To Paolo and all: I bought the gravity boots from an on-line retailer: bodytrends.com. It's pretty hard to hang upside down but it really stretches you out. I have the original Gaining Height Through Exercise, written by Pierre Berthelet. I had it on my desk as I e-mailed Mark the address, but now I can't find it. He said he would post the address, if he doesn't, I will, because the book has got to turn up eventually, my apartment has just been a mess. As I told Mark, I didn't follow the course in the book exactly as Pierre wrote it, but I did everything with a lot of intensity and the book helped a lot. I have never taken Growth Booster. It's actually Twinlab's Amino Fuel with different packaging. If you want to try it go to GNC and save some money. I take a Whey protein which has pretty much all the branched-chain aminos. I don't take the protein to increase my height, it's just part of my diet. I do take L-Argingine L-Ornithine and DHEA for hormone enhancement, though. (I am NOT recommending that you do this because I am NOT a doctor). This is just what I do and it works for me. As far as swimming, I swam in high school for two years and I was a real idiot for giving it up to play baseball. Had I done it continuously, I would probably be about 6'2'' right now. Some will tell you that freestyle and breaststroke are the best for height gain. Swimming is an exercise that decompresses, tones and lenghens your whole body without impact. Just look at how magnificient Olympic swimmers look and you will see what I mean. I mostly swim freestyle, about 2500 meters a day (100 laps in a 25-meter pool). If you never swam before, you will probably never swim this much, because it is an exhausting sport and it takes a lot of conditioning. I also use a kickboard and do 20 laps of kicking, whick I KNOW helped lenghen my legs by about an inch or so. If you're between 18-24, swimming on a daily basis will help you pick up an inch or so in height. That's pretty much it for now. Sorry for the long post, but I hope it helps answer a lot of questions. Best of luck to all of us. Brian Hoff (still 5'11'' and working hard for that last inch!)

I just turned 23 in June, I'm 5'11'' tall, and I originally thought about doing this to spite my dad! He is a doctor, OB-GYN, and two years ago we were having a discussion about this. He said it's not possible to grow once your growth plates fuse. I said it is. Needless to say, I won the argument, as I grew about three inches. I now want to get to six feet to break a mental barrier, and to fulfill my dream of becoming a model (it would really be something if I get to six feet and don't make it in modeling for other reasons, wouldn't it?) Anyway, no one has to answer, but I thought it would be a nice way to get to know each other, since we're after the same goal. Brian

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Fadex, to answer some of your questions: After about three months I noticed a gain (about 1/2 inch or probably a bit more) I got a big mental boost from this, and in a period of six more months or so, I gained about another inch. The last inch took about a year, and I've been stuck there for over three months. I buy Twinlab L-Arginine L-Ornithine, and Natrol DHEA. I get the L-A L-O at GNC, and the DHEA at Walgreens. The only side effects I got was an icreased pulse the first week I took it, but after that my pulse returned to normal. I give my body a break every four weeks, though. What I mean by this is I sto p taking the supplements for about three to four days every four weeks. This helps them stay effective as my body does not become accustomed to them. I take the recommended dosage, nothing less or more, and this will vary by brand. As far as my exercises, I did my hanging leg raises at the gym before swimming, since it helped stretch me out. I did the stretches before dinner, or sometime at night. Keep in mind the routine is really boring and it's very discouraging to go without results for a while. This is where your psyche comes in; you have to be very strong mentally and keep focused on your goal. I think having been an athlete helped my motivation. I don't have a lot more to go, and the closer I get, the harder I work. Brian

Guys, rather than write a lenghty message like I usually do, I'll post a link to a part of Johnny Ray's website. Here I found a couple of good ways to vary your inversion routine (if you're currently using one). I'm going to try some of them myself, like the coiling your body in a U-shape. I will reconfirm that I HATE inversion, but it seems to be beneficial, so I'm sticking to it. Anyway, here's the link:---------------------------------------- http://community-1.webtv.net/johnrs/HEIGHTINCREASE/------------------------------------------------------------- Y'all try to keep everyone posted on your progress, this way we can sort of determine what works and what doesn't. Regards to all, Brian.

