Question:
I’m 15 and 5’11. From age 12 to 15 I have only grown around 4 inches — from 5’7 to 5’11. My father is 5’11 and my mother is 5’4. Is this normal or did I already have a growth spurt? I am asking because I have recently come back from homeschooling to public high school and many of my friends have grown significantly from the last time I saw them and have much deeper voices than me. Though I have been working out to put on muscle I am much less developed than other males my age and I feel very selfconscious about my body because I have little to no facial or body hair, besides my pubic hair, no acne, my penis size is around 7 inches erect but my testicles are small but hang. Am I a late bloomer despite my height or will I stay like this the rest of my life?
Answer:
A late bloomer is defined as not showing external signs of changing until after age 14. You describe yourself as being at least in stage 3 of development. My guess is that while you did not have a dramatic burst in growth all at once, you clearly had grown rapidly prior to age 12. Muscle development comes in stages 4 and 5. Some lineages don’t get a lot of body or facial hair. However, body and facial hair tend to develop in stages 4 and 5.
Therefore, you are not a late bloomer.