Average American Male is 5'9" and 195 Lbs - New Report

Fmdjdnnd wrote:

A lot of guys are around 5'9", but it seems there are many who are taller and not many who are shorter. Surprised the average is not higher.

5'9" 158 myself.

There are a lot of guys shorter than 5'9. They all claim to be 5'9 though even though the tape shows them to be 5'7 or 5'8:)

Chrome autofill settings wrote:

height? wrote:

I don't get it what's bad about being 5'9''? (I am 5'8'')

Don't even worry about it bro. You can always drive a huge truck.

Haha, I'm trying to figure out if there's some sort of penis-size-to-height correlation you're hinting at. I guess I don't know if there's any truth to that.

Other than that I doubt height has ever affected me other than for basketball, and I suppose also high jump the one time I tried it as a teen.

laughing wrote:

I challenge you to find 10 non-African-descent American guys who went even sub-18:30 in the 5k (or equivalent distance performance for 3000m on up) at any point in their lives after age 18 and are 5'5" or shorter. You will eventually find them, but in your search you will find that they are dwarfed in number by tall guys by at least 1 order of magnitude, if not more.

Where are the math guys? Let's plot the heights & 5k pr's of guys on this forum. The results would be VERY telling.

You serious? Galen Rupp at 5'11" will likely be the tallest man on the starting line in both the 10k and Marathon at the olympics. Being taller isn't an automatic advantage because you are carrying less efficient weight. Americans are taller on average than Africans thus (not surprisingly) our Olympians are also taller on average (this is called math).

I'm not sure I could find 10 male, non-African (serious) runners under 5'5", but if I could they would all be able to break 18:30.

Now at 197 after 20 years of only 35-55 miles per week and life's distractions. Running horrible times. Ran my best at 6'3 and 154 after 3 months of 70 mile weeks 25 years ago.

Full of disgust because I am moving toward the acceptable fat level of everyone I work with.

I object wrote:

This is why I have to buy Small-sized shirts. I'm 5' 11", but only around 130-135 lbs. I have been this way since I was a teenager. That's slim, sure, but not terribly so.

By any reasonable metric, I am not a "small" man; I should be able to buy Medium shirts (because the sleeve length fits me better). But, because Americans have gotten so much larger, manufacturers have increased clothing sizes. Most Mediums are like ponchos on me. As you can tell, I am a bit upset about this.

6'2" 165. I have the same complaint abut T-shirts. I was a large 15 years ago and have been a medium for the past 5.

redux wrote:

Not trying to be funny, but the MADD drunk driving shaming campaign didn't work that well. And how about all the pot shaming?

Exactly. To retaliate I joined DAMM (Drunks Against Mad Mothers)

height? wrote:

Chrome autofill settings wrote:

Don't even worry about it bro. You can always drive a huge truck.

Haha, I'm trying to figure out if there's some sort of penis-size-to-height correlation you're hinting at. I guess I don't know if there's any truth to that.

Other than that I doubt height has ever affected me other than for basketball, and I suppose also high jump the one time I tried it as a teen.

Nope, I don't think height has anything to do with penis size. And really when you think about it if your shorter it would just make it look bigger right?

To be honest I'm really just joking. There are some statistics on what the advantages to being taller are in general, but I really think that for the most part if your confident it doesn't effect you. I do laugh however when I see a guy getting out of a huge truck and he is so short he can hardly climb out of it. But I think the big truck can be a sign of any number of insecurities.

5'8"

130 lbs

F'ing wiry strong!

I object wrote:

This is why I have to buy Small-sized shirts. I'm 5' 11", but only around 130-135 lbs. I have been this way since I was a teenager. That's slim, sure, but not terribly so.

By any reasonable metric, I am not a "small" man; I should be able to buy Medium shirts (because the sleeve length fits me better). But, because Americans have gotten so much larger, manufacturers have increased clothing sizes. Most Mediums are like ponchos on me. As you can tell, I am a bit upset about this.

I'm about the same size I was 35 years ago (5'5", 115 lb female) but I used to wear a size 8 and now I need a size 2 if I can find it.

Hdudhedhd wrote:

I object wrote:

This is why I have to buy Small-sized shirts. I'm 5' 11", but only around 130-135 lbs. I have been this way since I was a teenager. That's slim, sure, but not terribly so.

By any reasonable metric, I am not a "small" man; I should be able to buy Medium shirts (because the sleeve length fits me better). But, because Americans have gotten so much larger, manufacturers have increased clothing sizes. Most Mediums are like ponchos on me. As you can tell, I am a bit upset about this.

6'2" 165. I have the same complaint abut T-shirts. I was a large 15 years ago and have been a medium for the past 5.

i'm a smidgen under 6' so I say 6 on a good day and my weight is hefty for a runner at 185ish, but I constantly break down whenever I run. I lift weights and I am leaner than a normal person my weight but I am far from a model, which is what I looked like years ago. When I did run without injuries I was in the low 160's to 155, 25+ years ago. Back then I was a decent sprinter type and I could run up to 6 miles without training just off my near daily basketball playing.

