Height is heavily linked to genetics, nutrition, and overall health and fitness levels.
While most of your height is determined by genetics, you can maximize your potential by living a healthy and active lifestyle. Starting at an early age is better, but it’s never too late to take the first steps toward growing as tall as possible.
The question is: can HIIT exercises help us grow taller? The short answer is yes. While many factors play a crucial role, we will discuss the topic thoroughly to explore how exactly HIIT or exercise in general can help us grow taller.
If I do HIIT Everyday Will I Be Tall?
HIIT and other forms of exercise, like weightlifting, calisthenics, and CrossFit, have a significant influence on our hormones, how they function, and how they are regulated.
Being active and engaging in general fitness or HIIT workouts every day will significantly impact our growth hormones, IGF-1 (Insulin-like growth factor), thyroid hormones, testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol. Additionally, HIIT and other forms of exercise are crucial for bone health and density.
When exercise is paired with a healthy, protein-rich diet, we nourish our bodies, promoting healthy growth, vitality, and athleticism—all essential for growing taller and improving overall posture.
First, let’s discuss how the hormones mentioned above contribute to growth and how exercise, particularly HIIT, enhances their activity.
Growth Hormone (GH)
Resistance training and high-intensity workouts stimulate the release of Growth Hormone. This hormone is essential for tissue growth and bone elongation.
While HIIT and resistance training workouts are effective in older individuals, the best results are achieved during puberty. It is a fact that people involved in fitness activities have higher levels of growth hormone, which contributes to overall growth and development.
Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1)
Physical exercise enhances IGF-1 production, and IGF-1 is closely correlated with growth hormone. IGF-1 is key to stimulating bone growth.
HIIT and strength training are particularly effective in stimulating bone growth, with the best results seen during puberty.
Thyroid Function
In today’s world, many people struggle with thyroid function, developing various disorders, primarily related to poor metabolism.
Thyroid health is essential for normal growth and development, and healthy thyroid hormone activity is achieved through regular exercise and a healthy diet. The thyroid is key to properly absorbing nutrients and energy, which is crucial for overall growth and development.
Testosterone and Estrogen
People who have taken up weightlifting or general fitness have reported that their shoe size has increased by one size—this is actually more common than you’d think, and these reports often come from individuals in their thirties.
Testosterone is a very powerful hormone and is one of the driving forces of masculinity. It’s so powerful that, even in people in their late twenties or early thirties, achieving higher levels of testosterone can lead to growth, such as growing taller by an inch or increasing shoe size.
For females, regular exercise like HIIT and weightlifting helps balance estrogen levels while also increasing their testosterone (although females naturally have low testosterone levels, it is still important). This contributes to healthy bone maturation, preventing premature growth plate closure.
Cortisol
Cortisol is a stress hormone. People who lead busy lives are often stressed, and stress negatively affects health in many ways. It can cause hormonal imbalances, disrupt sleep, impair performance, and stunt growth.
If cortisol levels are elevated for prolonged periods, it can inhibit growth. Exercises like HIIT and weight training help lower cortisol and keep it in check, allowing growth hormones to function without interference.
Bone Health and Density
Regular exercise is key to promoting bone health and density. Exercises like HIIT and resistance training stimulate bone formation and increase bone mineral density, which supports height growth.
HIIT Exercises to Grow Taller
HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) is particularly effective as it fuses bodyweight, cardio, and weight exercises. For height growth, TABATA workouts with burpees can spike your growth hormone, which can contribute to becoming taller.
Furthermore, sprinting is also ideal for spiking your growth hormone. A study has shown how sprinting affects growth hormone levels, proving that sprinting, a HIIT exercise, is excellent for elevating growth hormone, which is crucial for growing taller.
Now, why particularly HIIT? It is well-known that 30-second sprints done three to four times can lead to more than a 600% increase in HGH (Human Growth Hormone) levels. This shows that the intensity of the workout really matters, and that’s what HIIT is designed for.
