This Latest Fitness Trend Isn’t Tall-Girl Friendly… | Why Working Out Is MUCH Harder for Tall Women

We're often told that it's important to stay active and exercise for our health, especially as women. I mean, it's important for bone strength, mental clarity, and overall mental health and wellness. However, as tall women, exercise can be a little bit difficult. Because of our longer limbs, and oftentimes because we carry more weight, a lot of the movements we do feel awkward. Machines at the gym or other places are a bit harder to work with, and we may be more prone to injury from exercise. So today we're going to talk about some of the challenges that tall women face when it comes to trying to remain active and remain fit, as well as hopefully provide some helpful tips and words of encouragement to stay motivated. So without further ado, let's get into it. Good morning, everybody. You are currently listening to a tall girl's podcast hosted by a tall girl named India. I hope everyone who is tuning in today is doing super fantastic. Before I get into this episode, I do want to say, make sure you're following me on my socials at A Tall Girl's Podcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest so that you can stay up to date on all of the latest podcast episodes and catch a glimpse of my everyday life. Also, feel free to leave me a review and let me know how tall you are. I'm genuinely curious. I also have a monthly newsletter. Make sure you subscribe to that. Everything is going to be linked in the description. I hope everybody who is tuning in is doing super fantastic. Y'all, it's been like two weeks. since I've done an episode, two whole weeks. Listen, life has gotten a little bit crazy with work and the transitions and that, and I was helping out my school's orientation, and then school started right after that, then Labor Day, and then I somehow got a bee problem. Okay, it's not like anything crazy or intense, like, oh my gosh, there's like a whole hive in my room. but I think they're coming from outside into my room. I don't know for sure. We've changed the screens in the windows and we've seen a decrease since then. So hopefully that answers the problems, but we'll see. Anyways, we're gonna lock in. So the episode topic for today is exercise as a tall woman. I came across a TikTok video of a woman, a tall woman, talking about her experience doing Pilates and some of the struggles that came with it for her personally. So let's listen to that first. And why did nobody tell me that Pilates in general, but specifically classical Pilates is so much harder for taller women? Like you can argue with me in the comments. That's fine. But you cannot tell me that our long levers are not harder and heavier to keep up by that 587th pulse. Not to mention the torque on our core because of those long levers, it's another level. I never really see other girls that look like me in Pilates classes. I'm 5'11, about 210 pounds, and now I think I'm starting to understand why. Pilates in general is so hard, but as a tall, thick, athletic, girl, like, girl. It's just a different level and nobody's talking about it. Now let's take a look at some of the comments under this video. One tall girlie said, yes, my long heavy legs are so challenging to keep in the air. Another person said, I accidentally kicked the lady next to me. I'm 6'2. Okay, that's kind of funny. Okay, it's not, it's not, it's not funny for the lady that got kicked. Okay, I feel bad for her and I hope she's doing okay. But as a tall person myself, especially because I also have long limbs and even when I'm dancing around and so forth, I have accidentally hit people because of that. So I just I what I'm saying is I can relate to the girlie who kicks the other lady, because when you have long limbs and you're operating in a very small, confined space, It can be hard. You're going to end up in other people's personal space at times, even on accident. Another person said, Another person said, Yoga too. I was trying to start yin yoga and was doing poses and was immediately like, oh, this was not made for tall people. LOL. I feel like these comments are pretty representative of tall women's struggles when it comes to, well, at least Pilates. And fun fact, I actually did an episode with a tall Pilates instructor. Her name is Debbie, I believe. if I'm not mistaken, where she herself, she's also a tall woman. I believe she's about five, nine. And, you know, she also has had her struggles with Pilates. And so her accounts were definitely dedicated to, you know, providing some tips and so forth for tall women or taller people, at least when it comes to trying to master Pilates without The extreme difficulties, at least, that many of these women before have experienced. Go check out that episode. I'm going to link that in the description of this episode. But it's very common, especially nowadays, to see influencers and content creators kind of