This is a coaching problem. You don’t know what you don’t know. I’m not even a squat absolutist but guys with long femurs and short torsos can squat just fine with an adjustment of mechanics. A more horizontal back angle is not “wrong” so long as the barbell stays... centered over midfoot. I’m a long femur short torso guy myself. Here is a perfectly fine paused high bar squat.show more

The problem is that depending on how much you have to bend, the point of failure becomes the lower back and not the quads (And let's face it most of are doing squats for the quads, not for the squat itself) It's not that squats don't work for long femeur guys, it's just that they become more and more "meh" for growth as the back gives out before the legs do

I guess these people will just have to go through life never being able to squat down and pick anything up 🤣.

They don’t know how to coach it and they don’t have the humility to admit there might be something about training they don’t know yet.

Yeah I think you nailed it on the head. Since getting actual coaching, I’ve realized that ANYONE can squat, or do any other lift. It doesn’t look the same but a good coach can get them progressing and loading things up in no time.

Has he blocked you yet?

It’s frustrating when coaches want to force long femur squatters into upright posture. I’ve been trying for decades… fetch isn’t happening!

Maybe you do have long femurs; for an 8 year old

Yeah I saw that post and instantly thought it was dumb Obviously you can adjust your squat technique for your body type

True. People who haven’t coached hundreds of clients or done 1000s of intakes don’t know how many people aren’t built optimally for a squat. It doesn’t mean those people can’t. It means it’s a lot of wasted effort for low ROI. I am over 6’3”, squat great w long torso/long femur. I have a female colleague who is 5’9” and her ASIS is 3 inches higher than mine. Her torso is 9 inches shorter than mine while her legs are 3 inches longer. No matter what she does with heel lift, forward bow, sumo stance, she will waste a lot of time on squat. It’s an inconvenient fact that inexperienced coaches don’t understand. I didn’t really accept it for my first 5-10 years of professional coaching either, even after over 10,000 intakes. But it’s so undeniable in a lot of the populace you eventually have to focus on ROI and productivity.

How does one determine long torso, short femur, long femur, short torso? I just squat.

The REAL problem is he's not using safety rails.

I’m an adrenaline junkie

Why do people squat outside the rack like that?

We like to live dangerously

Are your hips inverted? (Ankles together and knees naturally touch?) I didn’t learn how to move correctly until I had a couple acl surgeries. I think a problem with lifting is every body type/shape must move slightly different. Great post. I’m a long legged short torso guy.

"Long femur, short torso."🙈 But Dean has a long torso... It really is a coaching problem.

I’ll ask the question I always ask to these guys… “So how do they poop? They just stand spread eagle over the toilet?” I don’t get it… we’ll rationalize anything to avoid the exercises with the most bang for the buck… In 2025.

ok but you're using squat shoes

And when I go golfing I wear golf shoes

It's funny though if you switch to front squat 100 percent of people can go to atg. Amazing what the difference of 8 or so inches of the bar being forward does.

The issue is specificity. If a long femur person is trying to target knee extension strength/hypertrophy they might be better off doing heal elevated squats that allow for more knee ROM and cause the quads to be the limiting factor. The weak link gets the most training stimulus

In many cases I would agree. For pure hypertrophy purposes if the quads sometimes things like hacks are better. I’m not an absolutist on anything, but I don’t like people being told they “can’t” squat because of a body type. They can.

Raising the heals usually helps too unless your ankle mobility is very good

But he had pretty pictures…. surely he must be right?! The ease with which people can create slick content has its advantages, but the challenge it creates for non-experts to distinguish between what’s worth listening to and what’s not, is a real problem.

Are you wearing heel elevated lifting shoes?

Yes

Looks like a great squat to me Andy!

Ankle dorsiflexion and adequate hip mobility is the key. These people don't work on their flexibility and say generic statements like "I'm not built for squats"

Im anti-squat in general

It’s really hard to tell without a side view. I would love to believe it’s possible as I really struggle with this.

Video yourself squatting from a few angles and DM me with video. Rear oblique angle (from the side and slightly behind) is best diagnostic angle. Pure front and pure rear aren’t good. Pure side is okay but miss some things

THANK YOU

Judas Priest sends it.

Wow, you go super wide on the grip!

Tell your back in 20 years that it "wasn't wrong" to lean forward at a 45degree angle while holding 300lbs of weight.

I’m already at 30 years of training and regularly squatted with 500+ for at least 10 of those years. My back is fine. You aren’t that fragile.

you sit, you stand, you go to the toilet, right? Unless you’ve got extreme deformities, you’re built to squat.

Good ROM in the ankles is key

The picture is just misleading in general. I know like one person who keeps their toes pointed forward during a squat. Bar placement, feet placement, toe angle, flat shoes v lifted shoes all make a difference.

I think the pursuit of an ATG squat for anyone is worth it. A lot you can learn about your restrictions, etc

Tried squatting with (less) weight loaded on crown of head instead of a barbell across the shoulders? Loading the head engages cervical, which helps most deeply and thoroughly engage entire core/spine, and posterior, while releasing the anterior...it may help long femur folks.

Problem will be putting 300+ lbs on top of your head but good luck

Wow, what an incurious response. The bulk of your actual health pertains to the function of your head, neck and cervical spine, and most of what you are doing is actually far less essential to your wellness, and even your performance... And, you can do BOTH, you silly goose.

Okay. I’ll squat with the bar on my head tomorrow

That'd hurt...instead...Big guy like you can do 30# med ball, easily. Great for a warm-up at least. Also, this opens up other planes for c-spine. Point is, when you load head, you'll notice how much more the spine/core & full kinetic chains engage, and how biomechanics improve.

Long femurs? So pedantic. Just get under the fk’n bar and do what you can do