As you do your workouts, try to keep them intense. The key to HIIT’s success in this instance is that the more intense the exercise, the greater the growth hormone release. Thus, serving our purpose, flawlessly.
You can create your own workout plan and integrate bodyweight, cardio, and weight exercises into your program. For example, exercises like burpees, sprinting, jumping jacks, squat jumps, dumbbell swings, and box jumps are quite effective and can help in your goal of growing taller.
We also recommend integrating dead hangs into your workouts, as they are effective for increasing height. If possible, adding swimming can further enhance your results and serves as a great HIIT workout.
If you plan to do HIIT exercises every day, build your workout program carefully and avoid overtraining your muscle groups. For a cohesive, well-thought-out workout program created by professionals, download the Workit app to access top-tier workout programs, nutrition plans, and dozens of fitness tools and trackers.
Remember that regular exercise helps with posture, and building muscle acts like armor for your bones. Even if you don’t actually grow taller, you will definitely improve your posture and stand taller. Good posture equals looking taller.
If you have excess fat and are overweight, as you start exercising regularly and eating well, you will lose those extra pounds. As you become slimmer and more muscular, your spinal column will no longer be as compressed as it was when you were overweight.
When your spine decompresses, you will look taller (Hint: dead hangs and pull-ups are ideal for decompressing your spine.), potentially gaining an inch in height. Thus, there are multiple ways that exercise, particularly HIIT, can help you grow or at least help you appear taller.
Can I Still Grow Taller After Puberty?
It is generally considered that women stop growing around the age of 21 and males around 23, though everyone grows at their own individual pace. After reaching these age brackets, it is less likely to grow any taller.
While it is true that once growth plates are closed, we don’t grow much longer, it is still possible to gain an inch or two by exercising regularly, doing workouts like HIIT and strength training, and consistently eating a protein-rich diet.
There are many instances of males past the age of 25 reporting growth of an inch or two after starting to exercise and eat well. It’s not much compared to the growth during puberty, but gaining an extra inch or two is always a welcome change.
Most of our growth should be expected during puberty, so make sure you treat your body well during that time. Consistently exercise, eat well, and sleep 6-8 hours a day.
Foods That Help with Growing Taller
Nutrition is a crucial part of growing taller, building muscle, and is responsible for our overall well-being and health. Food is like medicine, and if you don’t nourish your body appropriately, you won’t grow as tall as your potential allows.
It’s essential to eat the right foods, such as red meat, poultry, and seafood. In particular, beef, milk, and eggs are beneficial for growing taller as they contribute to healthy hormone activity.
Milk and dairy products are often linked to height growth, which is quite true, as milk is rich in calcium. Calcium helps develop strong, supple bones and supports height development.
It’s important to avoid junk and processed foods, as they can hinder your progress. Consuming too much junk or processed food can disrupt your hormone profile, ultimately leading to serious health issues over time.
Conclusion
HIIT exercises are particularly effective for growing taller, as intense workouts spike the growth hormone, which is responsible for tissue growth and bone elongation.
The most growth can be experienced and expected during puberty, but it is also possible for people in their late twenties or early thirties to experience slight growth, such as gaining an inch in height or increasing their shoe size by one.
Ultimately, several key factors play a role in growing taller: genetics, overall lifestyle, and nutrition. Leading a healthy, active life and eating properly will maximize your potential based on your genetics.
Remember that achieving your maximal genetic potential depends on training consistently, whether through HIIT, resistance, or strength training, and supporting your physical activity with healthy nutrition, including eating a lot of protein and drinking milk.
Even if you don’t grow much after starting to train (though remember that it takes time, effort, and commitment), you will at least improve your posture, stand taller, build muscle, and enhance your overall athleticism.
Supporting healthy hormone activity—such as testosterone, thyroid function, cortisol, growth hormone, IGF-1, and estrogen in women—is crucial and definitely contributes to growing taller.
In short, there are no drawbacks to training and staying active; you will only reap rewards by looking better, being healthier, and feeling more confident.