Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

I have light pain in my right shin near the knee after squatting with a weight for 20 reps. I elevate my heels when I squat. Where am I going wrong? Is it OK to do few reps even after getting slight pain near the joints?

Your structure — femur and tibia length and upper body to lower body ratio — might preclude you from squatting healthfully with heels raised. The issue of raised heel squatting comes up from time to time because of an old photo of Arnold and me squatting that way. That practice was discontinued decades ago in my case.

Here’s a page where you’ll find a bit more discussion on squatting with raised heels.

Try flat-foot squatting, a preferred position for quad engagement — less knee-sheer. Always warm up and consider the practice of a lower-rep system (15, 12, 10, 8, 6).

Knee wraps might be in your future as heavier weight is loaded on your bar.

Proceed with caution. Pains come and go and travel about like vagabonds. Don’t feed ‘em and don’t mistreat ‘em. They often go away on their own.

Go… DD