incorporate Pilates into their everyday lives or their daily vlogs and so forth. I mean, it's common to scroll through TikTok, scroll through Instagram. It's like, oh, day of my life, started my day with Pilates at 6am and this, that, and the third. And I also argued that Pilates, well, it's a fact at this point, Pilates has become a trend. It's become a trend to go to a Pilates class, do Pilates, whether it's at home or at an actual workout class at a studio. And so naturally with trends, many people are getting into it, including tall women. But the thing is, and I have stressed this in many episodes before, a lot of these creators and influencers that we see on social media, I mean, they're not outright saying their height, but I mean, maybe at some point, especially if they're into like fashion and doing try-ons and talking about their size and their height and so forth, more times than not though, the people that we are watching, the women that we are watching, on social media are shorter than us. They're like 5'3, 5'4, 5'6. We can't forget about that part. And listen, yes, Pilates is hard. Any type of exercise, especially if we're trying to like work towards health goals or body goals or whatever it may be, Pilates is hard. But in my personal opinion, it's harder for tall women. We have longer limbs. We carry more weight than our shorter counterparts. A lot of these machines and so forth, a lot of things in general are not made with our bodies, our length, our height in mind. And it's funny because Meg Thee Stallion, who is a tall girlie herself, she also had like this soundbite. I think on TikTok, it was like a trending sound about how Pilates is like hard. And you see these like little, she called them like little tiny women. I'll say that. She called them like little tiny women. I mean, I guess because they're shorter or thin or whatever it may be. But there's she was saying that, oh, like they're strong. And, you know, because it takes a lot of work to be able to do Pilates. And I'm not going to include the trending sound here because it's a lot of cursing. And I have younger folks who listen to this. So I try to keep this as like PG as possible for the most part. Um, but in her trending sound, she was talking about how the little women, little tiny women, as she was saying, which ultimately means that they're probably shorter than her. It's like, they make something like this look so easy, but they're so strong because Pilates is so hard. And I'm like, yes, Pilates is hard, but Meg, please also remember that you're a tall girly too. And Trying to hold yourself up, your body weight up and all, even like as one of the tall women said in the comments before about how her long, heavy legs, it's hard to hold them in the air. Things like that. We carry more weight. We have more length and Things are going to be naturally, things like this, I will say, are going to naturally be a little bit more difficult. But listen, Meg is strong. Meg's body is T, okay? She be doing her Pilates, her workouts, and so forth. And honestly, I love that for her. She is an inspiration for the tall community, tall girly community. I will say that. Now going back to the comment from earlier that was under the TikTok video about Pilates being hard as a tall woman. And she was talking about how in yoga, in yin yoga, a lot of the poses aren't made for tall women. The struggle that she was kind of describing there. The struggles that they were talking about in the comments under the video about Pilates as a tall woman. It's not, it just goes to show you that it's not just Pilates or even just yoga, right? It's yes, yoga, but it's also running, cycling, weightlifting, body weight training, exercise in general. Exercising as a tall woman can honestly be a little bit discouraging. It may take longer to see results. Some exercises can feel awkward with longer limbs, and we're more prone to exercise-related injuries. Overall, these challenges can make it hard to stay motivated in our fitness journeys. Let's hear some tall women speak on these struggles. Being a tall girl in the gym is genuinely just such a different experience. First problem, machines are not made for long legs. My knees are literally either in my chest or hanging off the pad. There is no in-between. Second, RDLs. If you're short, you're halfway through the rep. If you're tall, you're still going down. And down. And down. Third, benches are never high enough. Hip thrusts, step-ups, anything like that. Suddenly, I'm doing geometry instead of lifting and trying to figure out how many, can I put a plate here to make it. My depth, like, huh? And lastly... Everybody tells you. Just squat. You're gonna, your legs are gonna. Grow so much. Just squat, just squat. Okay, would love to, but my femurs want a freaking word with you. Like genuinely, I, barbell squats are the vein of my existence. I freaking hate barbell squats. And if you ever catch me doing it, like