It's all about getting to that perfect depth in squats, and long femurs can make that really hard. But keep in mind that the depth is influenced by a bunch of other factors, as well, it's not just your femurs that can cause an issue.
Yes, long femurs increase the ROM and make it more difficult to squat deeper. Someone with longer femurs will likely struggle with dorsi flexion and hitting depth, but that can easily be overcome by mobility work and weightlifting shoes. You can also try taking a wider stance.
The length of the femur also plays an important role in the positioning of the squat. Those with short femurs and long torsos will have a more upright squat position. Those with long femurs and a shorter torso will have to compensate at the hip, causing them to lean forward to counterbalance the movement.
Yep, the torso length results in a longer lever arm, meaning you won't be bending forward as much at the bottom, even with a lower bar position.
But it's not all bad – long femurs can be useful. What are long femurs good for, you ask? A bunch of stuff! They can give you leverage in some lifts, you could run faster because of a longer stride, and let's be honest – there's the aesthetic appeal.
"And the longer your femurs are, the harder it is to perform the back squat with high quality," he adds.
As for squatting, I've found that a switch to the front squat does well to accommodate the long femurs that impair deep range of motion in other variations.
On average, the femur length accounts for 26.74% of a person's height, a ratio found in both men and women across most ethnic groups with minimal variation. This ratio is useful in anthropology, as it provides a reliable estimate of a person's height from an incomplete skeleton.
Short vs long legs can nearly make or break certain types of athlete's. For instance, having shorter legs makes it much easier to squat. Think of it this way, you have a shorter distance to travel to hit the bottom. Add to that strong thick legs and a long torso and you are looking at a natural born squatter!
Thigh (femur) length can significantly change your deadlift. Athletes with long thighs relative to the rest of their body will be positioned with their hips further behind the barbell / midfoot. This will often result in a more forward torso angle to get the shoulders over the bar in the set-up position.
Femur length (FL) is a fetal biometric parameter reflects the longitudinal growth of the fetus. A short FL also may indicate inaccurate pregnancy dating or could be a marker early onset fetal growth restriction.
Longer femurs cause most to lean forward more during their squat whereas shorter femurs tend to make it easier to stay more upright. To find out your femur length – measure the distance between your hip and knee then plug it into this formula.
Zercher Squat
This front-loaded variation is one of the toughest squats in your arsenal. The placement of the bar isn't just for show, either—positioning the weight like that will test your core and mid-back muscles along with the quads, hamstrings, and glutes as you brace and fight to keep your torso upright.
The correlation coefficients between leg bone length variables and running performance are shown in Table 2. There were no significant correlations between the absolute lengths of the femur and tibia and personal best 5000-m race time (r = -0.246 and r = -0.255, respectively; p > 0.050 for both).
For female athletes, a Front Squat with 1-time body weight is an achievable result and more than 1.4 times body weight is an excellent result. For male athletes, a Front Squat with 1.2 times body weight is an achievable result and more than 2 times body weight can be considered an excellent result.
A shoulder-width squat stance should work best; going much wider will probably cause some lateral hip discomfort. Conventional deadlifts should be a better fit than sumo, and with good coaching the client should be able to pull from the floor.
THE HEEL ELEVATED SQUAT
This is especially good for someone with long femurs and a short torso (it will help keep you more upright), tight or weak hamstrings, or poor ankle dorsiflexion. For this variation, you'll push through your midfoot to stand up. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device.
For athletes with longer femurs, Low Bar is more conducive (because they can create more of a hinge pattern, reducing the demands on ankle mobility to hit depth).
This study revealed that the height of an individual is four times the femur length of the individual, since the femur length is proportional to the height, therefore the taller the individual the longer femur length, while the shorter the individual the shorter the femur length.
Most adult femurs are around 18 inches long. The femur is also the strongest bone in your body. It can support as much as 30 times the weight of your body.
Figure 1 Rack height for squat – mid sternum, in between your collar bone and the nipple line. For a low bar squat, the bar should be somewhere in the middle of your sternum (chest bone). It will be between the collar bone and the nipple line.
Bodyweight exercises become more difficult the taller you get because muscle power tends to increase linearly, while mass increases exponentially. Basically, the bigger you are, the less efficient your power output is.
Long legs plus poor ankle mobility makes squatting deep very challenging. To overcome this limitation, focus on improving ankle dorsiflexion – the ability to flex your foot upward towards your shin.