So true. I’m 5-7 1/2 in bare feet, and I swear, the next time I want to buy a suit or some slacks I’m going to find me a short men’s shop. I find it very aggravating that regular shops will eagerly sell you an expensive suit, and assure you it fits correctly, or they can make it fit. Well it usually doesn’t, and they usually can’t. Actually, I just wear jeans most of the time because I can’t stand pants that don’t fit right.
Eh, don’t worry. At 16 I was less than 5 feet.
At 18 I was roughly 6 feet. I’m a little over that now, but I haven’t measured in many years.
Former college and pro basketball star David Robinson grew from 6’5" to 7’1" during his college years.
Amen! 6’3" here, and it’s a rare day when I don’t have occasion to wish I were a couple inches shorter. Anything that’s designed for universal use is never made to accommodate the largest people.
The driver’s seats in a lot of cars won’t move back quite far enough for me, which is especially problematic when driving a standard. Airline seats are a nightmare. The list, of course, goes on ad nauseum. Don’t even get me started on celing fans paired with low ceilings. Ouch.
But for much the same reason, I can thank being tall for getting me more seriously into cycling. See, I was never able to comfortably use department store bikes, because the seat couldn’t go high enough and the bars were too close. So for me to ride comfortably, I had to buy a “real” bike so I could specify the size. Getting a decent bike caused me to enjoy cycling far more than I ever could have on a Wal-Mart special. So if the market weren’t so blind to normal statistical variations in size, I might still be a couch potato. It cuts both ways.
And to the OP, don’t sweat the height thing. The grass is always greener, yadda yadda… Just don’t get a Napoleon complex.
A-freakin-men. Finding a 34/28 pair of pants that fit me is a little like striking gold – it’s a rare and valuable thing.
Heh. HeightMax is in the Google ads.
Into the Army at 26 years old, 5’6" out at 30 and 5’5"
The absence of ridiculous tallness (like 5’8"+) made field exercises a blast because I could lie in ambush absolutely anywhere and was never cramped inside of, or bangend my head on the entrances to armored vehicles. Of course, if my legs were in proportion to the rest of me I’d be about 5’9 - 6’ so I reckon I had to work a little harder at running distances. But being built like a brick has it’s perks too. I wouldn’t worry about the height thing…except if you get self conscious and end up with “short guy syndrome.”
All of the Google ads right now are for supposed height boosters.
Digital snake oil the lot of it.
The simplest argument against Heightmax (or indeed any “suppliment”, “herbal”, or “homeopathic” product): If it worked, they wouldn’t sell it as a suppliment. In order to sell something as medicine, you have to prove that it’s safe and actually does what it’s supposed to. If it’s not safe, or it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to, you can still sell it, you just can’t call it medicine. So you call it an “all-natural vitamin suppliment” instead, and it doesn’t matter what it might or might not do to your clients.
The best case possibility is that it really is just vitamins, most of which won’t hurt you, but if you’re already getting enough, they won’t help, either (and if you’re not getting enough, you’d be much better off just buying vitamins, the reputable kind that tell you what’s in them). The most likely case is that they’re just dextrose or calcium carbonate pills, with perhaps a spritz of orange juice per 1-ton batch or something so they can claim it contains “vitamins”. In this case, they won’t do anything for you, good or bad. The worst case is that it’s mixed up from some random leaves of something-or-other someone found down the street, and might contain some weird poisons that make your balls shrivel up and fall off. OK, so that last one’s not too likely, but with unregulated supplements, you never know.
You’ve already got a couple of inches on my dad. And my mom is 5’9". You’re fine.
but cute.
The OP should know that there are women out there who don’t care if you’re short. We do exist. I remember in college having a huge crush on a grad student in the astronomy department. He was shorter than me, and I’m 5’3". Height just doesn’t come into the picture when I’m deciding if a man is attractive or not.
Men who fall for scams like HeightMax almost certainly is, on the other hand…
Lands’ End custom-hems all their pants, with inseams down to 26" in all waist sizes for men’s pants. Their stuff generally isn’t cheap, but it is nice.
And, fretsonfire, if you do get a Napoleon complex, you could do what I do- take over the world repeatedly in games like Civilization or Europa Universalis.
Have you been thru your growth spurt yet? If not, you could end up quite a bit taller. But there’s no reason you won’t gain a few more inches even if you have. But 5-7/5-8 is certainly not short, especially at your age. 5-9 is the average for American men, so you’re basically there.
thanks everyone! this helped alot…and for all who care im gonna stop taking heightmax and be smart.lol.
Ahhh…. On review… I see that it looks like you’re are signing off the thread.
If I may make a P.S.
It’s kind of weird. I’m tall. 6’4”. I notice people taller than me. But I don’t notice people shorter than me. Conditioning I guess.
