybuilding counterparts?

Yes most are tall. Their frames can handle more weight, helps them move stuff easier. However none of us here are going to be strongmen comps or anything of the sort, so who cares if you are tall, short, fat or skinny. Shut up and lift.

[PoW]

It just depends on the build. If you have a meso 5'5" guy and a meso 6'3" guy it would be plain stupid to say that the taller one doesn't have more muscle to compensate, like some guy stated earlier. Think about it, lets take it to the extreme. What if someone was 20 feet tall, just a normal meso except 20 feet tall. Is someone 5 feet tall going to be stronger and be able to outlift him? No, he will not.

[djartek]

So...it took you twelve years of training to get to 225, but you made it to over 400 in the past five months?

You are an absolute idiot. I as well as the rest of the my former teammates and other amatuer boxing teams througout the world do not perform deadlifts as well at all in training camps or outside of training camps. You need to educate yourself about sport specific training before you try to argue with someone that did if for half of their life has national and international titles to proove it.

With amatuer boxing speed and endurance is the goal and not strength from heavy lifting. We worked heavily on plyometric based exercises with very limited work with heavy weights. You have 4 - 2 minute rounds to score as many points as you can on a computer based scoring system. And strength training isn't on the top of our list its more of technique, endurance, and controlling our weight.

We did high reps with low weight. I never did deadlifts and neither did any of my other team mates or any of the other countries boxing teams that we had training camps in (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakztan) . Please do everyone a favor and inform yourself about elite amateur boxing and the training that goes along with it before you make statements that have no meaning.

lol, awesome

It would be if he knew what he was talking about.

maybe he started taking protein?

Didn't start to take it untill I started to lift weights on a more regular basis, which was April of 2006.

[oldmanmarley]

People seem to be throwing around the terms "meso," "ecto," and "endo" a lot here. Don't these terms refer to bone structure? It seems like a lot of people are putting these names on people based on how big they are - I guess I was an ectomorph 3 years ago, but now I'm a mesomorph, and maybe I'll get real fat and become an endomorph. I don't think it works that way.

[jude-o]

People seem to be throwing around the terms "meso," "ecto," and "endo" a lot here. Don't these terms refer to bone structure?

Once upon a time (in the days when powdered wigs were still fashionable) a psychologist invented those terms, completely absent any sort of scientific basis, and they've been poisoning the discussion ever since. You don't have a 'body type'; you have a lifestyle. Maybe your lifestyle made you fat, maybe it made you thin, but it's all a question of how much fat and how much muscle your diet and level of activity have put on your frame, not some easily categorizable intrinsic quality that determines your future.