Is it harder to squat with long femurs?
Well, the longer your femur is, the more your torso will have to pitch forward in order to keep the bar over the midfoot as you squat and stand back up. Due to this particular anatomy, lifters with longer femurs relative to their torso will likely find it difficult to back squat in the high-bar setup.
How should I squat if I have long femurs?
With longer femurs, your hips will need to travel a greater distance behind you. This position is more easily achieved in a low bar squat, which promotes more hip flexion. In a high bar squat, your hips will need to sit more ‘straight down’ vs ‘back’, which will be difficult with long legs.
What sport are long femurs good for?
Long femurs are a biomechanical disadvantage in the barbell squat exercise, but an advantage in cycling due to torque (measure of force on a rotational object). Short femurs are a big advantage for squatting, but a disadvantage in cycling.
Is squatting harder if you have long legs?
Squatting with long legs can be very difficult. The length of your thighs impacts body positioning making hitting full depth more difficult than it is for shorter-legged athletes.
Are long femurs good for Deadlifting?
A person of any height can have disproportionately long femurs. These will interfere with deadlift mechanics, but there are ways to make the most of this genetic disadvantage. The long femur problem is not a function of overall body height. It’s about femur length relative to torso and shin length.
Are long legs good for deadlift?
The standard deadlift has a simple form, but it’s a form that is not ideally suited to all body types. For example, longer-than-average legs hamper the performance of a standard deadlift using correct form.
Is it harder for a tall person to squat?
“And the longer your femurs are, the harder it is to perform the back squat with high quality,” he adds. Tall guys struggle to maintain balance between pushing their hips back to settle into the squat and keeping their center of mass over the midfoot.
How long should my femur be?
The length of the average femur is about a quarter of a person’s height. Let’s say you’re about 5’6”: that means your femurs are each around 17 inches long! Image from Human Anatomy Atlas.
Do I have long or short femurs?
The best way to tell if long femurs are your problem (as well as a short torso) is to find a chair, bench or stool that — when you sit on it, your thighs are perfectly parallel to the floor. If they are not parallel (meaning, the hips are higher OR lower than the knees), this test won’t be fool proof.
Is Sumo deadlift better for long femurs?
Go Sumo. An effective variation of the deadlift for those with longer legs is the Sumo deadlift. It’s called the Sumo because the form resembles the stance of a Sumo wrestler. It requires a much wider stance than the standard deadlift while protecting the lower back during each phase of the lift.
Can you squat with a long femur?
There are plenty of Olympic lifters with long femurs. You can adjust by your shin position, the width of your stance, and ankle flexibility. Humans of every race and anthropometry have been full squatting with an erect posture for hundreds of thousands of years. If you can’t do it, you’ve lost some natural mobility.
Why do I have trouble squatting with long legs?
Now that combo of long femur (requiring a more forward leaned torso = hip flexion) plus limited mobility can become a larger problem. It this video I discuss two ways to significantly improve squat positioning for athletes with long legs.
How to measure femur length for squat depth?
Do the same “measurement” from condyles of the knee to the bottom of the foot. I did this with my teammates about 7 years ago and noticed that the ones who had a 1:1 ratio or shorter length of the femur had better depth and stronger squatting ability.
Are You struggling with your squat form?
However, if you struggle markedly with your squat form, it may not be your fault. You may be hampered by an unfavorable skeleton. You’ll just have to work extra hard on your squat form, and you’ll likely find that you can better display your strength on hip thrusts, leg presses, lunges, sled pushes, and back extensions. Don’t sweat it.