Why does TALL equal STRONG?

[hhhh1]

You can't even roughly approximate an equivalent 2m human by scaling a 1.5m one by (4/3)^3.

Your argument that the strength to mass ratio is smaller for a big person than it is for a small person is common knowledge. It is also irrelevent to what I'm talking about.

Props for remembering to cube the ratio though bro.

yeah i know its not very accurate/relevant...just thought id chuck it up there

[Jigga]

Height doesn't equal strong, heavy training equals strong

Yeap...

You can't even roughly approximate an equivalent 2m human by scaling a 1.5m one by (4/3)^3.

Your argument that the strength to mass ratio is smaller for a big person than it is for a small person is common knowledge. It is also irrelevent to what I'm talking about.

Props for remembering to cube the ratio though bro.

yeah i know its not very accurate/relevant...just thought id chuck it up there

Fair enough bro, what do you study?

[hhhh1]

did a year of engineering at canterbury. a year of fishing. currently 2nd year surveying. finding it pretty boring but will probably stick at it for the coin though. are you the dude that bought half my sack of fonterra protein last year btw?

[Jigga]

did a year of engineering at canterbury. a year of fishing. currently 2nd year surveying. finding it pretty boring but will probably stick at it for the coin though. are you the dude that bought half my sack of fonterra protein last year btw?

I know a lot of people that did a year of engineering at Canterbury Nah bro, I didn't really have the money at the time.

[Jigga]

This is one of the guys I had in the back of my mind when I made the tall/strong link http://www.youtube.com/user/geoleeman. Wookie is another example.

[hhhh1]

yea im from nelson as well lol

[Jigga]

That is so buzzy... Weird I didn't recognize your face in that photo you put up. Waimea or Nayland?

[hhhh1]

waimea. was 7th form in '07

[Jigga]

aye... fair few people we both know i imagine. if you haven't got a training partner we should hit the gym sometime bro. just flick me a PM if you are keen at some point down the track.

[hhhh1]

yeah man im keen

[scrambledeggs]

its a interesting debate, i dont know if theres anyway to answer it correctly though. It would make sense that the bigger (taller) the human the better, the more the merrier, but then you have the other side which is the further away from the body the lever is the harder it is to move. i think the best way to get a answer is by a survey, or a mass nzbb powerlifting comp :pfft:

[thatwaslight]

Doc is one of the shortest power lifters on here and would be one of if not the strongest man in the country.

[VanillaGorilla]

its a interesting debate, i dont know if theres anyway to answer it correctly though. It would make sense that the bigger (taller) the human the better, the more the merrier, but then you have the other side which is the further away from the body the lever is the harder it is to move. i think the best way to get a answer is by a survey, or a mass nzbb powerlifting comp :pfft:

Manlets vs Men, lets goooo!! :pfft:

[olympia]

Imagine 2 guys next to each other. One short, one tall. They both squat down into a 90 degree position thighs in line with the floor. Who has more pressure on his knee joints? The tall guy as he is further from centre. Shorter levers . Not taking away the hard work they are doing at all but the shorter levers put them at an advantage which makes them work harder and become awesome at squats. Powerlifters always tell me shorter guys are at advantage in deads and bench to due to shorter rom. Its good to be short :nod:

[tomleegolf]

Yes, but wouldn't a 7 foot Goliath that weighed 200kgs @ 12% BF who trained hard out be able to squat 500kgs, bench 400, and dead 600 easy?

It's hard for 5'7" guys to get over 100kgs without being a blob of jelly whereas guys like Tonka who's over 6ft can be 130kgs and not look that fat. So more muscle mass wins over short levers.

[PeterDolan]

Sebastian Wenta is 6'7" and as numerous others have pointed out, majority of the big names, guys like Poundstone, are over 6 ft

But hey, if you guys wanna feel better about yourselves cause us little guys can out lift you, keep on arguing the point, I'll be in the squat rack actually training hard instead of calculating my percentages

[Jigga]

Ignoring proportions that may have worked to their advantage I would go as far to say Doc, PD etc had to work harder to get to the point they are at than a guy 6'2 would. You may look at short guys and say their ROM is tiny or their short levers make it so much easier for them but if you look at the strongest guys in the world you really have no excuse!

Most people intuitively feel like short people have an advantage when it comes to weightlifting. In reality it appears like this isn't the case. That's what the debate is meant to be about. If they do have an advantage back it up with something substantial or atleast cite some examples!

[tinytraps]

When you compare strength to BW its alot easier for a PD to squat 3xbw than it is for say tonka who sits in and around 155-160kgs.

The taller you are the more muscle you can put on on and the more force you can exert.

[nate225]

Doc is one of the shortest power lifters on here and would be one of if not the strongest man in the country.

