At a younger age I swam a lot (6 years) and rumour has it that swimming stretches your spine by 1-2 inches harmlessly, i recently started weight lifting and have seemed to have reduce my height a little; 0.5/1 inche(s). I am currently 6ft 2.5" and was around 6ft 3" before i started working out. My friend told me the reason that i'm shrinking is that the muscle i have gained on my back is compressing my spine of the 1-2 inches i gained from swimming as a child... is this possible? I'm 17 by the way.