Grow Taller After Puberty with Torso and Shin Bone Lengthening.
If you’re “vertically challenged” and wondering how to grow taller after after puberty, I have a story to share with you. .
While it’s generally believed that growth plates fuse and growth automatically ends between the ages of 16 and 18, there are significant exceptions..
In many cases, growth can continue beyond the expected age, particularly in instances of delayed bone maturity
( bone age ) or a phenomenon known as compensatory catch up growth
Genetics, environment and growth potential.
While our DNA provides the blueprint for body development through puberty, your final height is actually dictated by a complex interplay between your genes and your environment.
Hence, factors like Growth Hormone (GH) optimization and targeted mechanical stress play a pivotal role in determining your final height..[1]
For example, an individual may be short despite having tall parents because of a single mutation in one gene that instructs the production of a growth hormone.
Start by examining your genetic potential.
Thus, if you are vertically challenged, start by looking at heights of your close relatives in relation to your height. For instance, my parents are 5’4″ and 5’7″ but all my cousins including uncle on father’s side are 5’11” and over.
So chances are I had tall genes but growth hormone deficiency which is the reason I prematurely stopped growing taller. Why do I suggest this?
When I introduced a specific environmental stressor in the form of chaos training, a form of H.I.I.T designed to increase growth hormones release in the body, I started growing taller consistently.
I noticed my feet grew rapidly first, then my overall height increased.
This makes biological sense because when growth hormone enters the bloodstream, it signals the liver to produce another hormone called Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1), the actual driver of bone and tissue expansion or growth.
Just so you know, my case isn’t isolated.
A number of professional athletes particularly in basket ball have experienced dramatic growth spurts. 
Take an example of Dennis Rodman, who was just 5’9″ at his high school graduation when he was about 18 but experienced a dramatic growth spurt in his 20s to reach his current height of 6’7”.[3]
Similarly, Dwight Howard was only 5’9” at 16 before experiencing a dramatic growth spurt in the proceeding years to reach his current 6’11”.
The other notable examples include LeBron James who grew significantly after entering the league and CJ Mc collum who shot up nearly a foot after high school.
In many of these cases, these individuals were late bloomers whose bodies finally received the right combination of physical intensity and nutrition to hit their true genetic potential.
Stretching Alone Is Not Enough.
Many say stretching can increase height, but from my experience, these gains are temporary.
After a few weeks to a month, muscles shrink back, and the added height is lost.
Permanent height gains come primarily from the bones, especially shin bones.
I tried lengthening my shin bones by pedaling a bike with a raised saddle, but after almost a year, the height gained was minimal.
When I increased growth hormone release through chaotic exercise, my shin bones, hands, feet, fingers, skull, and torso all grew consistently.
This suggested to me that the backbone was also lengthening.
So, the secret isn’t stretching alone — it’s about boosting growth hormones.
What to Expect.
I’m not here to make unrealistic promises but to share my journey and successful experience with height increase after puberty.
I hope the information in this blog and my book gives you hope.
I won’t promise quick results because I didn’t get them.
I also won’t recommend supplements because my approach was completely natural , from nutrition to exercise.
How This Blog and the PDF Work Together.
The information on this blog is designed to give you a comprehensive overview of the science behind height increase especially after puberty.
However, to avoid making these articles impossible to navigate, I’ve compiled the detailed step by step process with day to day details into a 300-page Exercise Routine Guide.
While the blog explains the why, the guide covers the how, including: My day-by-day exercise execution for torso and leg lengthening.
The specific mistakes I made during my first year (so you don’t have to).
Critical nutrients and natural ways to optimize your hormonal profile. You can find the digital version of the daily routine on online book stores like payhip, kobo books, nooks or here 👇
Grow taller after puberty exercise routine handbook»
Paperback copy at major retailers like ebay and Barnes & Noble.
Get in touch
Feel free to contact me if you have questions or face challenges. Get in touch here »
FAQ and Success Stories.
Many readers ask about my starting age — I began at 26 years.
There’s also a Q&A page with frequently asked questions, success stories, and additional height increase information on the Q & A page »»
(Watch video about the steps to take to grow after puberty at the end of this article) 👇
So, How can you really Grow Taller After Puberty?
I know, Chances are, you landed on this page already convinced that growing taller after 20 is impossible.
I get it , because I used to think the exact same thing.
