tops of knees sore

[rikkusan]

Hi Mark,

I've been doing a 5x5 workout for the last few months and have been experiencing a fairly chronic pain on the top and slightly inside of each knee. It seems okay once I'm warmed up but when I'm cold it aches when I squat down or go up stairs. I try hard to push my knees out and sit back. I'm wondering if it's just weak adductors. Have you heard of this problem before? i haven;t found anything on this thread so far.

Thanks for your time and advice!

[Mark Rippetoe]

Sounds like your standard prepatellar tendinitis, the kind which comes from squatting above parallel. Don't let this happen to you.

[rikkusan]

Sounds like your standard prepatellar tendinitis, the kind which comes from squatting above parallel. Don't let this happen to you.

Ah-ha! That makes sense. I never really had any problem with knees until I started focusing on pushing my knees out and my butt back (because my lower back was rounding so much at the bottom). I guess my extremely inflexible body is preventing me from squating as deep in the proper position. I'll try lowering the weight and concentrate on squating deeper. Thanks for the insight!