Now, two tips that can instantly help you feel more comfortable in squatting if you have long femurs are to first try a wider stance or open your hips up more when you squat. Both of these will create a postural and balance adjustment allowing to keep your chest more upright.
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.
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).
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.
If you have long femurs and want to be more upright, you can opt for smith machine or hack squats instead. This works more quads. But if you're trying to build glutes in a squat, leaning forward works better - it increases hip extension torque demands without compromising hip flexion (stretch on the glutes).
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.
Longer femurs can alter the angles of your hips and knees during squats, so if your femurs are long, you may need to lean forward more to keep your balance, which leads to changes in the angles at which your hips and knees bend.
“The front squat is more difficult to perform because most people lack the flexibility to hold the bar,” he explains.
The average femur measures between 43 and 48 centimeters long. If we are looking at population statistics, then anything over 48 centimeters would be considered a long femur. However, a femur exceeding 48 centimeters long can still be considered perfectly normal for a very tall person.
A high bar position will allow an athlete to perform the squat with the torso in a more vertical position. This works well for beginners, considering they may not have the posterior chain and trunk strength necessary to squat with the torso in a leaned position.
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.
Hack Squat Machine Overview
The hack squat machine is a powerful leg press alternative that offers significant benefits for your lower body workout. Unlike traditional barbell squats, which activate stabilising muscles, your core, and back, the hack squat machine targets your quads, glutes, and hamstrings directly.
Only 1 Out Of 50 People Go To The Gym, So 0.00012% Of The World's Population Can Squat 405lbs… That's 3 Out Of Every 25,000 People.”
One reason this move is so difficult is that the position puts the majority of your weight onto your front leg, a position that requires balance and stability. “It truly does start to become a single-leg variation,” says Landicho.
The average Front Squat weight for a male lifter is 232 lb (1RM). This makes you Intermediate on Strength Level and is a very impressive lift. What is a good Front Squat? Male beginners should aim to lift 120 lb (1RM) which is still impressive compared to the general population.
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.
After a decade of lifting weights, almost everyone can squat with more than 135 pounds on the bar, and most guys can squat at least two plates for at least a few repetitions. As before, only around 1 in 6 lifetime lifters have ever squatted 315 pounds, but now 1 in 17 can squat 405.
Arguably the most popular movement in the gym, the barbell back squat is the ultimate compound exercise, targeting the biggest muscle groups in the body, all at once. That includes the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors, oh and not forgetting, they build abs of steel too.
Yes, that is a good weight to squat for your size. You're approaching 2x bodyweight which is generally considered to be a strong squat.
Last, some with long femurs enjoy front squatting more – as the load adjustment again allows for a slightly upright torso and ease of movement. .