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[ReadRothbard]

Hello everyone, I used to be a fairly avid poster several years ago, but I dropped off after I started focusing more on school, fitness, etc. After graduating and getting a good job, I've gotten to a point in my life where I can finally afford leg lengthening surgery with ease. My goal is to regain the height I lost due to precocious puberty, as my projected adult height was approximately 6'0.5 (or 184.5 cm). That requires about 5.5 inches of leg lengthening. The main question, however, is if I may regain all my weightlifting performance after leg lengthening surgery--as this is also an issue of great importance to me. My current lifts are 315 for a max bench, 405 lbs for a max squat, and 450 for a max deadlift, and my lifetime goals are 400, 600, and 650 respectively. I don't plan for LL to destroy these ambitions. Thus, my plan is to lengthen approximately 18% of my femurs and tibias (under the 20% soft limit for LL) in order to facilitate easier recovery, which equals about 5.6 inches of total lengthening. The question is: how realistic is this, really? I'm still very young, healthy, and have no preexisting conditions, but I'm curious about the posibilities of x factors that will ruin my ambitions. A lot has changed on these forums in my absence, so anyone with new relevant info and experience would be great. 

[Medium Drink Of Water]

Don't worry.  Once you're tall you won't feel the need to overcompensate with weightlifting.

[ReadRothbard]

It's not really a matter of overcompensation. Being very strong and muscular is of incredible importance to me.

[PerfectBody]

believe us, you won't give a sh*t anymore. As somebody who was working out 5-6x/week before my cll, you'll be more focused on the next phase of your life (recovery, work, and getting laid)

[ReadRothbard]

Regardless, what is your opinion on the matter?

[Masteryourlife]

I mean..I do care at 5'9 and I will care in future when I 'll get the surgery because being taller it's not the point of life .
It's a side of it so having the rest all set is what makes the height valuable .
So ye if former patients can tell us more about it would be greatly appreciated even tho this topic has been brought up in the past too

[Medium Drink Of Water]

The pieces of metal you lift using your thigh muscles will likely need to become smaller, or at least stay the same instead of getting larger as you get stronger.  Your muscles will be doing harder work because of the change in mechanics.  Tibia lengthening doesn't change the mechanics of your squats much, so it's nearly negligable.

Lifting weights puts a lot of stress on your joints and directs a lot of extra metabolic activity towards building muscle you don't need.  It's like smoking; you'll regret it when you're older.  All I do is yoga now.

[Stryde2021]

Probably depends a great deal on how quickly you can regain your flexibility.  Read the diaries here--there's a very wide range on how long that takes.  Some people are freaks and have equal mobility within months of completing consolidation.  Some take years.  And the level of effort you put into PT/stretching/yoga, etc., will effect that.

But no matter how quickly you get that back (if you do), you'll be out of commission for a while in the meantime.  You won't be touching those kind of heavy weight #s for the first year.  And then you'll get the nails out which will set you back again (you have to wait months before loading with heavy weights after the nails come out, while the bones heal). 

Consider yourself lucky if you are back on the road to those #s at the 2/2.5 year mark. 

[Stryde2021]

Sorry, just realized you are doing 2 segments.  My response above assumed one segment.  Add another year to my estimate, at least.

[ReadRothbard]

I'm starting with one segment to reach about 176-177 cm, seeing how I feel, then only going back under the knife if I'm still dissatisfied. However, thank you for your input.

[PerfectBody]

You can get back into it but it will take time. Take your rehab seriously and you'll be fine, but it will take time. Dont underestimate what having two broken legs means.

[ReadRothbard]

That sounds fine. I certainly expect it to take at least a year to return to previous strength levels after 2.5 inches of tibial lengthening.

[zaozari]

Hello everyone, I used to be a fairly avid poster several years ago, but I dropped off after I started focusing more on school, fitness, etc. After graduating and getting a good job, I've gotten to a point in my life where I can finally afford leg lengthening surgery with ease. My goal is to regain the height I lost due to precocious puberty, as my projected adult height was approximately 6'0.5 (or 184.5 cm). That requires about 5.5 inches of leg lengthening. The main question, however, is if I may regain all my weightlifting performance after leg lengthening surgery--as this is also an issue of great importance to me. My current lifts are 315 for a max bench, 405 lbs for a max squat, and 450 for a max deadlift, and my lifetime goals are 400, 600, and 650 respectively. I don't plan for LL to destroy these ambitions. Thus, my plan is to lengthen approximately 18% of my femurs and tibias (under the 20% soft limit for LL) in order to facilitate easier recovery, which equals about 5.6 inches of total lengthening. The question is: how realistic is this, really? I'm still very young, healthy, and have no preexisting conditions, but I'm curious about the posibilities of x factors that will ruin my ambitions. A lot has changed on these forums in my absence, so anyone with new relevant info and experience would be great.