Fadex, I actually use the bar that hangs up and over the doorway. I did not pay for that, a very good friend of mine is a welder and he made me one. I bought the gravity boots from an on-line retailer (bodytrends.com). I found them on the Internet, and there are many other internet retailers that sell them, this is just the one that I settled on. Aco, I am NOT a doctor, but I would think common sense would dictate that inverting for this long would be extremely dangerous. Inversion is a stressful exercise and inverting for long periods of time would cause an excessive amount of blood to flood the brain, not to mention the extreme stress placed on your ankles, knees, and so forth. Consult your doctor before you do such a thing. Brian.

To Guy and all, my legs lenghthened about an inch or so, the rest of my height increase came from lenghtening my upper torso. Something that everyone should keep in mind, your attitude towards accomplishing your goal will be the most important thing. When I set out to do this, I NEVER, even for a second, thought I could not make myself taller. I simply refused to believe that it was not possible. Your mind is the most important tool at your disposal. Growing taller is not the most amazing feat ever accomplished. Yes, it is difficult to grow after a certain age, but it is NOT impossible. Nothing is impossible once you sset your mind to it. Lance Armstrong was given less than a 10% chance to live after cancer invaded his body and spread to his brain, and not onlly is he alive, he won the Tour deFrance!! I watched part of his interview on ESPN, and his unwillingness to be resigned to his fate amazed me. There have been documented cases of stories like this, people overcoming cancer, AIDS, and other tragedies simply because they did not give up! You cannot for one minute allow your mind to weaken, or you will defeat yourself. I have a feeling that the last inch I have to grow will be the most difficult, and the most rewarding, and I have NO intentions of stopping my efforts. Keep in mind, if you can dream it, you can do it! Regards to all, Brian

Fadex and Tony, sorry it took me a day longer than I said it would, but I have been incredibly busy at work. I am getting a bit accustomed to inversion, and I can tolerate it for longer periods of time (about 15 minutes) Something I did the other day: I took an analytical look at my body, just to find out how well it was balanced. It seemed to me my legs were long enough (at a bit over 5'11'' I have a 33 inch inseam), and my upper body was OK, but my neck could stand to be about an inch longer. This is a genetic issue for me because I look a lot like my dad, and his neck is VERY short. Thank God mine at least looks normal. I am saying this as it might be useful to analyze yourself this way, as this will help you zone in on the part of your body that needs to be lenghthened more. My brother, for example, has very long legs, longer than mine, yet he is only about 5'9 or so. His upper body is short and compressed, and he could probably gain two or three inches by doing stretching exercises, but he is not interested. I don't know of any way to make your neck longer, I do the rotations suggested by the ETC journal, and that hasn't worked so far. If anyone knows of any productive way to accomplish this, please post it, I would appreciate it. Regards, Brian.

I have done some checking on shark cartilage and glucosamine. A place called DNC (Discount Nutrition Center) opened up right by my office, so I went in to see about the products. They offer both, and the prices are (somewhat)comparable. The shark cartilage is manufactured by Twinlab, and it costs $22.95 flor a 30-day supply. The Glucosamine/chondroitin is manufactured by Country Life (Biochem) and it costs $27.99 for a 30-day supply. They are both in gelcap form, and from what the manager of the place told me, the Glucosamine is much better for rebuilding and thickening the cartilage between your joints. He also said that Biochem makes a better product than Twinlab, and the bio-availability (amount your body actually absorbs) is better in the Country Life product (about 70% rate of absorption vs 55%from Twinlab). I haven't taken either of these products yet, so don't read too much into what I have posted. These were just one person's views, but he seemed very nice and knowledgeable. I just thought I would post because there seemed to be an interest on the topic. If anyone is taking either of these products, please share your results with the rest of us. Regards, Brian

Brian Hoff was on Docnet a lot if you didn't know and he was a real genuine guy. He is one of the few who has had success. He told me though that he was very perseverant and never doubted for 1 minute that he would not grow. I wish i had his determination!!!

JonnyUTAH