Jigga seems to be focused on Strongman, an area which Doc is largely untested. I'm sure he'd go well in a reigonal or as an U105 but against the taller guys like Wookie, Nickoli etc he would struggle to win with the events as they are.

That said if we tallk Powerlifting I would agree whole heartedly. Those levers on squat & bench and the mass he's packed on equal big numbers. That said the man can Deadlift too!

Yes, but wouldn't a 7 foot Goliath that weighed 200kgs @ 12% BF who trained hard out be able to squat 500kgs, bench 400, and dead 600 easy?

It's hard for 5'7" guys to get over 100kgs without being a blob of jelly whereas guys like Tonka who's over 6ft can be 130kgs and not look that fat. So more muscle mass wins over short levers.

Tonka's closer to 160 than 130 chap! :grin:

You would think that with shorter levers your muscles wouldn't have to exert as much force to move a weight and because of the shorter ROM the time under tension is less for a certain number of reps?

Why is it then, that the strongest guys in the world are all tall? Even Beni (who I thought was short) is 6ft. Savickas 6'3. Mariusz 6'1. Kaz 6'3 etc.

Is it that short people can't put on the same amount of muscle as a tall guy to take advantage of their short levers? Is it a hormone thing - bigger body, bigger organs?

Is this phenomenon the source of little man syndrome or is that an eye level thing?

Mariusz kinda blows your theory. If he's 6'1" then I'm 300lbs! :grin:

Like Jouko Ahola (2xWSM) who was billed at 6'1" & 125kg (can't remember his actual height but Matt reckons he weighed 116 when he won WSM) I think you'll find Mariusz' height has been overstated somewhat.

Probably need to define your satement more Jigga, is it Strongman only, is it Powerlifting? Are we only talking SHW's or just biggest weights lifted.

Again if we looked at weight classes guys like Wade Hooper & Andrzej Stanaszek......

[startinfromscratch]

When you compare strength to BW its alot easier for a PD to squat 3xbw than it is for say tonka who sits in and around 155-160kgs.

The taller you are the more muscle you can put on on and the more force you can exert.

this.

you dont need a degree in brosciology to know that big cunts shift more tin. and the taller you are, the easier it is to be big.

[nate225]

^300kg @ 52kg bodyweight..... no wraps even LOL

[PeterDolan]

Who said anything about power to weight TT? This is about strength which is how much weight you actually move

[nate225]

Ignoring proportions that may have worked to their advantage I would go as far to say Doc, PD etc had to work harder to get to the point they are at than a guy 6'2 would. You may look at short guys and say their ROM is tiny or their short levers make it so much easier for them but if you look at the strongest guys in the world you really have no excuse!!

Doc & PD work as hard as anybody else to acheive what they have. 100% is all anyone can give, and the elite in any sport have to commit to this if they want to be the best, regardless of their height!

Most people intuitively feel like short people have an advantage when it comes to weightlifting. In reality it appears like this isn't the case. That's what the debate is meant to be about. If they do have an advantage back it up with something substantial or atleast cite some examples!

The best benchers tend to be barrel chested, not overly wide in clavicles, relatively short arms etc. Not always the short guys but often, particularly in the lighter weight classes. ROM is important hence technique comes into play, and although some of the biggest benches are done by taller guys I think you'll find their ROM is pretty small due to technique & a huge amount of mass on their frames.

My guess is that it takes longer for a tall guy to get better at the pressing movements due to the time needed to fill out their frames (kinda like the taller bodybuilders needing more time to look good on stage).

Just random thoughts on it really.

[ThePman]

Potential body mass scales with height.

Since there's a limit to how much muscle a frame of any dimension can hold before drugs have to enter the picture, this sets a cap on how big any given person can get. Taller people have more "room" to hold muscle and tend to be bigger for that reason.

In biomechanical terms (ignoring neural factors), strength is a function of body mass coupled with leverages. Elite-totaling dwarfs like Markus Schick and regular high-squatting dwarves who act like they total elite aren't maxing out the body mass, but have levers good enough to hoist weight across their shorter ROM. But there will always be a superheavy who out-lifts the short guys just through the body weight advantage.

[PeterDolan]

My guess is that it takes longer for a tall guy to get better at the pressing movements due to the time needed to fill out their frames (kinda like the taller bodybuilders needing more time to look good on stage)

I think that's a good point, I'd say tall guys have a much greater potential, it just takes time. That's why the wiley veterans are usually near the top in PL, SM and BBing comps, they've had more time with their craft perfecting their lifts/physiques

At the end of the day, I still think height has f*ck all to do with it. It's about proportions, technique and hard fucking work, an area I think many PLers fall short in (come at me)