that's not me. Someone cloned my body. Don't get me wrong, I love being tall, and I would not trade it for a thing in the world, oh my gosh, but, like, the gym was not designed for tall girls. Okay, I love being tall, don't get me wrong, but where the short girls are winning is in, like, hot pilates or reformer or, like, HIIT classes. because I just finished a class. It was called like Matt, hot Matt Pilates beat. So every single movement is to the beat. Keep in mind, I am like 10 inches taller than the next tallest girl. And my limbs are probably about eight inches longer. So we're all moving to the beat or I'm over here trying to, but the time that it takes me to move my arm or my leg to the beat, which wasn't really to the beat is double the time that takes a girl who's has an arm that's six inches shorter than mine. So I just decided, okay, I'm just going to go to the beat of my own drum right now. I'm just pretty much what I usually do. But the other thing too, is the mat is not long enough for me. It's not wide enough either because like when we're moving our arms out, like my arms are so much longer. So I'm like over here, like trying not to fling sweat on the girl next to me. I know that sounds disgusting. And then we're over here, like at the end doing stretches where it's like, okay, T T spine twist or whatever. And I'm like, Or like put your leg out to the side or rotate your right leg over. And I am now laying on the girl's mat next to me because my femur is two feet long. I think one of the funniest comments ever as like someone who's tall and runs a lot is that like, oh, you should be so fast because you're so tall. Like your legs are so much longer. So you should be able to run really fast. Baby, not me, not me, not me. That is not helping me at all. It's actually hurting me because there's so much body mass that actually fucks up my knees. I am not running any faster. I'm also hunched over when I run. I literally run hunched over because there's so much of, I don't even know what to do with all my body when I'm running. I actually take way shorter steps. I don't know, one time I turned and told me to do that. So actually the longness of my legs isn't getting me anywhere faster at all. And truth be told, I feel like a lot of these struggles, a lot of these challenges do come in the gym. Okay, hot take, I don't think the gym is meant for tall people. Okay, listen, I'm not saying that we shouldn't go to the gym, but a lot of the machines and equipment, even when adjusted for our height, just don't work well for our bodies. And listen, I'm a tall gym girly myself, kind of. Okay, I'm not there like every day, several hours a day, but I go often enough and I'm consistent with it. But what has personally, personally worked better for me is doing more body weight exercises and more free weights or using the dumbbells rather than actually using machines. Prime example, hip abductors. Okay, that's the machine where you're like sitting down and it has like those. What is it? I don't want to say it's like pads in a way, um, that are on the outside of your legs. I'm going to try to include like a video of it on the video version. And if you're an audio, look it up. If you don't understand what I'm saying, please. Um, but essentially they're on the outside of your legs and you're supposed to push them open and that's supposed to like target your outer thighs, your hips, whatever it may be. Right. And so there in my gym in particular, there are like pictures that kind of show how um it's supposed to look like how you're supposed to sit and it basically the pictures demonstrate how to use the machine correctly and in the picture the pads are apparently supposed to be like at your knees and then I guess like you push it open or outward that way however my knees were not at the pads the pads were like in the middle of my thigh like at the middle of my leg like not the middle of my leg but the middle of my thigh I'm I know I'm I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. Essentially, my knees are way past that because my legs are too long for that machine. That's what I'm trying to say. So I don't even know if I'm using that machine properly. I don't use it often. So thankfully, I haven't had like an injury of any sort. And that just goes to show that a lot of the machines just aren't made with us in mind. Not to say that it has to be made with us in mind, but well, I think it should be adjustable. But listen, I don't build gym machines, so I don't know how that works. But You know, like, that just adds to some of the struggles that the tall girlies face when trying to exercise and work out. And on top of that, I go to an all-women's gym, so most of the women there are shorter than me, have shorter legs than me, so... I'm pretty sure that machine was made with the fact that, oh, many women are around this height. The majority of women are around this height. We're going to make that