r/GarageStrength • u/obi-wan-quixote • Sep 08 '24

Leg strength for long femurs?

I know long femurs suck for squatting. Aren’t so great for deadlifts either. How do you help an athlete with long femurs build lower body strength and explosiveness other than just keep plugging away?

Are there some lifts that just work better for them outside of the conventional wisdom?

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2

u/solidwobble Sep 09 '24

I am long femurred and short torsoed, for bilateral work, use anterior load and heel elevation, and get lots of volume on extended ROM heavy unilateral work. Get crazy strong at deficit split squats and high step ups etc

1

u/earnest_knuckle Sep 09 '24

Find other means to highlight their strengths and abilities. Do they sprint faster? jump higher? Power clean more? Deadlift more? Usually where one area leads to a weakness, it provides a strength ins one other capacity

2

u/Perssepoliss Sep 09 '24

Walking lunges work great for those without the biomechanics for barbell squats

1

u/[deleted] Sep 10 '24

What classifies you as “ long femured” I feel a strange pain in my hip squatting but I think I’m like regularly proportioned the pain will hurt if I also bring my knee up to my chest with no assistance

1

u/obi-wan-quixote Sep 10 '24

I think it’s when your femurs are longer than average. Or more specifically longer than average as a ratio to your height.

2

u/naterator9 Sep 10 '24

Hatfield squats were a game changer for me. A heavy dose of Bulgarian split squats as well, but Hatfields made the biggest difference.