I am sorry to be the first to say this, this way: you are having a good, healthy, life, you seem not to suffer from height neurosis at all, you are taller than average males both in the UK and the US, LL is far from being like any other cosmetic procedure: why on earth do you seem to want to f*** everything now and besides wasting a fortune for digging your own grave?
What I mean is: 5,5" is totally unreasonable in general terms, let alone if you want to be sure you keep your athletic ability, strenghten, better proportions. You should be very very happy if you simply keep a normal confortable gait and with no chronic even smooth pain.
I would not do LL at all. If done, for your own good, do 4,5cm *  in tibias first (I know, it's minority here) and  if you recover TOTALLY and still stubborn, 5 cm more in femurs.

I don’t want to dramatize but we are here to help each other honestly: Specially if you do femurs, it's fortunately very rare but you run the risk of some more or less severe, even fatal thrombosis.

*4,5 and not 5 cm because you want to keep athlete and the need of Aquila’s tendon lenghtening surgery need starts at 5cm specially if not doing a lot of phiysiotherapy. This "little"  surgery may leave "traces".

PS- I am planning LL, specially on tibias, scared  lot with femurs, also more painful. "But" I am 5,0".

[PerfectBody]

[...]
PS- I am planning LL, specially on tibias, scared  lot with femurs, also more painful. "But" I am 5,0".

Listen to Zaozari, he's 100% spot on. Many of us are making this seem like an elective, fun procedure (like a boob job, nose job, or hair implant) this is extremely serious, dangerous, and the most painful thing you'll ever experience. Do this to combat your mental health issue, not just your height. You will regret everything when you're in the hospital bed in screaming pain after the surgery.

Please be careful.

[ReadRothbard]

I plan on doing tibias first—ideally about 7 cm—and we’ll see from there. If I’m satisfied, then I won’t go ahead with a second surgery. Of course, I’ll start the tibial lengthening and see how my body reacts, only going to 7 cm if there’s no problems.

[silverlining]

I can vouch for the pain part. Stretching is extremely painful and you have to do it everyday.

[ReadRothbard]

I don't mind pain too much, but I appreciate the warning.

[Gradescender]

Assuming that you are mobile enough to accommodate the new bone growth and that you can recover the contractile properties of the muscle before it was stretched during LL (I'm not actually sure how well this is done), I don't think it's impossible to achieve your lifetime goals on those lifts. The human body can do some pretty amazing things with the right preparation, training, and enough time. So if you go about it programmatically and address your weak points with the proper mobility or activation drills, I think you could still reach impressive numbers in your new body. I REALLY like Kinstretch and Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) for mobility training. A combination of Kinstretch, yoga, and MAT (muscle activation therapy) has made a huge difference in my own mobility and makes lifting feel much better. As you increase & strengthen your active ROM, you get more out of your lifts of course. Kinstretch/FRC could be something to look into for before and after LL.

Another consideration: your center of mass is going to be higher. It's typically easier for people with lower centers of gravity to move heavy weights. Even if you adjust to your new center of gravity for tasks like running and walking, I'd expect the mechanics of your lifts to change. This article helped me think about the impact of body ratios on lifting. Something to keep in mind possibly as you make decisions on bones and amounts to lengthen.

https://www.t-nation.com/training/body-proportions-lifting-what-you-need-to-know/

So I think your lifts will be more difficult due to longer legs and (hopefully temporary) mobility issues, but this doesn't necessarily mean you can't achieve your PR goals. Maybe your max deadlift will need to be a sumo deadlift instead of a conventional one. There's a chance that as you age you'll become more interested in tailoring a strength program to your body than training for performance gains on the big lifts anyway. Whatever you decide, be sure to get yourself as mobile as possible.

[ReadRothbard]

Assuming that you are mobile enough to accommodate the new bone growth and that you can recover the contractile properties of the muscle before it was stretched during LL (I'm not actually sure how well this is done), I don't think it's impossible to achieve your lifetime goals on those lifts. The human body can do some pretty amazing things with the right preparation, training, and enough time. So if you go about it programmatically and address your weak points with the proper mobility or activation drills, I think you could still reach impressive numbers in your new body. I REALLY like Kinstretch and Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) for mobility training. A combination of Kinstretch, yoga, and MAT (muscle activation therapy) has made a huge difference in my own mobility and makes lifting feel much better. As you increase & strengthen your active ROM, you get more out of your lifts of course. Kinstretch/FRC could be something to look into for before and after LL.

Another consideration: your center of mass is going to be higher. It's typically easier for people with lower centers of gravity to move heavy weights. Even if you adjust to your new center of gravity for tasks like running and walking, I'd expect the mechanics of your lifts to change. This article helped me think about the impact of body ratios on lifting. Something to keep in mind possibly as you make decisions on bones and amounts to lengthen.

https://www.t-nation.com/training/body-proportions-lifting-what-you-need-to-know/

So I think your lifts will be more difficult due to longer legs and (hopefully temporary) mobility issues, but this doesn't necessarily mean you can't achieve your PR goals. Maybe your max deadlift will need to be a sumo deadlift instead of a conventional one. There's a chance that as you age you'll become more interested in tailoring a strength program to your body than training for performance gains on the big lifts anyway. Whatever you decide, be sure to get yourself as mobile as possible.

I appreciate your detailed answer. That's a lot of information and analysis--thank you.