30 Best Exercises To Increase Height
Are you fed up with short height? Read the blog to know about the best exercises to increase height.
Wondering how to increase height fast after 18? Is increasing the height a big deal? Not really! It is all about removing the decompressions on the vertebrae which are developed over time due to gravity and poor posture habits.The height of a human body has influences from multiple factors like environment, hormones, genes, and nutrition. Fighting against these influences is hard, but it’s not impossible. If you have a strong determination, you can improve your height even at your mid-twenties. Exercising is one of the best ways to increase height fast and grow taller. Synergize the effect by coupling exercise with a good intake of protein – you can add to your height positively.
Here’s how to increase height with some best exercises to increase height.
- Pelvic Shift
How many hours of the day you generally sit? Did you know that sitting for very long hours affects your height? The changing shape of the spine and the associated muscle imbalances are caused by prolonged periods of sitting which affects the growth of your body. The pelvic shift is one of the best exercises to increase height to sway away from the negative results of sitting. It increases the curvature of the lower spine, and that of the upper back; boosts your height.
Steps To Follow:
- Lie on the mat with the shoulders flat on the floor.
- Keep your arms stretched out on the sides with palms down.
- Bend your knees and draw your feet close to the buttocks.
- Arch your back so that the pelvis is lifted.
- Tuck the buttocks and let the legs and shoulders support your weight.
- Hold the position for at least 30 seconds and repeat.
- Hanging
Hanging your body with the support of your hands does help you stretch out your muscles. Generally, people hang down a bar. To take this exercise to increase height an extra mile, do two or three pull-ups. Don’t have a pull up bar? No problem pull up a tree branch. Make sure your support is sturdy and can take your whole body weight. After all, you don’t want to falloff the support and break your bones.
Steps To Follow:
- Jump up and hang on to the bar.
- Keep your arms and spine straight.
- Remain in the position for 30 seconds.
- Repeat the same at least three times daily.
- Single Leg Hopping
Hopping exercise to increase height is one of the best fun exercises. This exercise plays a huge role in strengthening your abdominal muscles and promises a thorough workout of your lower body.
Steps To Follow:
- Hop on your left leg ten times.
- Position your hands straight up pointing towards the sky.
- Hop on your right leg similarly.
- Puppy Pose
This exercise to increase height flexes your spine, leg muscles and makes your bones grow longer.
Steps To Follow:
- Start with positioning your all fours – hands, and knees – on the mat.
- Line up your knees with your hips and your hands with your shoulders.
- Tangle your toes and walk your hands forward a few inches.
- Stretch your hips backward halfway to your feet and feel a good stretch in the lower body.
- Hold this position for 60 seconds and relax.
- Side Stretch
Side stretch will make the muscles grow and make them elongated as well. This exercise to increase height especially stretches and strengthens the intercostal muscles. While doing a side stretch, make sure you feel the muscles pull all along your side from your lower back and up to your shoulder to succeed in boosting height growth.
Steps To Follow:
- Stand straight with your feet together.
- Clasp your hands together stretching over your head.
- Bend your upper body to the right.
- Hold the stretch for 20 seconds and get back to the starting position.
- Repeat the stretch two times and switch sides to do the stretch in the opposite direction.
- Low Lunge Arch
Bowing the back and upper body will always result in increasing your height. The upper body is tough to develop,but with the low lunge arch you can strengthen and stretch out your back pretty well. This exercise also works for lengthening your legs, and shoulder bones.
Steps To Follow:
- Lock your two palms with your fingers and stretch your arms to the front of your right leg.
- Bend your right leg and stretch out your left leg while you do the step 1.
- Stretch as far as you can and stay in the pose for 30 seconds. Do the same on the other side
- Cobra Stretch
The cobra pose stretches muscles in the shoulders, chest, and abdominals while strengthening the spine.
Steps To Follow:
- Lie on the floor with your face down.
- Place your palms on the floor under your shoulders.
- Lift your chin while arching your spine to form an elevated angle.
- Arch back as far as possible and stay in the position for at least 30 seconds.
- Five reps should be good enough to start with the exercise initially.
- Jogging
Jogging is one exercise to increase height that you can’t miss out if you are desperate about making your legs longer. Jogging helps you to grow your leg bones naturally and makes them stronger. Jogging works like magic to increase your height, especially when practice it during or just after puberty.
