Succeeding as a Tall Bodybuilder

Training
161

6’6" @~230lbs, 34" waist and size 11-12 feet (that’s UK size, no idea how it translates).

I’m not sure if you all get this, but I tend to suffer with my knees, back and shoulders (not helped by being a computer geek), so find squats difficult and bench pressing next to impossible (due to shoulder pain). Deadlifting though is fantastic, as are stiff legged deadlifts. Like most of you, I do a lot better on pulling exercises than pulling, the exception is chin-ups, which I suck at, and overhead presses, which are one of my strongest lifts.

I think I may give the leg press thing a try, I’ve never really used it, instead I’ve relied on squat variations for leg size, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.

As far as size goes, my back is fairly broad, but my upper and lower arms are skinny, as are my shoulders.

162

I’m also 6’6" at 117kgs…probably about 10% body fat…got full abs despite bulking up almost 3 stone in the past year, which is nice i guess.

I dont find a problem with being tall…i train with someone whos 5"10 and easily squat more than he does and easily going to parallel, hes no slouch either. Only lift i struggle with is bench press, so i mix that up to DBS alot.

Only thing that is annoying is, i took 3 stone added onto my frame for people to start noticing, and now i get the questions about how i did it etc…haha which im enjoying alot at the moment. Sure the novely wears off though…

163

One thing that came into my mind is that tall lifters have to do more work so they get more TUT (time under tension) from doing fewer reps than a shorter lifter. Therefore,may it be argued that shorter rep ranges may be realistic for hypetrophy for taller lifters? Especially the very tall. Mike Mentzer advocated lifting moderate weight very slowly so that a few reps would kill you,did not he? Therefore,I think there is some evidence of the rep range being somewhat of a distraction.

164

[quote]The Austrian Oak wrote:
stringer wrote:
how much do you weigh and what are your lifts?

I’ll post my lifts if you want.

But what do the numbers of specific lifts have to do with my question?
[/quote]

They don’t, it was a pointless question.

165

how tall is lebron?

166

[quote]brian.m wrote:
hardcoreraymond wrote:
as for kcals to maintain weight…

a 25 year old, 300 lb male who work out 5 times a week would need a lil above 3800 cals to maintain weight…

most people get 1k cals from a whopper n fries alone, so doing so cleanly wouldn’t be a problem.

says who, in the winter i was losing weight at 5000 calories at 210ish at 6’1/2" 21yrs old working out 4-5X/week (mostly just a tonne of ground beef, peanut butter, shots of oil when i had to, etc)[/quote]

It’s just math. The AVG person will need that much kcal at that much weight and that height.

My point was, if you can get 1000 kcal from going up to a drive thru in 5 minutes, than you sure as hell can go down to your local grocer and get a steak or chicken and some veg in there, slap it on the grill and get “Clean Cals”.

And I bet you they’ll do your body a whole lot better than the easy way.

My problem personally is feeling full. I notice that when I crave stuff, it usually doesn’t matter what I’m craving, as long as I feel full at the end of the meal. So when I diet down, and the meal is only 500 kcal, I still feel empty. ESPECIALLY with shakes, slow digesting or not. This was fixed by having 2 large glasses of water after every meal to emulate an overfeeding feeling. Hope that clears everything up.

167

Lebron James:

Born: Dec 30, 1984. Height: 6-8 / 2,03. Weight: 250 lbs. / 113,4 kg

Michael Jordan was a better sportsman though.

168

difference is

are you a tall guy with long limbs

or a tall guy with short limbs

if you have long limbs i dont think it will ever be able to win higher level shows. maybe im wrong, i hope i am because i have long limbs. but it just seems that regardless of muscular development longer limbs will always just seem too far from the ideal proportions

169

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
difference is

are you a tall guy with long limbs

or a tall guy with short limbs

if you have long limbs i dont think it will ever be able to win higher level shows. maybe im wrong, i hope i am because i have long limbs. but it just seems that regardless of muscular development longer limbs will always just seem too far from the ideal proportions[/quote]

I’ll show you a long limb. Ballz I’m 6’2 and I hate every moment of it but I bust my ass to pack on the mass on such a big ass frame. The big man when “on” will always tower the shorter man on stage. Thats my opinion so don’t come at me with “Well look at David Henry, look at Franco, my cousin Vinny is 5’0 and he can kick your ass, blah blah blah” The only problem I see being my size is packing on the most amount of mass without ruining myself.

170

Seeing as most of us have introduced ourselves, how about a few more specific questions.

What type of routine are you currently following? Bodypart split? TBT? Upper / Lower split? Push / Pull split?

Which movements are the staples of your training?

What rep ranges do you use?

Anything else that you think may be interesting. I’d like to see how other tall guys train. I expect it’s not too different to how shorter guys train, but then you never know.

171

[quote]Roual wrote:
Seeing as most of us have introduced ourselves, how about a few more specific questions.

What type of routine are you currently following? Bodypart split? TBT? Upper / Lower split? Push / Pull split?

Which movements are the staples of your training?

What rep ranges do you use?

Anything else that you think may be interesting. I’d like to see how other tall guys train. I expect it’s not too different to how shorter guys train, but then you never know.[/quote]

It’s usually a 4day split.

  1. legs
  2. chest/biceps/forearms
  3. back/triceps
  4. shoulders/traps

Deads, squats, chins/pull ups, dips are always done. Use isolation exercises as well.

I don’t do anything special. I like to keep it simple. No drop sets or supersets. Almost every exercise is done using free weights.

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What sort of rep ranges do you use? Do you lift heavy the majority of the time, or try and work with a periodization type scheme?