In fact, that belief is the reason I didn’t even try to change my height earlier in life. I had simply accepted the idea that growth ends after puberty. Deep down, I felt there was nothing I could do about it, so I didn’t bother.
But somewhere between 25 and 26, reality started hitting differently.
Dating felt harder. Confidence around peers wasn’t where I wanted it to be, heightism at work place triggered insecurity, life wasn’t really fun as I knew it could be…
Standing at 5’4”, I reached a point where I didn’t even care about a dramatic height increase. I just wanted a few millimeters. Not even an inch, just anything.
That shift in desperation changed everything.
Suddenly, the word impossible stopped applying to me. I began trying whatever made sense at the time.. routines, exercises, ideas shared by others, lifestyle adjustments…
The willingness to experiment kept me moving forward until I eventually saw progress.
What I learned from that phase is simple:
Growth after 20 may is difficult for most people because it is determined by factors like genetics, bone age, hormones, nutrition, and body type (ectomorph, mesomorph, or endomorph).
But difficulty does not automatically mean impossibility, and outcomes are rarely identical from one person to another.
I guess this in part explains why some acromegaly patients continue growing throughout life yet others don’t..
Another observation I made is psychological.
If you’re already average height, you rarely feel the urgency to grow taller. But if you’re a male below average height, the desire can be intense. That emotional drive often becomes the catalyst for action.
That’s why the first and most important step is your mindset.
If you’re full of doubt and unwilling to commit effort, don’t expect any positive outcome.
But if curiosity replaces certainty, if you’re open enough to explore possibilities, you give yourself a chance to discover outcomes you might never have expected.
Research by psychologist Carol Dweck on growth mindset suggests that believing improvement is possible increases persistence, effort, and resilience , all of which shape eventual outcomes.
In other words, mindset doesn’t guarantee success, but it strongly influences whether you even try.
That idea is captured perfectly in a quote often attributed to Napoleon Hill:
”One of the main weaknesses of mankind is is the average man’s familiarity with the word impossible.”
If for some reason you can’t exercise, may be you are injured or simply lazy, then surgery may be the only option unless of course you are still in puberty.
If you think there’s a magic pill that can make you grow taller after 19, I honestly wish you the best.
If you’re ready and willing to give grow taller exercises a shot, first our body morphology isn’t the same.
Some have longer torsos and hence wish to increase leg length to appear well proportioned while some have longer legs than torso hence wish to add a few inches in the torso.
Finally, some already look proportional but still wish to add a few inches both in torso and legs.
Below are a few highlights on leg and torso lengthening exercises. If you need more information, you can link to their respective articles.
Torso lengthening
It’s relatively easier to gain height after 21 years in this section of the body with the stretching exercises to grow taller
Stretching the torso is relatively easy once you get used.
The spine is also full of cartilage between vertebrae which can be thickened with the right foods or supplements as well as consistent stretching .
Though the gains are not always permanent, mainly due to poor posture there are a number of ways you can stabilize your gains as illustrated in the handbook.
To read more about correcting your posture, visit How poor posture affects height article.
Otherwise, some but not all of the ways of stabilizing the torso gains were covered on how to make the spine longer page.
The other option is to regularly include abdominal workouts in your workout routine.
The effective abdominal workouts that will strengthen your core are covered on the effective abdominal exercises for height increase page.
The topic of stabilizing torso gains is comprehensively covered in The hand book.
If you are still growing, stretching consistently will even help you to grow faster.
The ability to thicken the spinal disc cartilage together with lengthening the torso muscles with stretching exercises can add up to 3 or so inches.
Leg Lengthening
It takes a lot of hard work and patience to gain any significant length in legs especially after 23 years but the effort will be worth it since any height gained in legs is permanent.
The different leg lengthening exercises are discussed on the how to get longer legs article.
Otherwise, in my opinion, the two most effective leg lengthening techniques are lengthening the legs with cycling with a raised seat.
Alternatively, you may consider using the ankle weights for height increase
Bones take at least 2- 4 months to completely remodel so if your shin bones are to grow, don’t expect it to happen in a week or two.
Also note that, if you intend to increase height in both legs and torso, you will have to exercise in an orderly fashion to stay focused and consistent which takes us to the next point.
3. Devise an effective grow taller exercise routine
I’m going to be blunt: Doing this for a couple of days won’t cut it. You need to make it a part of your lifestyle.