- Jumping And Skipping
If exercising is a tough thing to do then go for something that helps you have some fun while achieving your fitness goals. Jumping is one such thing. The more the number of times you jump the more likely you will succeed in making your legs longer. Jumping can be done in several ways – trampoline jumping or skipping a rope. Both can help you reach your maximum height.
Steps To Follow:
- While jumping, make sure your both legs leaves the surface at the same time, and land on the surface at the same time.
- Vertical Bends
Vertical bends make the muscles of the calf area to expand in the vertical direction and thereby improves your height.
Steps To Follow:
- Stand up and position your legs slightly apart.
- Bend down and try to touch the floor without bending your knees.
- Standing Stretch
This exercise is similar to vertical bend exercise. The only difference is that while standing instead of placing your legs apart, you should keep them joined. As the next step, bend and try to touch your toes. Don’t forget to keep your knees straight while you perform the exercise.
- Side Bends
Side bends are great for stretching and sculpting the waist muscles. It strengthens the side abs wall, tightens the core, improves your posture and stimulates your height. To intensify this exercise, you can make use of dumbbells.
Steps To Follow:
- Stand vertically with your feet flat on the floor.
- Bend your body sideways and stretch as far as you can.
- Hold the position for 30 seconds.
- Repeat it with the other side of the body.
- Swimming
Swimming enables you to use your legs, body, and arms to the fullest and thus, develops muscle strength. Especially,if you want to escape the heat and sweat during your workout sessions then swimming is the best. Breaststroke is the most suitable swimming style to increase your height.
- Toe Lifts
Stand on your toes with your back straight and stretch the muscles in your legs while reaching up simultaneously.For extra support, you can stand against a wall and place hands high up trying to reach towards the ceiling. The exercise is easy to do and requires no props.It is one of the best height increasing practices and gives better results than most other exercises.
- Land Swimming
Have you ever wondered swimming out of the pool? Land swimming is generally called as dry land training. The motive of this exercise is to increase height and improve the flexibility of body muscles. To make the exercise little more difficult you can perform the same by placing a stability ball under your stomach.
Steps To Follow
- Lay down on a flat surface and the lift your legs up one by one.
- Stretch your hands out to the front and imitate your position similar to that of swimming. The posture should be the same except that you are on land and not in the water.
- Legs Up
Raising your legs is a simple and most effective exercise for boosting your height. While performing legs up exercise, your body will be fully extended. During the exercise, your legs go through a strenuous process of stretching, and you’ll see a significant improvement in your height.
Steps To Follow:
- Lie down with your face and palms down.
- Place your palms onto the sides of your chest.
- Raise both your legs as high as possible while keeping your feet straight together.
- Support your back with your hands if required.
- Repeat the same for about 10 minutes with each repetition lasting for 60 seconds.
- Alternate Leg Kick
This exercise is a derivative from“Tae Kwon Do” – Korean martial art, characterized by leg-kicks. Although the exercise is a defensive move, it helps to increase your height. It helps in extended your body muscles, especially the legs.
Steps To Follow:
- Start by standing straight on the mat in a straight posture.
- Stretch your body to the maximum while extending your right leg up.
- Keep your hands close to your chest with your fists tight.
- Start kicking the sky for about 30 seconds and repeat this process with your left leg.
- Wake Up Stretching
Stretching exercises take your muscles outside their normal range. And, they are more effective when you perform them as soon as you wake up. Morning stretching allows the free flowing of the fluid in the intervertebral discs of the spinal cord. If these discs are compressed, then the space between your vertebrae shrinks which will do no good to your height growth. If the discs expand, then you grow a little bit taller.
Steps To Follow:
- Extend your arms over your head. Use enough force and stretch to feel the elongation. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds, relax your body, and pull again.
- Start with lying down straight on your back. Extend your arms and legs so as to reach the sky. Hold for 15 to 20 seconds and repeat.
- Glutes And Hip Bridge
This exercise helps you to improve flexibility in your back. While doing the bridge, you stretch the hip flexors,which helps in elongating your lower back and the back of thighs.
Steps To Follow:
- Lie on your back and extend your hands down to grab your ankles.
- Lift your knees and hips so that you make your body parallel to the floor.
- Finish by lifting your torso from your hips so that you are stretching out your back.
- Forward Spine Stretch
This exercise targets the back,hamstrings, and abdominals.
Steps To Follow:
- Sit up tall with your legs straight.
- Spread your legs a little wider than the width of your hips.
- Sit up as tall as you can from the base of your spine.
