What is our average size?

[Grizzly]

Oh ye men of Substance,


but I am particularly interested to know if people like Grizzly reflect the trend or are just lucky enough to be bigger than most folks.

And again, my question, Big Guys: are/ were your parents your size?

How very nicely put. Although having always had a hell of job finding clothes to fit I am not sure how lucky that makes us GOS. My parents couldnt even get me a baby grow / romper suit after I was 12 months old.

Thank heavens for made to measure.

[ForresterModern]

Oh ye men of Substance,

Were your parents big, too? I have heard of an article in the New Yorker discussing the effects of nutrition on height after WWII http://www.newyorker.com/archive/200.../040405fa_fact

but I am particularly interested to know if people like Grizzly reflect the trend or are just lucky enough to be bigger than most folks.

And again, my question, Big Guys: are/ were your parents your size?

I am the third of three boys with an "oops" baby little sister 7 years behind me. My parents were raised in coal or chemical industry towns in West Virginia, and we as a family left for northeastern Ohio before my first birthday. My father was maybe 5'10" at his tallest, my mother 5'8". To my understanding, before the three boys the only person in either side of the family that even hit or came close to 6 feet height was my paternal grandfather, who just barely scraped that height bar. None were heavy either---150-170 at best, all fairly skinny in their adulthood until at least late middle age. My eldest brother quickly grew to 6'1" before finishing high school but still skinny as a rail. My second brother hit nearly 6'3" and fit the definition of "husky" from about age 8, eventually filling out further only in late adulthood. Along comes me, a twig by comparison to either, hitting 6'5" my 3rd year of high school but still only wieghing maybe 150#, eventually "bulking up" to 170# during basketball season my senior year (those were the days). So we three boys were the only giants in my family other than my 6' grandfather. My elder son, now 23, topped out around 6 ft 3-4" (tough to tell as he slouches a lot, a holdover teenager thing), with my 21 yr old daughter scraping the 6' bar herself (out of a 5'9" mother).

I have personally beleived in the environmental food inavailability factor as the limitation for previous generations not being tall or heavy, especially when my father tells stories of their days in Chicago during WWII when my grandfather, then a butcher in the US Navy aboard a training air craft carrier on Lake Michigan, used to bring home scraps of various meats from his ship as the only meat the family saw for long periods of time during the war. We were never wealthy growing up but there was always food on the table, in the cupboards, and in the refridgerator, so generation was never wanting nutritionally. I credit this for "uncovering" the growth potential present in our genes that was previously limited by socioeconomic circumstances of preceding generations. Unfortunately our current less limited socioeconomic circumstances have likely led me personally to "over indulge" to compensate for the multiple previous generations. Therein lie the roots of this "Gentleman of Substance."

[Dale Seago]

I have personally beleived in the environmental food inavailability factor as the limitation for previous generations not being tall or heavy. . .

Genetics are a bit of it too, but yes. And "big" is a relative thing: If I recall correctly, the huge Viking warriors who terrorised Europe averaged about 5'10" tall.

[Father Bill]

Interesting to walk through the Medieval armour section of most good quality museums. We'd have a rough time fitting a lot of our kids into those beautiful ancient sardine cans!

[Grizzly]

Dale that would make sense for the Vikings to be considered as giants at 5'10" as the celts and Anglo Saxons would have averaged about 5'3" back then. Indeed if you visit any English village with Tudor buildings most modern day humans would certainly have to stoop to get through the doorways. Even as late as the 16th century Henry viii was considered something of a giant at 6' tall.

[Ryan Ross]

I think I saw a bronze with those proportions once.

It's hard to find shirts that fit... I was griping about that in another thread, a while back.

[johnnym]

I have been a loose 34 for many years. Pants size is a 32, but in kilts, I wear a 34 - a 32 is a bit too tight (I have tried). I once went up to a 36" waist and 185 pounds, but then started riding a bicycle to work for health and recreation. In 6 months I dropped to about 155/160 and my current 32 and have stayed there ever since. I started riding daily in early 2004 (almost 8 years ago) and have pedaled over 52,000 miles since then. My doctor has no complaints.

[Blupiper]

I suppose I was a 'man of substance' up until eighteen months ago. I had grown up active, playing football in college and rugby after that--got an offer to play for a team in New Zealand when I was 25 and passed it up. What a fool I was. Anyway, back in those days, 5' 8'', 165 lbs. and pretty much a muscular build. Cut to two years ago: degenerative knee, less activity, weight gain to 365 lbs. My kilts were a 52" waist, great large hips and ***, etc. Today, after hard work, help from family, medical staff and the Almighty, I am at 225 lbs., 40" waist, 45" hips and less knee stress. Earlier posts about the Body Mass Index brought back memories of the doctor telling me at 175, 5% body fat and active that my BMI indicated I was in the overweight category. Hmmmm. I guess as a guideline, it's only that--a guideline. Oh, well, I guess now I'm average.

JMB

[Pleater]

My grandfather was about 4ft 9 - so small he was sent home from the recruiting office when all the remaining boys from the village went to join up for the Great War.

My father was 5 ft 5 inches, I am about that height, but my son is 6 ft 4.

It is simply nutrition, the amount of protein in the diet.

My grandson is fed on a high carb diet with very little meat and he is several inches behind his father in height at the same age.

I used to visit the Tudor built Southsea castle fairly frequently - I knew one of the staff, and the guides used to have fits because I didn't duck under the stone doorways - I wear flat shoes and the lintels just brush my hair.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[OC Richard]

I'm 6'4"; my Grandfather (who recently passed, in his 90s, back in WV) was 6'4", and my great-great Grandfather who was in the Civil War (7th WV Cav) was 6'4". We seem to be staying just the same!