Individuals with long legs have a hard time squatting. When the weight gets heavy, they often bow to the King and turn the exercise into a good morning. As a result, there’s more stress on the lower back and less on the quads.

Arnold was a tall guy. Staying upright was difficult for him.

Meanwhile, individuals with short femurs are often squat masters. Short stocky people are simply built to squat. The length of their limbs allows them to stay upright and shortens the range of motion.

In the video below, you can see a Chinese weightlifter squat a heavy weight for multiple reps.

Notice that he has really short legs allowing him to remain upright.

People with long legs can still squat insanely heavy weights, but the process will be difficult and long.

Stay away from low bar squats

The low bar squat requires everyone to lean over more in comparison to the high bar squat. As a result, people with long femurs look ridiculous when they low bar squat (think Layne Norton). Therefore, in my opinion, people with long legs who have healthy knees should do high bar squats in order to remain more upright and keep the tension on the legs as much as possible.

Use weightlifting shoes

Another way to shift more stress to the quads and remain upright during squats is to lift with weightlifting shoes.

Weightlifting shoes have wooden heels, which allow the knees to travel forward more. Consequently, the lifter stays more upright, and the quads have to work extra hard. As a bonus, you will also squat deeper.

However, some people experience knee pain when squatting in weightlifting shoes. If you have long legs, there’s an even higher chance to be one of those people. I personally sold my weightlifting shoes a long time ago.

Focus on quality reps

Squat with good form. Don’t turn your repetitions into a sophisticated attempt to break your spine. In the video below, you see what happens when you decide to sacrifice form for reps.