- Stretch your arms and reach through your heels to engage your leg muscles.
- Pose in such a way that your back forms a C giving an illusion like scooping out your low belly.
- Cat Camel Backstretch
If you want to grow your height, you don’t want to neglect to strengthen your back. Cat-camel backstretch is perfect for adding stiffness to your back.
Steps To Follow:
- Rest on your hands and knees, slowly arch your back so that your spine-lumbar (lower), thoracic (middle) and cervical (upper)-extend together. Do this slowly and gently.
- Stay in the position for three to four seconds and repeat stretch five or six times.
- Mermaid Stretch
Primarily, this exercise stretches and engages your intercostal and shoulder muscles. This exercise is excellent for posture corrections. Most people have the habit of walking with bowed shoulders. Improper postures make you look short. So, mermaid stretch can help you walk straight and look taller.
Steps To Follow:
- Sit down with your knees bent underneath on the left side
- Hold on to your ankles with your left hand
- Raise your right arm, extend and reach over your head
- Feel a good stretch along the right side of your torso. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds. Repeat on the other side as well.
- Cycling
If you are in your teens, then it is the right age to start cycling. Exercising during your teens can bring a crucial difference in your height. Teenage is the time when most people attain maximum height. Cycling is the best exercise for teens to make their legs stretch and add a few inches to their bodies.
- Jump Squats
Jumping exercises, like jump squats,are one of the best ways to increase the height. It supports the conditioning of the muscles and joints of the lower body and improves the height of the body.
Steps To Follow:
- Start with a normal standing position, with your body facing forward.
- Lower yourself into the squat by lowering your hips back and down while bending your knees.
- Drive hard with your legs as you come up out of the squat while initiating a jump.
- Cobra Stretch
Did you know that the cobra snake inspires cobra stretch? The pose resembles the cobra snake when raises its head and spreads its neck. This exercise is especially famous for stretching your abs.
Steps To Follow:
- Lie with your face-down on the floor with your palms pressing into the floor at shoulder height.
- Lift your head toward the ceiling while extending your arms to arch your back as much as possible.
- Hold this position for 30 seconds, and relax.
- Downward Facing Dog
Downward pose resembles that of an upside down alphabet – V. This exercise helps in strengthening the entire back and elongates your back muscles.
Steps To Follow:
- Stand up and bend your body such that your hands are at your shoulders-width apart and your feet are at hips-width apart.
- Push the floor away and engage the shoulders and the upper body, while elongating your tailbone towards the ceiling
- Feel a gentle stretch in the arms, shoulders, lats and spine.
- Bird Dog
The bird dog is the core exercise that emphasizes lower back strength and balance. This exercise helps to experience a good stretch from head to thighs and promotes your height.
Steps To Follow:
- Start the pose with a push-up position, but with your knees on the ground.
- Lift one leg above the floor, and extend it backward.
- Slowly lift your opposite hand off the floor, and extend that arm in front of you.
- Hold onto the position for a few seconds and repeat this exercise on the other side.
- Inversion Table Exercise
The philosophy of this exercised wells with increasing your height by shifting the body’s gravity. The inverted body position achieved during the exercise eases and stretches the back muscles.
Steps To Follow:
- Lock your feet on the base of the inversion table.
- Slowly raise your arms and rotate your entire body upside-down.
- Stay in this position for 15 – 20 seconds before coming back up.
- Surya Namaskara
Sun Salutation or Surya Namaskar is the most popular yoga exercise which consists of 12 different yoga poses. Every pose stretches your back, shoulders,legs and helps you to increase your height.
- Side Planks
Practice side planks, and in a few days, you would get excited about the amazing-looking legs you’re going to have. Side planks give a good stretch to your legs making them slimmer and grow taller.
Steps To Follow:
- Lie down on your right with your shoulder straight below your neck. Stretch out your legs straight and place your left hand on your left hip.
- Support your abs while raising your waist off the ground until you reach to the level of your right hand.
- Make your body diagonal to the floor and stay in the position for 30 seconds.
If you ask – How to increase height by exercise? The answer is simple. Increasing your spine flexibility, building up strength in your spinal muscles, stretching your leg muscles altogether maintains your optimal posture and effortlessly improves your height. However, if you are looking for over night miracles, that’s not how it works. You have to keep practicing these exercises for at least a few months to see the results. All the best!
These are my favorite height increasing exercises. Do you have any favorites? I want to hear from you. Which exercises are your favorites and looking forward to doing first?