Does height growth REALLY end at 16?

There are two schools of thought on when growth ends in males: 1) You stop growing mostly at 16, and only grow an inch at most afterwards. (This is what CDC data shows). 2) The age of 16 is very young, males grow and mature well into their early 20's.



Most boys only grow at maximum an inch after turning 16, which I haven't anecdotally seen to be the case IRL or on here. I'm really surprised that I grew 2 inches after turning 18, and this is after having my growth "paused" since I was 15.

When I was 16 I first came to this site as a lurker, because I was very scared that I had stopped growing permanently and would forever be very short and have a child-like body. But even now I'm shocked as to how much my body has continued to mature and my torso and chest have masculinized within the past year.

But in retrospect, that just seems so silly. Looking at photos of me at 16... Man I just look so young and small, I can't believe that I thought that my growth was done with, or that I would only grow an inch maximum from that age... I will show some other 16 year olds here:

16 year old Gaten Matarazzo, Stranger Things actor, with his mother: https://www.instagram.com/p/BlgB0zeli6K/

16 year old Tristyn Lee, Instagram bodybuilder, with his brothers: https://www.instagram.com/p/BiUsJzcnpZ-/

16 year old Romeo Beckham with his father, footballer David Beckham: https://www.instagram.com/p/BpZXqJonYdd/

Do you really think they are all done growing? They all look like babies honestly. They are still much smaller than their parents, not just in height but in overall dimorphism and their heads are still so small lol. I can't imagine them growing one inch more at maximum, I anticipate they'll each grow at the very least another 3 inches and masculinize a fair bit, but that wouldn't follow the CDC growth curve or go with what most statistics have to say about stages of development.

I guess there is just a LOT of variability in how people develop.... So much so that an "average" isn't really meaningful.

Dennis Rodman was 5'10 when he graduated from HS and he wound up being 6'7, Scottie Pippen went from 6'1 to 6'8 at 18/19, Chris Anstey grew 7 inches after the age of 17, the CDC must've got it all wrong. Hell, people say I look like I'm 17 and I'm 26 maybe I'll grow 2-4 inches before I'm 30 which would line up with what my predicted height was supposed to be. Maybe I'll be the next Adam Rainer because my hands and feet are so massive.

Quote from: ThatGuy on November 15, 2018, 02:38:30 AMDennis Rodman was 5'10 when he graduated from HS and he wound up being 6'7, Scottie Pippen went from 6'1 to 6'8 at 18/19, Chris Anstey grew 7 inches after the age of 17, the CDC must've got it all wrong. Hell, people say I look like I'm 17 and I'm 26 maybe I'll grow 2-4 inches before I'm 30 which would line up with what my predicted height was supposed to be. Maybe I'll be the next Adam Rainer because my hands and feet are so massive.

Those are all extreme 1/million anomalies though lol... and growing after 25 I’m pretty sure would be an even more extremely anomaly than those.

i grew only an inch after 15. im 24 now. i wonder how much i could've added to that with better diet and sports.

it all depends on when you hit puberty

if you hit puberty earlier, then your growth spurt will be earlier as well

Quote from: MirinHeight on November 16, 2018, 03:57:31 AMit all depends on when you hit puberty

if you hit puberty earlier, then your growth spurt will be earlier as well

I hit puberty at like 13 and was well beyond the Tanner stage of growing when in height when I still did... that’s why I can’t believe it and I’ve noticed the same in other people.

Granted I’ve had more hair come in... Like I didn’t have armpit hair till I was 17 but I had a friend in 8th grade who had lots of it and didn’t grow a cm more after being 14.

Am I saying armpit hair is an indicator that you’re done growing? No lol.

I’m just saying that the way the body develops is unpredictable and different things happen at different times, it’s not some perfect rigid synchronized system with a chain of linear events.

In some rare cases males can continue to grow until 25-26 so you never know my friend was 5’8 at 19 by the time he was 24 he had made it to 6’1 not bad it shows it’s very possible my uncle was 5’4 at 26 he was 5’8

Quote from: Racurz on November 17, 2018, 05:25:14 PMIn some rare cases males can continue to grow until 25-26 so you never know my friend was 5’8 at 19 by the time he was 24 he had made it to 6’1 not bad it shows it’s very possible my uncle was 5’4 at 26 he was 5’8

I've found that once you get a decent amount of facial hair, you cant grow taller past that.
some of my friends that got facial hair at a younger age never grew any taller.

the people that do get a growth spurt or grow taller post 18 99% of the time usually cant grow a decent amount of facial hair yet. That is what I personally have seen. So once you are at a certain stage of puberty/post puberty/adulthood, your bones are ossified and you cant grow taller. 

Quote from: MirinHeight on November 19, 2018, 07:11:17 AMI've found that once you get a decent amount of facial hair, you cant grow taller past that.
some of my friends that got facial hair at a younger age never grew any taller.

the people that do get a growth spurt or grow taller post 18 99% of the time usually cant grow a decent amount of facial hair yet. That is what I personally have seen. So once you are at a certain stage of puberty/post puberty/adulthood, your bones are ossified and you cant grow taller.

It isnt the same for everybody. You can still have growth spurts after you develop a full beard if you arent well past puberty and destined to grow some more. At 18 i was about 3 years or so into puberty, had enough facial hair to grow a nice lil goatee and a year later my beard got completely full. I remained the same height also, i for sure thought i was done growing. Fast forward to 19 i was still 5'4 with a beard but just skinny as fk, so i decided i wanted to gain weight and hopped on this super high protein diet for about 6-9 months or so. I gained 40-60 pounds and i grew a whole 3 inches in that time period. I'm 22 atm and just under 5'9 now. I measured my height at 5'7 flat 2-4 months ago but seems like im still growing with the high protein diet. I have a family member thats 5'10 and the height difference between us is barely noticeable. We look about the same height. Maybe i grew like that because I never really did eat enough protein growing up, diet was pretty  ty. Only in these last 2 years i've started eating like a savage due to me making alot more money thn before 19 i didnt have a job.

link the diet im 5'10" and need 5'11" minumum