Height...does it matter in lifting?

[NEO1]

Well I know my opinion but let me ask. Is it easier/harder or indifferent for a person 6'+ benching in proportion to someone 5'6ish.

IMO, someone taller is going to be at an extreme disadvantage with certain moves. Bench, curls being a couple of them. Ideally the distance from the chest (regarding bench press) to the full extension is much longer than of that someone shorter and stalkier (assuming both people weigh similar).

What do you guys think?

BTW...I tried searching this and couldnt find anything so if it has been done, my bad.

 

[calyptus]

Of course. Lifting is all about leverage.

 

[supercop]

yeah

 

[dabuffguy]

I'm 6'2". I can't bench worth crap, Yet I weigh 225 and look pretty good. I look like I could bench 350, But I can only do 250. Pretty sad really.

Tall people with long arms will have a disadvantage ie. doing a lateral raise, the longer arm gets a lot more torque place on the shoulder than a shorter arm, therefore the same weight will actually be heavier because of torque and require more force to lift.

It also takes longer for a taller persona to get visually noticable muscle increase. If I gain 10 lbs, I don't look much different, but if a guy that is 5'8" gains 10 lbs, he looks huge compared to before. Especially my damn long legs. Even after getting good improvement that I can notice, they still look skinny, even though they are actually bigger around than a shorter guys legs that look beefy.


But, once a guy over 6'2 fills out he looks like a beast vs the guy that is 5'8. That's why Arnie was so popular. He was a lot taller than the other guys, 6'1 235, except Lou ferrigno who was 6'6 275 a true monster in his day.

 

[Tatyana]

Yes and no. It depends on what you are using weight training for.

Think strongmen, most have to be quite tall in some of the federations to do well, whereas being a bit shorter in other federations is beneficial.

Check out this thread, I asked some of the powerlifters and strongmen the same question

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/strongman/genetics-strongman-576683.html