machine for people, for women around that height. Okay, but let's look at the bigger picture here. Okay, it's not just about Pilates only. It's not just about the gym only. It's about the overall experience. Exercise and fitness can be challenging for tall women, okay? It could be challenging with our bodies, with our proportions, with our longer limbs, with our height. But that doesn't mean that there's something wrong with us. That doesn't mean that there's something wrong with our bodies. What's wrong, in my opinion, is that there's just not a lot of or enough information for us and specifically how to go about our fitness journeys. The modifications, the difference in forms that we have to keep in mind. For example, did you know that When you're squatting, a lot of times, a lot of trainers and whoever say to have your legs shoulder width apart when you're doing a squat. Obviously, depending on what squat you're doing, but the most generic squat you can think of. How about that? But in reality, we're supposed to have our legs farther apart than shoulder width. You know, we're supposed to have a wider stance because we have longer legs. Many of us have longer femurs. I'm not a fitness coach or health trainer or a professional of any sort though, so do your research. I have to cover myself, guys. But there's not a lot of talk about the modifications, what exercises to do and focus on and which to avoid, what machines to use and which ones to avoid, how to properly adjust the machines for our height and so forth. There's not a lot of talk of if our form is good when we're running and walking and cycling and so forth. There definitely needs to be more mainstream information about it. I'm very grateful that there's now a lot more tall women on social media, tall gym girlies, tall fitness trainers, um, tall nutritionists and so forth, talking more about fitness and health and all of that stuff specifically for tall people, for tall women, so that we have that information. But I also think because, you know, that they're also fairly niche and I understand that, you know, not everybody or not like a majority of the population or whatever, who's on social media is going to be watching them because again it's very niche just catering to tall women but I also think that more general fitness trainers because they have if they have a lot of clients they have a lot of clients with different heights different proportions you could still be like five seven five eight and still have longer legs and you still need to keep in mind the different modifications and the differences in forms and so forth. And I personally think that more fitness trainers and more people within health and wellness overall should be, they should also be talking to their different audiences. They should be talking about how, oh, like this is what shorter people should keep in mind. This is what average type people should keep in mind. What taller people should keep in mind. More plus size people should keep in mind. Thinner people should keep in mind. Like they should be incorporating more of their different like audiences, body types into their content as well. But back to the whole We need more information for tall women specifically. This is part of the reason why a tall girls podcast exists. You know, I try to bring on guests. OK, I had like Debbie, like I said before, I had a chiropractor on here. I had a tall nutritionist on here. I should start like bringing some guests back, honestly, as well to kind of like talk more about these things, provide more updated information and so forth. But I have guests like this to provide this information, very useful information to you guys. So you're not out here like, what am I doing wrong? What am I doing? Like there's a literal place to find information about it. And honestly, on top of the fact we need more information, we also need like a tall girl workout group. Kind of. Low-key, are the tall girlies a safety hazard in workout classes? There was a 6'2 lady who said that she accidentally kicked another lady in a Pilates class. I also saw a video of a tall girlie saying that in a yoga class, her foot was literally in another lady's face. Like, is everything okay? Anyways, I'm gonna try to compile a couple videos. Like, I'm gonna try to include a couple videos here of some helpful tips on, you know, exercising, your fitness journey, and so forth, specifically for the tall girlies. Tall girls, listen up, okay? Stop listening to these short fitness influencers. We cannot train like short girls. We must train to our size, okay? We cannot train like the short girls. So platforms are our best friend, tall people. So let's look at a sumo squat. Without the platform, I'm going down, but the weight can hit the floor before I'm even able to go all the way down, right? Okay? If we add the platform, I have more length. So because my arms are long, I have more distance away from the ground, so I'm