What helped me wasn’t just the workouts.. it was the structure. I had a routine. I tracked what worked. When something didn’t help, I eliminated it.
To read more about the reasons why an exercise routine is important, visit the Grow taller after puberty exercise routine article.
4. Must be willing to devote a lot of time to your objective
Trust me, if you don’t have plenty of time to spare then increasing your height after puberty will be close to impossible.
The exercises may not be time consuming per se but you will need to be focused.
If you work 8 am – 5 pm 5 days a week then you will quit sooner than later.
I say this because I experienced it until I switched jobs to focus on my objective.
Not advising you to do the same, but sharing my experience and many have testified as well.
If you are still at college or get long work leaves of absence, then this will be the best time to begin.
5. You will need plenty of rest and sleep
If you want to increase your chances of growing after puberty, avoid the temptation of bombarding your body with exercises.
Desperation may force you to spend the entire week working out to increase G.H or stretching the entire day but it’s counter productive.
I fell in this trap too until I realized it was a big mistake that’s why it was included in the mistakes to avoid.
Just be consistent with whatever gives you results and give your body ample time to rest and recover.
Most importantly, have quality sleep for at least 7 – 9 hours on a daily basis.
Quality sleep in this case means falling asleep quickly and having un disrupted sleep by not waking up during sleep more often than once during the night.
Quality sleep gives your body and brain ample time to rest and recover.
For more reading about how sleep affects body growth, visit how sleep makes you grow taller article.
6. Persist and be determined until you make it.
If you’ve come across genuine stories of people who experienced height changes later in life, one thing quickly becomes clear..it wasn’t smooth sailing.
Persistence is everything.
Many people quit after a month or two. I understand that because I did the same at one point. Motivation fades, life gets busy, and before you realize it, days ..sometimes weeks pass without consistency.
Daily responsibilities, stress, and unexpected challenges can easily disrupt any routine.
What makes it harder is when results don’t show up as quickly as you hoped. That phase can feel overwhelming, and it’s often where most people give up.
But whenever the dust settles, the best thing you can do is return to your routine and keep going.
Some times it takes long without growing before experiencing a sudden growth spurt. At least it happens to almost everyone during the growing years.
You might feel like you’re done growing, only to notice height changes months or even a year later.
The timing is unpredictable.
And that unpredictability is exactly why persistence matters.
You don’t always see progress immediately, but consistency keeps the possibility alive.
7. Increase Human growth hormones release in the body
Increasing growth hormones release in the body is a very critical step to increase height after puberty.
Although the amount of growth hormones your body regularly produces is entirely up to your brain, there are a few initiatives you can take to make the pituitary gland a bit more generous.
One of the most efficient ways to increase growth hormones is to work out your muscles beyond lactate thresh hold.
Lactic acid will be released which in turn triggers growth hormones release.
That’s quite wide a topic to discuss here but you can do more reading about it on the chaos training for height increase article.
Such workout may include sprinting, weight lifting, cycling and all the compound exercises that may strain the muscles when done intermittently within 10 minutes.
However, if G.H is administered in form of an injection or a tablet, it may only contribute to your muscle tone and burn some fat but it will not make you grow unless you’re still growing .
Read more on How to increase H.G.H naturally.
8 . Reduce body weight if you are fat
Too much body weight will affect the effectiveness of the exercises or any strategies adopted to increase height in a number of ways.
First, studies indicate that extra pounds in the trunk pile pressure on the spinal discs thus compressing them even further.
Second, it was established that fat in the abdominal area infiltrates and weakens the abdominal muscles which renders them ineffective in supporting your trunk and maintaining proper spine alignment thus leading to poor posture. All of which affects torso height.
Third, too much body fat is linked to a reduction in testosterone levels and hence G.H levels.
Finally, with extra pounds in the torso, stretching exercises will be ineffective in increasing torso height.
There are are number of ways to reduce body fat as discussed on the how to reduce stomach fat page.
For some, this may sound abstract but trust me, there are different ways you can utilize your brain power or mind power to achieve anything in life. Growth after 20 inclusive.
At least you’ve heard or come across adages like ‘thoughts are things’…..
‘what you think you become’
‘whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve’
or ‘there’re no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge’.
Some say they grow with hypnosis, others with the Law of Attraction.
