Introduction, 169cm 29y/o, Looking for 8-10cm gain, would love your opinion!

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Hi everyone,


I'm super new here, and I'm so grateful for what I've seen on this forum. Yes, I've seen some toxicity, sure, but I've also gained knowledge that no therapist would have EVER told me (example: "You weren't actually annoying or unbearable during your formative years, you were just short!"). I could go on, but the summary is thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Much love to you all. An incredible weight has been lifted off my shoulders.


Now, for background and advice:


Height: 169 cm / 5'6.5
Age:29
Race: White
Weight: 89kg/190lb (not fat, just pretty muscular build-- background in strength sports)
Goal: 177-179 cm / 5'9.7 - 5'10.5
Financial Situation: Very good career (years of toiling away compensating for height paid off! lol), so can afford absolute top tier procedures.
Timeline: Do surgery 1-1.5 years from now.
Proportions: 32 waist, 30 (maybe 31?) inseam. Wingspan seems average, fingertips hit exact mid thigh. Tibia vs femur unknown.
Procedure Considering: Dr. Pailey quad option (3 week break in between tibia and femur)

I am considering doing the quad option with Dr Pailey to go for an 8 cm minimum. I am completely fine with losing athleticism and explosiveness. However, I am nervous about going all in for Femur lengthening 8cm because I love lifting weights, and I am scared that someday an over lengthened femur might result in soft tissue blow out. To be clear, my passion for lifting weights is less about absolute power/strength and more about bodybuilding / physique. Not trying to go pro, just really enjoy looking good. It would just break my heart if I could not do something like a squat or a lunge ever again and was stuck with noodle legs.


As for my current condition, my flexibility is a bit tight. I never ever stretch, but I can still touch my toes. So I am assuming that with a year of legitimate stretch prep, I could be flexible enough for the procedure.


What are your thoughts?


Thank you so much!

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8 cm would be absolute bare minimum. Ideally I'd hit 10cm if I could, which is what Pailey's quad (not re-breaking) option strives for I think.

11 cm on femurs? That's nuts! I thought 8cm for femurs was the "safe" max-out?

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DanishViking, do you mean going beyond 8cm on femur or do you mean going beyond 8 cm in total?

Because I heard that lots of people are unable to even go beyond 6cm on femur these days...

Edit: typo. "beyond cm" -> "beyond 8 cm"

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I would literally sacrifice goats to the old gods to be 5'11, that is like the dream height to me lol.

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but yeah to me there is no difference between 6'1 and 6'2. Someone who is 6'1 is already in the tall club in my book. So i vote go 6'1.

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I feel like having super artificially long femurs and repping 2-3 plate squats would just annihilate your knees. I already have to use knee sleeves for high bar / medium stance squats because of knee tension. Low bar not the case but screw low bar.

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@guy_incognito: no I am definitely not fat. BF% I'm probably 18% right now. So visible abs and such, mostly just not vascular. Been lifting weights for probably 15 years, am floating between intermediate and expert in all my lifts (using strength standards). I hear you on the appetite thing though-- i have an insane appetite, and I'm either muscular or chubby, depending on whether or not I'm diligently training. Oh and I am located in NYC rn. PS how tall did you end up getting to and what procedure? And how is life now on the other side for you? I'm trying to really analyze how worth it this all is since it's an insane commitment.


@reaching_goals: Okay I see. This is good to know. Thank you. I didn't know that having more muscle was such a bad thing.

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@guy_incognito: I've heard that doing internals on tibia is tricky and that external on tibia is safer. What are your thoughts on the matter?

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what do you think about for 10cm? Really I just want to hit 5'10, where under zero circumstances in the US would I be considered short.

I would only accept 8cm if there were complications, and I've heard that some people who do femur only cannot hit 8cm due to complications.

If after all of this stuff I couldn't even reach 177cm, I would be absolutely devastated. This is why I was thinking quad, so that in worst case scenario (soft tissue / body acceptance wise), I still hit 8cm min. 8cm is like best case scenario for femur only, no?

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Okay after reading your responses, it sounds like a good strategy is this:

FIRST: Attempt a <=20% femur increase. See how I feel as I go. Stop at 20% if can reach. (I need to measure my femurs, but I think it's safe to assume that 20% increase will put me in at least 6cm ballpark).

6cm would put me at 175CM/5'8.9. 7cm would put me at 176CM/5'9.3. I believe I have very average tibia to femur proportions, so I'm not going to bet on anything above 7cm really.

SECOND: Take a year to recover, see how I feel. My only doubt is there's so much bull  on US social media about how if you're under 5'10 you're blah blah blah, so I hope that wouldn't still get to my head (I know they worship 6 foot, but I feel that's next level and I am under no illusion I could safely hit that).

I do have a follow-up question:

If you do femur with (top) Doctor A and then decide to go tibia, would a different (top) Doctor B be willing to operate on you? Or do top doctors usually only accept a second surgery on a patient they did the first surgery on?

Example: Single surgery Femur less complicated, so would be comfortable with "A tier" doctor. And then if I wanted to do second operation on tibia, I'd definitely want to go with "S tier" doctor. So like Femur with Mahboubian then second surgery Tibia with Paley.