able to go as low as possible and come up. The platform is our best friend. Because we have longer legs and because we have longer arms, it is very common for our weight to hit the ground prematurely before we even get a stretch. We can't grow like that. Taller people typically don't find squats to be very comfortable. They like single leg squatting motions. You know, I'm six foot four and I've always struggled with my squat form. I tend to want to turn it into a good morning. We tend to prefer our single leg movements, our reverse lunges, our step ups, our Bulgarians. And then she did landmine Romanians. What's nice about the landmine is she could sink back in between her legs. It makes it feel a little more natural. And then finish with hip thrust lockouts. In my experience, most lifters can do hip thrusts well, no matter what your anthropometry, no matter how tall you are. In fact, I think tall people tend to be better at hip thrusting. There are people who do struggle with form on hip thrusts, and that's when you have such longer legs than your torso. If you have like your torsos like this, and then your legs are like that. For those people, you shouldn't go as deep. Tall girls, listen up. Here's my gym tips from one tall girl to another. Tip number one. Do not worry about how much you weigh. If you're lifting weights, constantly in the gym, eating right, but the scale's going up and you're not seeing the results in the mirror, don't worry about it. Our bodies are so much longer. We have so much more to fill. You're building muscle. It's just harder to see because you're so tall. Be happy with the progress you're making. If you're just always worrying about the number on the scale, then you're never really gonna go anywhere and you're not gonna make any progress. Tip number two, you need to understand that we are not gonna see progress as quickly as the shorter girls. Our muscles grow as fast as the shorter girls, but it's. Harder to show because we're so much longer and our bodies need so much more to fill us out. There's no exercise that can fix that. There's no diet. There's nothing you can do to fix that. It's normal. You just need to understand that and be content with that and you'll be a lot happier with your progress in the long run. Tip number three, don't be afraid to take up space. Use those plates, use those blocks, use as much space as you need to get your workout done and do not worry about other people. That does not mean by any means be inconsiderate of other people and get in their way. But if you need a couple plates to do a certain exercise to get a good. Stretch, do it. Take up the space. You have long legs, use them. And building off of that tip number four, don't be scared of looking stupid. You're going to look stupid. You have to do things differently. If you train like shorter girls, you're not going to make right progress. You're going to feel stupid putting a couple of plates underneath your heels, but it feels more stupid when. You're not and you're training like a short girl. Adjust your workouts to your height. Use the plates. Lunge longer. Whatever helps you get a better stretch for your height, do. And also, when in doubt, I read this somewhere on Google, that swimming is a good form of exercise for taller women, tall people, taller people, in terms of, like, posture and, you know, movements not being awkward and their rings and all that stuff, okay? Just don't, just be careful not to, like, accidentally smack somebody or kick somebody because, you know, long legs, long arms, etc. But When in doubt, swimming is a very good form of exercise for taller people, but also do your research and learn how to swim and all that stuff. Got to cover myself, guys. But anyways, I think I'm going to end it here. Thank you so much for tuning in. I really appreciate it and I appreciate you. Of course, as always, feel free to hit me up on my socials at A Tall Gross Podcast. Let me know what you thought about this episode. Do you also struggle when it comes to exercise, going to the gym, going to Pilates, running? You know, there's a lot of talk about how running is a lot of stress on the joints and For taller people, taller women, there's like extra, extra stress on the joints as well. Like, are there any forms of exercise that you try to stray away from because it's more difficult? And are there forms of exercise that you more so go towards? Is that that's like your go to and so forth? Because you know that it works well for you. Let's have a conversation about this in my comments, in the comment section or in my DMs. I'm going to get back to, you know, responding to those. I see y'all. Just know that I see y'all. and don't be afraid to hit me up at a tall girls podcast everywhere all socials well most socials it's in the it's going to be linked in the description so you can click on those links and um until then i will catch you guys in the next one good night and goodbye