# Height loss?



## MrKeenan (Jan 8, 2012)

This is going to sound very silly but whatever. I'm 19 at the moment, at 16 I measured in at 6'1, bordering 6'2. Now my girlfriend was looking at me before and said to me 'You look like you got smaller in height since you got a lot broader' thinking what the fuck it might just be the illusion of looking smaller. Just measured myself now and I'm 6'0, how can I be shrinking at my age haha. Could it be a result of heavy squats and leg presses on my knees, even though that sounds ridiculous? Or can anyone offer another explanation?


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## ThreeGigs (Jan 8, 2012)

Squats will make you shorter, although it *should* only be temporary. Just like you're taller in the morning because the discs in your spine are able to expand while you're horizontal.

Measure yourself in the morning when you haven't put any extra weight on your spine for the previous day or two.


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## bjg (Jan 8, 2012)

exercise has no negative effect on height yes you are ridiculous,on the contrary compressing your bone (without messing up the growth plates) will stimulate growth.
perhaps when you measured 6'1'' you over measured and made a mistake.the position of your head when being measured makes a difference.
some diseases can make you shrink and i seriously doubt you have any of them


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## Gissurjon (Jan 9, 2012)

ThreeGigs said:


> Squats will make you shorter, although it *should* only be temporary. Just like you're taller in the morning because the discs in your spine are able to expand while you're horizontal.
> 
> Measure yourself in the morning when you haven't put any extra weight on your spine for the previous day or two.


 
x2. It is not un-common to be a inch or so shorter at night than in the morning. The weight of your upper body compresses the discs in your spine while sitting, standing or walking. I've measured 6'3 before a leg workout and 6'2 after.


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## bjg (Jan 9, 2012)

absolutely no effect at all in height as far as side effect, on the contrary compression of bones stimulates growth.
On the temporary side, squats should not compress anything significantly your muscles are tight around your vertebrates and the amount of compression is minimal and elastic, as soon as you take away the weight you will be back to normal in few seconds. Unless you do squats wrong and you jerk the weight, harmful compression (beyond elastic compression) is unlikely to occur.
slight differences between day and night can occur because of  a long day of compression vs a long night of elongation and relaxation, but it is still an elastic compression (that is recuperable) squats will not affect at all these changes except for few seconds 
so maybe for few seconds you will be shorter right after squats but not by an inch!!!!!!
your posture is slightly modified right after squats that also can contribute to changes in height measurements.
and in any case height measurements are not accurate at all they depend on many variables.


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## Gissurjon (Jan 9, 2012)

bjg said:


> absolutely no effect at all in height as far as side effect, on the contrary compression of bones stimulates growth.
> On the temporary side, squats should not compress anything significantly your muscles are tight around your vertebrates and the amount of compression is minimal and elastic, as soon as you take away the weight you will be back to normal in *few seconds*. Unless you do squats wrong and you jerk the weight, harmful compression (beyond elastic compression) is unlikely to occur.
> slight differences between day and night can occur because of  a long day of compression vs a long night of elongation and relaxation, but it is still an elastic compression (that is recuperable) squats will not affect at all these changes except for few seconds
> so maybe for few seconds you will be shorter right after squats but not by an inch!!!!!!
> ...



Bullocks, the spine decompresses when you lie down it doesn't just bounce back right away in the manner bjg suggested or we wouldn't lose any height during the day. Marathon runners have been known to be up to a half an inch shorter after a run. Your body weight alone shortens you during the day, 400 pounds of metal sitting on your shoulders certainly plays a part in compressing your spine, even if your muscles are strong. For someone above 6 feet, an inch of shortening throughout the day is not that extreme.
However, nobody said it is permanent and the amount of shortening would depend on the length of your spine and the thickness of the cartilage and of course the force compressing your spine.


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## bjg (Jan 9, 2012)

Gissurjon said:


> Bullocks, the spine decompresses when you lie down it doesn't just bounce back right away in the manner bjg suggested or we wouldn't lose any height during the day. Marathon runners have been known to be up to a half an inch shorter after a run. Your body weight alone shortens you during the day, 400 pounds of metal sitting on your shoulders certainly plays a part in compressing your spine, even if your muscles are strong. For someone above 6 feet, an inch of shortening throughout the day is not that extreme.
> However, nobody said it is permanent and the amount of shortening would depend on the length of your spine and the thickness of the cartilage and of course the force compressing your spine.



during the day that is 16 hours of compression, + marathon runners add to that hours of bouncing, so it might have a TEMPORARY effect and as you rest it comes back to normal.
But squating is just few  seconds each set and is not cummulative effect set after set since you rest between sets, and also your muscles are tight when you squat not like when you stand all day. so the effect of squating is insignificant compared to a whole day of standing up.
the effect of compression can be elastic where the deformation bounces back to normal and this happens when he compression is within limits + short duration.
If the compression is within limits but long duration the deformation will bounce back to normal but it can take a long time. it will be a plastic temporary deformation.
If the compression is beyond the limits then the deformation is plastic and will not bounce back to normal. (this is the case where you fuck up your vertebrates)


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## gustyrant (Jan 17, 2012)

That's odd, since exercise supposedly stimulated growth hormone (check out GABA). Second, increased test. is associated with increased bone density. 
I'm 28 and have gained about 1 inch since I've started working out. This is likely due to improved posture due to increased core strength. 
Maybe the measurements were off first time (e.g., with shoes, without shoes)?


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## bjg (Jan 18, 2012)

gustyrant said:


> That's odd, since exercise supposedly stimulated growth hormone (check out GABA). Second, increased test. is associated with increased bone density.
> I'm 28 and have gained about 1 inch since I've started working out. This is likely due to improved posture due to increased core strength.
> Maybe the measurements were off first time (e.g., with shoes, without shoes)?



like  said before: exercise stimulates bone growth and density. any height loss 
is only minor insignificant and temporary.


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## CG (Jan 18, 2012)

Also take into account that as you fill out, you will not appear as long and lean(see:stringbean) as you once did.

Side note, I went out the other night after a heavy squat workout... everyone asked how much I shrank lol, I was noticably shorter


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