175

Does anyone have trouble with Squats making their ass grow too much?

I’m 6’2, and this is a problem for me.

I mean, not that I want a puny ass, but when I squat frequently it’s the area that I notice the most.

I’ve recently switched to Front Squats only, and left Deadlifts out of my program because of this, which is bad cos I love to DL. I;ve noticed my quads getting pounded more with Front Squats but my ass still heavily involved too.

I squat 3 times per week, along with a pressing movement and a pull.

I believe this is more so when the person has longer limbs and a shorter torso rather than the other way round.

Anyone have any tips on this? I don’t have a leg press, or any machines in my gym for that matter.

176

I use a modified westside template. no lower body speed work, I do my raw squatting on one day, and deadlift on the other. funny, but even though I started training primarily for strength, the scale weight never stopped going up…hmmm…must be the food, lol

177

[quote]3D wrote:
Does anyone have trouble with Squats making their ass grow too much?

I’m 6’2, and this is a problem for me.

I mean, not that I want a puny ass, but when I squat frequently it’s the area that I notice the most.

I’ve recently switched to Front Squats only, and left Deadlifts out of my program because of this, which is bad cos I love to DL. I;ve noticed my quads getting pounded more with Front Squats but my ass still heavily involved too.

I squat 3 times per week, along with a pressing movement and a pull.

I believe this is more so when the person has longer limbs and a shorter torso rather than the other way round.

Anyone have any tips on this? I don’t have a leg press, or any machines in my gym for that matter.[/quote]

get a new gym.

178

height: 6’5"
winspan: 6’8"
shoe size: 15
weight: 175 pounds (recovering from back surgery, and my metabolism basically brought me to 150. Its been a pain in the ass to gain back weight)

Tall guys need to work more muscle groups, because it just won’t show unless almost every muscle is worked. Also, machines are a must, because dealing with the kind of free weight needed for hypertrophy is just dangerous. For example a short person can drop their max, and it might not break their bones, but if a big guy drops 400+ on himself, the bones will break.

Why is it that tall guys feel a need to stay in shape as they get older? I think it might be because they hear “Damn! You’re tall!” all the time. So they are aware that people notice their physical appearance.

179

[quote]Little Kong wrote:
height: 6’5"
winspan: 6’8"
shoe size: 15
weight: 175 pounds (recovering from back surgery, and my metabolism basically brought me to 150. Its been a pain in the ass to gain back weight)

Tall guys need to work more muscle groups, because it just won’t show unless almost every muscle is worked. Also, machines are a must, because dealing with the kind of free weight needed for hypertrophy is just dangerous. For example a short person can drop their max, and it might not break their bones, but if a big guy drops 400+ on himself, the bones will break.

Why is it that tall guys feel a need to stay in shape as they get older? I think it might be because they hear “Damn! You’re tall!” all the time. So they are aware that people notice their physical appearance. [/quote]

wow, only 175lbs? I’m only 6’1’’ but I weigh 170lbs… what’s your BF%? I guess it’s lower than 4%.
And I hope you get well soon.

180

[quote]AmreJyNex wrote:
Little Kong wrote:
height: 6’5"
winspan: 6’8"
shoe size: 15
weight: 175 pounds (recovering from back surgery, and my metabolism basically brought me to 150. Its been a pain in the ass to gain back weight)

Tall guys need to work more muscle groups, because it just won’t show unless almost every muscle is worked. Also, machines are a must, because dealing with the kind of free weight needed for hypertrophy is just dangerous. For example a short person can drop their max, and it might not break their bones, but if a big guy drops 400+ on himself, the bones will break.

Why is it that tall guys feel a need to stay in shape as they get older? I think it might be because they hear “Damn! You’re tall!” all the time. So they are aware that people notice their physical appearance.

wow, only 175lbs? I’m only 6’1’’ but I weigh 170lbs… what’s your BF%? I guess it’s lower than 4%.
And I hope you get well soon.
[/quote]

I’m only 5’8" and I weigh 205. And I’m skinny. You guys ever try food? I heard it’s good.

181

[quote]Little Kong wrote:
For example a short person can drop their max, and it might not break their bones, but if a big guy drops 400+ on himself, the bones will break.[/quote]

Apparently “dropping 400+” on yourself is something one must do.

[quote]Little Kong wrote:
Why is it that tall guys feel a need to stay in shape as they get older? I think it might be because they hear “Damn! You’re tall!” all the time. So they are aware that people notice their physical appearance.

Oh, I really didn’t know that tall guys are the only ones caring about their physical appearance.[/quote]

Honestly you’re kinda full of shit. Kinda. (Much)

182

[quote]Roual wrote:
Seeing as most of us have introduced ourselves, how about a few more specific questions.

What type of routine are you currently following? Bodypart split? TBT? Upper / Lower split? Push / Pull split?

Which movements are the staples of your training?

What rep ranges do you use?

Anything else that you think may be interesting. I’d like to see how other tall guys train. I expect it’s not too different to how shorter guys train, but then you never know.[/quote]

I’m only 6’1.5 - 6’2 @ 215, but I’ve found the push/legs/pull split to work well for me. I think this solely depends on the person, height isn’t as big a factor, IMO.

I DO stick with the big basic lifts. Heavy squats, deads, bench, rows, military press, rack pulls, front squats, dips, pull ups. That’s 90% of my workout.

I stick with 1-6 reps on the big heavy lifts (squat, dead, bench) then maybe 3-8 on the ‘second tier’ (rows, press, dips, pull ups, etc) and 8+ on more isolation or machine work.

As others have mentioned it may take longer but the game plan is the same. Hard work, consistency, and lots n lots of fooooood.