The Ultimate Guys' Body Book: Not-So-Stupid Questions About Your Body

By Walt Larimore, MD

You Mean I Can Ask That? Boys’ bodies do the craziest things! They can knock a baseball out to right field or trip in front of class. But at a certain point, those bodies start to grow up and go through some wild changes. You might be wondering things like: Why don't I look like him? How can I get buff without steroids? And how can I handle that talk my parents want to have—you know, the talk? Yikes! Guy Talk answers all the important questions you want answers to but would rather not ask, mixing fun with great advice for growing guys.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Mar 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9780310723257

Walt Larimore, MD

Walt Larimore, MD, has been called "one of the best known family physicians in America" and has been listed in the Best Doctors in America, The Guide to America’s Top Family Doctors, and Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who's Who in America, and the International Health Professionals of the Year. He is also a best-selling author who has written, co-written, or edited thirty books. He writing has been recognized with a number of national awards, including a Christianity Today Book of the Year award, a Retailers Choice book award, three Silver Medallion Book Awards, three Gold Medallion Book Award nominations, and three Christy Award nominations. He and his wife, Barb, have two grown children, two grandchildren, and live in Colorado Springs area with their tabby, Jack. His website is www.DrWalt.com and his Morning Glory, Evening Grace devotions can be found at www.Devotional.DrWalt.com.

Book preview

QUESTION 1

I’m changing! What’s happening to my body?

The word puberty is probably used a lot around you, right? But what does it mean? Here’s my definition: puberty is the process that develops and changes your body physically from being a boy to being a man.

During puberty you will grow hair in new places, your private parts will become larger, your voice will become lower, and you will have new feelings and emotions. During puberty, your body will grow faster than at any other time in your life, except for when you were in your mother’s womb or when you were a very tiny child.

It may seem weird or scary, but it is actually a normal, healthy, and God-designed process for your body.

All boys go through puberty at different ages and at different rates. Usually, puberty starts between the ages of ten to fifteen. If your puberty starts before ten or has not started by the time you turn fifteen, you should see your doctor.

Puberty begins when your brain releases a variety of different hormones. Hormones are chemicals made by a gland in one part of your body. During puberty, hormones are carried by the bloodstream to other parts of your body, where they cause specific effects.

In both boys and girls, the same exact hormones start the process of puberty (although it starts earlier for most girls). For boys and girls, these hormones go to work on different parts of the body. For us guys, these hormones give our testicles a chemical signal to begin making two things: sperm and testosterone.

Sperm are tiny cells made by the testicles. The male sperm helps create life (a baby) when it combines with an egg from a female. But more on that later.

Most of the changes in your body during puberty are caused by the hormone called testosterone. Combined with the growth hormone produced by the pituitary gland in the brain, testosterone causes you to grow taller and bigger. It causes your muscles to grow. It causes your body hair and genitals to grow. It changes your voice.

Although your Creator has designed the changes of puberty that lead to manhood, that doesn’t mean that these adjustments aren’t scary. They are, not only to you, but also to every boy who has ever gone through them.

So let’s begin discussing some of these changes.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation

Psalm 139:13 – 15 MSG

Amazing Bean

Small, bean shaped, and reddish gray, the pituitary gland looks like something that belongs in a burrito — not your brain. But it’s actually one of the most important organs in your entire body, especially during puberty. Sometimes called the master gland, the pituitary controls hormone functions that regulate your temperature, growth, and testosterone production.

Located near the base of your brain, the pituitary gland triggers puberty by signaling to your testicles to start producing more testosterone. It also controls how much growth hormone is released in your body. In rare occasions the pituitary puts out too much growth hormone before puberty when a person’s long bones in the body are still growing. This causes gigantism, or extreme tallness.

According to Guinness World Records, the tallest man ever stood eight feet eleven inches tall! Robert Wadlow was born in Alton, Illinois, on February 22, 1918. He died at only twenty-two years old. Reports say he was able to carry his father up the stairs of the family home at age nine! He wore size 37AA shoes, had hands more than a foot long, and an arm span of nearly nine and a half feet.

QUESTION 2

I don’t like things about my body — will they get better?

This question is one of the ones I get asked most when I have the opportunity to sit and talk with young men about all the changes they are experiencing. And if there is one thing I can guarantee you, even more changes are coming!

Most boys become very, very self-conscious about their physical development during puberty. But these changes can cause embarrassment if your friends or parents — or even worse, girls or bullies — comment on them.

Throughout our discussions, I want you to learn about these changes. But first, let me address your comment about not liking your body. Remember, you were created by God. I have some thoughts for you to consider.

The Bible says God designed you. It claims that God formed you—he knit you together—while you were still in your mother’s womb.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.    Psalm 139:13 –16

In other words, God planned and developed you — he is your personal architect, and he caused your body to form and grow. He wove you together like a weaver might create a piece of art with yarn or string.

You are wonderfully made, which means you are distinguished — a wonder. Your Creator has designed you so that you are completely unique — one of a kind.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

The Greek word for handiwork, or workmanship, is poiema (poy’-ay-mah), which means that which is made personally by the Creator. It is the origin of the English word poem. This Bible verse is an amazing pronouncement — God the Creator personally made you!

No one else in the past or in the future will have your fingerprints, or your DNA pattern, or the pattern of the veins on the back of your hand, or your exact personality.

Not only does God have a blueprint for your body, but he has also designed a special life plan just for you. Here are just a few verses describing this:

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.    Proverbs 19:21

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence — continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.    Philippians 2:12 –13

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son….    Romans 8:28 – 29

When Jesus came to Earth, he compared his purpose and plan for you with that of your enemy, the