Being tall is awesome. As a guy who is 6′ 2″ and has been tall all of my life, I have gotten to take advantage of many benefits of being tall like go on amusement park rides at an early age, get all the rebounds in basketball, and throw a baseball farther. But why is it that it seems like it is harder for tall people to gain muscle? I first asked myself this question when I became serious at packing on lean muscle mass and bulking up.
It seemed like every time I compared my results with my peers, I was always falling behind. No matter how hard I lifted, how strict my diet was, or how much determination I felt like I had, I couldn’t find the reason why others were bulking up and I wasn’t. In fact, what puzzled me the most was that I gained more strength than my peers, but I never could look the part that with how much I was lifting.
I began looking at why this happens and demanded answers. I wanted to know what I was doing wrong. Turns out, I wasn’t alone and many tall people have a hard time gaining muscle mass.
Why it is so Hard for Tall People to Gain Muscle
It is such a simple concept, I wondered why I never thought of it before I went through the trouble of searching for answers myself. The main reason why tall people have such a hard time gaining muscle is that they naturally have more body surface area to fill with muscle definition which is why it takes longer for tall guys to look jacked. This is why 10 times out of 10 times when you get two guys side-by-side who are 5′ 6″ and 6′ 3″ and add 20 pounds of muscle mass to both of them you’ll always think the guy who is 5′ 6″ is more built.
You need to get out of the mindset that it is harder to gain muscle if you’re tall. You actually are gaining muscle just as fast as someone who is shorter, it just takes more time for your results to show up. However, once they do, you can look even more built than some of your shorter peers.
So tall guys listen up, don’t fret if you’re not seeing visible results because chances are that you’re doing what you need to do to put on the muscle if you’re following similar tactics that are giving shorter people results; you just need to be more patient.
The good news, like Arnold Schwarzenegger once said is, “A good big man will beat a good small man every time.”
Tall people, what’s your experience with gaining muscle?