By Alicia Baker
One undeniable trait of most great basketball players is that they are tall. In fact, they are huge! From Shaq and Michael Jordan to LeBron James, basketballers don’t come much smaller than six feet tall.
This leaves one obvious elephant in the room: does height make you a good player? The answer is not necessarily because there are ‘small’ players in the NBA. But, it does help your cause if you have the height to match your skill.
For all the shorties reading this thinking that their chance is over, don’t despair. Just because you are not six feet tall now doesn’t mean you can’t be in the future.
Get Some Sleep
When you are growing, you need to make sure you are getting eight hours every night. To put that into perspective, there are some studies that say teenagers should get eleven hours to promote natural growth. The simple fact is that the body releases HGH when you are asleep. Human Growth Hormone is the hormone that encourages your body to grow, which is a major contributor to your overall height. If you don’t know what to do to get more sleep, take a look at http://www.helpguide.org. This site has a guide to sleeping that will knock your lights out!
Take HGH
Talking of Human Growth Hormone, you can have injections to boost your height. Just ask Lionel Messi, the global soccer superstar who plays for F.C Barcelona. At the tender age of 13, the club paid for his HGH treatment as he was well under five feet at the time. Although he is not the biggest man on the planet at 5’6, he is a lot taller than he would have been without the treatment. It is important to note that it is a drastic course of action to take, and you will need a doctor’s permission. Before you make your decision, take a look at the pros and cons on EternalHGH.com.
Change Your Diet
Young people like to take advantage of being young by eating healthier and not putting on weight. Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything going on under the hood. A poor diet can lead to stunted growth because your body needs the nutrients to develop. Think of your body as a car and your diet as its fuel – without the fuel, it won’t start. Try and ingest a mixture of all foods to get a balanced amount of nutrients. You specifically want to make sure you eat plenty of vitamin D and calcium.
Exercise More Often
The equation is simple – the more you exercise, the more nutrients your body requires. If you can fuel your body with the nutrients that promote growth, you can grow taller. This basic understanding of the human body has benefitted lots of people over the years, so give it a try. Particularly effective exercises are stretching exercises. They hyperextend your muscles and your skeleton, stretching you into place.
Growing taller is possible, and it will help your game. But, remember that there is more to basketball than being taller. The greats of the game can testify to that message.