As some posters have said –
Airplanes are an absolute pain for tall folks. Not too long ago I was debarking. As I was leaving I was hunched down and following the floor. I looked up and WHAM. TV hung in the middle of the aisle.
::sigh:: No, I don’t play basketball. I hate the sport.
I’m looking into buying a new car. Going to have to go for the adjustable pedals.
Clothes? Heh. If it isn’t a tall, I can’t buy it. If it was a gift, I have to return it.
My brother owns a Harley 1200 Sporty. It looks silly under me.
King size beds are a must. I’d go with a California King (they’re longer) if we had the room.
I have had the same office chair for 12 years, ‘cause it goes up high enough for my long legs. The chair is getting a bit ratty, but I’ve been putting off replacing it.
My wife, the most wonderful woman in the world[sup]tm[/sup], is 5’2”. She can kick my ass on the ski sloops and running too.
Did a quick google ‘famous short people’– It went from the tallest to shortest. I’ll just list some of the men.
Salvador Dali 5’7"
Bo Diddly 5’7"
F. Scott Fitzgerald 5’7"
Al Pacino 5’7"
Ross Perot 5’7"
Spud Webb (won 1986 NBA slam dunk competition) 5’7"
Henry Winkler (the “Fonz” on tv’s Happy Days) 5’6-1/2"
Woody Allen 5’6" [1.68 m]
Bob Dylan 5’6"
Peter Falk (of tv’s “Columbo”) 5’6"
Theoren Fleury (NHL, 2nd highest in points, Jan/2001) 5’6"
Dustin Hoffman 5’6"
Elijah Wood (star of Lord of the Rings movie) 5’6"
T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) (British soldier and writer) 5’5-1/2"
Fred Durst (singer for band “Limp Bizkit”) 5’5 to 5’4" (according to numerous emails)
Harry Houdini 5’5"
Joe Pesci 5’5"
Lou Reed 5’5"
Michael J. Fox 5’4"
Pablo Picasso 5’4"
Mahatma Gandhi 5’3"
Height and stature are two different things. Use your noggin’. That’s what makes a ‘big’ person.
Just for the record, I love short men. 5’7" is way too tall to be attractive to me. Granted, I’m weird, but I just wanted to add to the possible benefits of being short. 
Eat well, **sleep **well. It’s well established by the medical establishment that sleep is key to growth.
This is from a bodybuilding site:
“During sleep, growth hormone is produced and protein synthesis (provided protein is consumed prior to sleep) occurs.”
This from How Stuff Works:
“Two other things are known to happen during sleep. Growth hormone in children is secreted during sleep, and chemicals important to the immune system are secreted during sleep. You can become more prone to disease if you don’t get enough sleep, and a child’s growth can be stunted by sleep deprivation.”
This from a Brit site:
“Since stages 3 and 4 of sleep produce brain waves which have a slow frequency, these stages are referred to as ‘slow-wave’ sleep. As it happens, slow-wave sleep is critically important for athletes, because it is when growth hormone is released from the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. Growth hormone stimulates muscle growth and repair, bone building and fat burning; it is thus one of the key hormones which help athletes recover from tough workouts and also improve physiologically in response to training. Studies show that when an athlete loses sleep (particularly slow-wave sleep), growth-hormone release from the pituitary gland diminishes. This may be a key reason why extended sleep loss can lead to decrements in physical capacity.”
Just want to add to the chorus of “No, you’re not short.” The CDC growth chart shows the average height for 16 year old males is about 5’ 8.5". You’re about the 40th or 45th percentile. If you continue in the same percentile (and that’s just an assumption), you will top out around 5’9", which, as has been noted, is right around average.
A lot of boys continue growing until they are 20. So you still have lots of time. Even so, I would not consider 5’7" to be short enough to warrant comment in a fully grown man (IMHO)
I’ve topped out at 5’6 1/2." It’s only about one standard deviation below average, and it’s not like being a bit short is a huge deal. Sometimes it’s an inconvenience, but on the plus side, whenever I’m looking for a joke to warm up a crowd, I can go with that. Regardless of what happens, you don’t have much to worry about on this front.
In this thread I’m tied with Anne Neville at 5’ 3" height but I guess I earn the dubious “low mark” among all the guys who replied.
Does a person’s height make a difference in the scheme of things? Damn f**king right it does. Here’s how important I think height is. I’d say (like the majority of Dopers), that my intelligence is somewhat above average. I would settle for a 100 IQ if in return, I could be 6’ 3". Ahhh but I’m just some guy with “angry short man syndrome” (as Film Geek would put it).
Anyway, fretsonfire I’d suggest avoiding any kind of “miracle” drugs or treatments for increasing your height. At best, they would probably do nothing and at worst would no doubt cause health problems.
With a name like “fretsonfire” you must be a guitar player right?