Ps Since I weight lift shirts that are designed for my chest 40" are too tight across the back and shoulders, so I have to wear loose XL shirts for porkers. I remember when I was 200 and even then these shirts were way too loose.

I think that the MADD campaign didn't work because most folks decide to drive drunk after they are already drunk, i.e. impervious to shame (or reason).

I don't think pot shaming, as you call it, had a chance because most didn't feel any shame about it. Maybe it's just because I'm from Colorado, but pot was seen as somewhere between normal and edgy, and even cool with movies like Pineapple Express. It was a way that you could be slightly bad without being really bad (heroin, meth).

Somehow cigarettes became affiliated with white trash/poor people, and thus shameful. Smoking pot became affiliated with free-skiers and guys who push the edge in extreme sports, or with mellowed out creative neo-hippies, and thus cool.

I recently listened to a podcast about being fat (

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/589/tell-me-im-fat

) which will probably make everyone here see red. Basically, the story is: it's not my fault, I was born this way, being fat is an identity, my choices are equally as good as yours, etc.

After listening to the second girl talk about how guys talked to her after she lost weight, I have to think that most fat people would want to lose weight so that they could get better jobs and be more attractive to the opposite sex.

TL;DR: When I see an obese person, I know that I'm looking at someone who likes food more than sex or health. That is just sad.

Sounds like a stiff breeze would blow most of y'all over. 5"6', 170lbs. #Beastmode

So the average male is same size as Rich Froning:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Froning_Jr

.

Of course his bodyfat is quite a bit lower than most 200lbers

Alan

Uh, height/weight without context means nothing. It could mean that the average American looks like a lean Emmitt Smith.

Runningart2004 wrote:

Sounds like a stiff breeze would blow most of y'all over. 5"6', 170lbs. #Beastmode

So the average male is same size as Rich Froning:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Froning_Jr

.

Of course his bodyfat is quite a bit lower than most 200lbers

Alan

Same point as me, though I don't know whether Rich Froning or Emmitt Smith is more of a household name these days.

kartelite wrote:

Uh, height/weight without context means nothing. It could mean that the average American looks like a lean Emmitt Smith.

Agreed, and of course this is why BMI is completely stupid for body builders. But have you been to the mall recently?

laughing wrote:

Bdndndnd wrote:

Dress shirts have to be super slim fit because nothing else fits us. Plus have to go to a tailor to get rid of the parachute of fabric

This x1000. Plenty of shirts fit in the shoulders, but it's like they become conical on the way down. WTF, fashion industry?

Yup. 5'9"; 140#; 39" chest; 29" waist

I hit this size at age 16. Back then, you could find 28" or 29" pants on the rack. I used to by 38/30 suits at Marshalls (hey, I was a teen). Sometimes even 39/30.

Now a 38 gets a set of 33"(!) pants. And 29" pants are nowhere in the brick-and-mortar world.

I advocate for Jos. A. Banks slim fit shirts (I now have to buy "small," even though until maybe 5 years ago I was a "medium").

I also think trousers are no longer true-sized.... even the 29's are lookin' a little loose.

yeahyeahyay wrote:

I also think trousers are no longer true-sized.... even the 29's are lookin' a little loose.

American sizes are all BS. 30" is actually something like 32 or 33. Most Euro ones are still dead on, though. But then you'll look like Eurotrash. For better or for worse.

yeahyeahyay wrote:

laughing wrote:

This x1000. Plenty of shirts fit in the shoulders, but it's like they become conical on the way down. WTF, fashion industry?

Yup. 5'9"; 140#; 39" chest; 29" waist

I hit this size at age 16. Back then, you could find 28" or 29" pants on the rack. I used to by 38/30 suits at Marshalls (hey, I was a teen). Sometimes even 39/30.

Now a 38 gets a set of 33"(!) pants. And 29" pants are nowhere in the brick-and-mortar world.

I advocate for Jos. A. Banks slim fit shirts (I now have to buy "small," even though until maybe 5 years ago I was a "medium").

I also think trousers are no longer true-sized.... even the 29's are lookin' a little loose.

I will agree, though, that in general the trend does also seem to be getting larger.

However, in my experience, sizes mean nothing in the U.S. anymore. I'm a 32" waist, but I own 30, 31, 32, 33, and 34 pants that all fit the same. Shorts are even worse. I own very small up through extra large that all fit the same (some are swimming trunks, though). T-shirts are just as much of a joke with regards to the size of the chest box vs. the size the shirt calls itself. It's like they kind of roll the dice and decide what to call stuff on a whim.

So the end result is that EVERYTHING has to be tried, and I have to try on EVERYTHING. It makes shopping online IMPOSSIBLE.

dress shirts wrote:

I highly recommend these guys:

https://www.blanklabel.com/

Custom tailored shirts, high quality and very reasonably priced. I have them make mine extra slim fitting around the waist and it's truly night and day as compared to anything off the rack.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I went to that site, and they're all $95. Where I'm from, that is prohibitively overpriced. With $95, I actually could buy a brand new shirt elsewhere, and pay for the tailoring, gasoline for 2 hours' drive to the city & back to do all this, a sandwich along the way, and still have a little money left over.