– How Your Limbs Influence Your Strength –
When people talk about leverage in powerlifting, it often sounds like your performance can be predicted almost entirely from arm length, femur length, and body height. Short limbs are seen as ideal, long levers as a handicap – usually without considering how much, how long, and how intelligently someone has actually trained.
But what do the data really say about leverage in the three competition lifts? Where do we see genuine relationships, and where are lever effects clearly overrated? And: which technical adjustments are available if your own anthropometrics are anything but “textbook ideal”?
What does the science say?
Squat
Ferrari et al. measured classic powerlifters and found that markers of muscle mass are more strongly associated with squat 1RM than leg length or body height. In their discussion, they speculate that shorter limbs could, in principle, reduce bar travel and lever arms, thereby lowering mechanical work and joint moments – but they also emphasize that their relatively inexperienced sample might not fully exploit such advantages (Ferrari et al., 2022).
Practically, this means: yes, extreme lever configurations (very long femur, very long torso) probably influence squat style and joint moments, but the existing data point much more towards “a lot of muscle mass and solid technique beat most leverage disadvantages” rather than defining a single ideal set of proportions.
Bench Press
For the bench press, the data are quite clear: structural factors like muscle mass around the upper arm and arm proportions outweigh fine technical details. In a study on elite powerlifters, lean body mass, upper arm circumference, and an unfavorable brachial index (i.e. relatively longer humerus) explained a large portion of the variance in 1RM performance, while technical factors like small differences in bar path or shoulder angle were noticeably weaker or not related to performance at all. Similarly, Pasini et al. found that shorter upper limbs and a higher ratio of “local muscle mass to arm length” were associated with better bench press performance – presumably because both ROM and the effective resistance arm are shorter (Pasini et al., 2023).
Ferrari et al. fit into this picture: across all three lifts, indices of muscle mass are more strongly linked to bench press performance than simple length measures (Ferrari et al., 2022). So leverage can help or hurt, but without a sufficient “engine” (muscle mass + strength), even seemingly perfect arms won’t get you very far.
Deadlift
In the deadlift, leverage discussions tend to be the most emotional – but the data are surprisingly inconclusive. Ferrari et al. argue that shorter limbs in the deadlift likely lead to a shorter bar path, less mechanical work, and smaller resistance moments, and are therefore theoretically advantageous, but they note that this advantage was barely visible in their sample of less experienced lifters. A more recent study on conventional deadlifts found that arm, trunk, and shank length in a 5×5 protocol (RPE 8) explained almost nothing about kinematics, ground reaction forces, or barbell velocity. Only femur length showed a moderate relationship with concentric work at the ankle joint.
At the same time, other studies cited in that paper report partly positive, partly weak associations between body height, arm/leg length, and deadlift 1RM (Keith, 2023). Taken together, this suggests: leverage influences how you pull (start position, ROM, joint loading), but not in a deterministic way how much you can pull – especially once you’ve spent years optimizing technique and building muscle mass.
Technique
Squat
With long femurs and a torso that tends to tip forward, it’s worth adjusting bar position and stance instead of cursing your anatomy. A low-bar position, a slightly wider stance, and feet turned out a bit can help bring the hips closer under the bar and reduce the back moment arm. Depth: just enough to be competition-legal – not 10 cm deeper if everything collapses at the bottom and your levers are at their worst.
Bench Press
Long arms and a flat rib cage usually mean more ROM and larger lever arms at the shoulder and elbow. You can counteract that by deliberately building a stronger arch (chest up, shoulder blades tighter together). In addition, using a slightly wider grip and choosing a lower touch point on the chest (toward the lower pecs) can shorten ROM.
Deadlift
Short arms and long legs often force a very deep, unfavorable start position with a large back moment. Here, a closer bar distance (bar literally on the shins), a moderately wider stance, a slightly higher hip position, and, depending on your build, a switch to sumo can bring hips and center of mass closer to the bar.
Conclusion
Looking at the data for squat, bench, and deadlift together, a fairly clear picture emerges: leverage is real, and extreme proportions visibly affect bar path, ROM, and joint moments. But they only explain part of the performance differences.
Across the existing work, the same predictors keep showing up: body weight, fat-free mass, and local muscle circumferences are more stable and stronger correlates of performance than individual length measures. Instead of accepting leverage as fate, you can use technical adjustments to offset many mechanical disadvantages.
Lifters who make “bad leverage” their main story often shift attention away from the factors they actually can change: smart exercise selection, patient muscle gain, and clean technical work over years.
Written by Coach Lisa Schaake
References
Ferrari, L., Colosio, A. L., Teso, M., & Pogliaghi, S. (2022). Performance and Anthropometrics of Classic Powerlifters: Which Characteristics Matter? Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 36(4), 1003–1010. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000003570
Keith, D. (2023). Anthropometric Predictors of Conventional Deadlift Kinematics and Kinetics: A Preliminary Study. International Journal of Exercise Science, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.70252/CVQH8240
Pasini, A., Caruso, L., Bortolotto, E., Lamberti, N., Toselli, S., Manfredini, F., Zaccagni, L., & Rinaldo, N. (2023). Prediction of bench press performance in powerlifting: The role of upper limb anthropometry. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 18(2). https://doi.org/10.14198/jhse.2023.182.18