The short answer is “not really”. There is not a strong correlation between your height and your hormone levels as adults. In fact, exogenous testosterone is used in very tall boys to stunt their growth by sending them THROUGH puberty and into adulthood earlier, thus limiting their growth. Estrogen is used in the same way for girls/women (however there have been problems with conceiving in the female group who’s growth was student using hormones). So being taller does not equal having more testosterone, as most of your height is gained during puberty. Essentially, the longer you are in puberty, the taller you will likely be.
So if there is not really a correlation between height and hormones, why do tall folks naturally look more “wiry” than their shorter counterparts? This is simply a visual illusion. Setting aside that all people have different levels of hormones and different rates of muscle growth, there is one solid visual illusion behind why tall people tend to look like “bean poles”. Take a person who is 6’5″ and weighs 200 pounds at 10% body fat. Now take a 5’5″ person that also weighs 200 pounds at 10% body fat. The taller person might even be muscular, but the shorter person is going to look markedly more muscular simply because there isn’t as much frame to spread that muscle around on. Imagine taking a ounce of paint and spreading it on a piece of paper, but now take that same ounce of paint and spread it on a wall. The larger structure (frame) is going to look lacking by comparison. The same thing will happen when trying to spread 1 pound of muscle over a tall frame versus a shorter frame.
The two people in the example above could both gain 5 pounds of muscle in a years time, but the shorter person would look significantly different whereas the taller person might even struggle to notice their muscle gains because it is spread over such a wide canvas. The body has limited capacity for adding muscle and the aesthetic appeal is much better when the frame is much smaller. Not trying to rub salt in the wound, but taller people also struggle making significant strength gains when compared to their shorter brethren. This has to due with the tall frame again, not just because of the length of the muscle fibers, but also because their “levers” are much larger than shorter people. Meaning they have to move the same weight a FURTHER distance and through more range of motion than a shorter person, thus more muscle strength is required to move the same weight through a larger range of motion on a longer lever.
When it comes to muscularity and aesthetic appeal, shorter people have it made. So for all my tall readers out there, take a deep breath and keep at it! It will take you longer to NOTICE muscle gains, but they are still happening. Your gains are just not as noticeable or aesthetically pleasing.
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