I suggest you try imagination.
Every once in a while, imagine how you will look like if you are a few inches taller but don’t force it, let it come naturally.
And if it happens naturally, it will be a clear sign that you believe it can happen.
Believe me, there’s truth in the saying.. ‘If you can imagine it, you can achieve it’.
Of course imagination didn’t make me grow taller neither did I schedule time to practice imagination.
I just found myself imagining how I would appear with longer legs and this somehow strengthened my faith that I will make it and kept me going until I was able to come up with an effective grow taller exercise program and to identify the mistakes that were preventing me from achieving my goal.
All with the power of the mind.
In fact, if you haven’t come across Angel’s story, of how she grew with her mind, you can read it in the exercise routine handbook and Solvave shared his story on the role played by the brain in height increase page .
If you wish to try hypnosis to increase your height, the tips for using hypnosis are covered on grow taller with hypnosis routine page.
This may be the last point but extremely important.
You can grow taller by dietary changes .
For instance, the Japanese and south Koreans have been growing taller every decade since world war II.
This is partly attributed to a change in diet from rice and noodles to plenty of milk and it’s products as well as a more westernized diet that includes fast foods from MacDonald’s and Kentucky with plenty of animal meat like chicken. [5]
A study conducted in Embu, Kenya to establish if there’s a connection between nutritional improvements and body growth established that stunted children who had milk as a mid morning snack experienced an accelerated growth over time than children who had animal meat or plant based foods.
So, be mindful of what you eat because the foods you eat, to some degree determine your body growth and development.
You can read more about the Foods to eat to grow taller during or after puberty
How you can Grow taller By Over 4 Inches After Puberty?
The neck coupled with chest
For the region before the trunk which covers the neck and chest, you can add an aggregate height of up to half an inch with neck and chest stretches.
The neck stretches are covered on the how to get a longer neck page.
(The chest exercises not included here but covered in the hand book).
However, if enough growth hormones are released in body, even the bones in the back and thighs may slightly grow.
if you are male, even your genitals will grow…Growth hormones are very powerful when it comes to body growth.
Abdominal 3 inches
For the abdominal area, the back bone can be lengthened by about 1-3 inches through stretching the trunk muscles as well as rehydrating and thickening the spinal discs.
The lengthening is done through stretching exercises to grow taller described on this page.
Assuming the worst results, you can grow at least 3 inches.
Shin bones 1 – 3 inches
For the shin bones, the exercises are explained under leg lengthening exercises. (Though the different routines weren’t covered on the page).
So, you can choose a combination that may work for you just like I used cycling, sprinting and walking and I noticed results without a lot of stressing the body which made it possible for me to grow longer legs.
Because the bones take time to grow, you may add at least 1- 3 inches depending on the time invested.
I have grown about 2.5 inches in shin bones alone but in 3 years.
You may even grow more and in a less time.
All you need to know is unlike cartilage which takes a very short time to grow, shin bones take forever but they indeed grow with persistence.
If you use cycling exercise, you will be encouraged to carry on once you notice the initial increase in height.
If you’re yet to enter puberty, still in puberty, or not sure, visit how to grow taller during puberty article for the different ways to increase your growth velocity during puberty.
If your growth plates are not yet closed and you wish to delay their closure, visit the how to delay growth plates fusion article for the different ways you can delay growth plates closure.
Important Disclaimer:
I am not a doctor. This article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. If you are concerned about your growth or development, please consult a pediatric endocrinologist or a qualified medical professional.
Recommendations;
1. The topic of height increase is really wide. It’s almost years since I started acquainting myself with it but I still come across something new every once in a while so not all the information you need can be found on a single website book or any other source. Just keep doing your own search until you make it.
AUTHOR BIO
Dennis Raney (B.Sc.) is an author and a blogger specializing in natural body growth optimization strategies.
After years of navigating the psychological and physical challenges of being under-average height, Dennis dedicated over a decade to researching the intersection of lifestyle, nutrition, and body growth.
By applying an evidence-based approach to healthy lifestyle changes, he successfully navigated his own body transformation, an experience that led him to author his comprehensive guide on height increase during and after puberty.
Today, he shares his wealth of fact based insights through his book and blog to help others overcome similar adversities.
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Interested in connecting? :
✉️ Send an email: Dennis »»
💬 Add me on Discord: raney0029 »»
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