Dr. Shannon Ritchey, PT, DPT on Instagram: "If heavy squats don’t feel good OR if you don’t have access to heavy enough weights, you can still build muscle and strength in the legs. Muscle growth doesn’t require any single exercise (squats included). It requires sufficient mechanical tension on the muscle fibers. Mechanical tension is influenced by two main components: 1. External load (a dumbbell, barbell, or even your bodyweight) 2. The moment arm (the distance between the joint and the line o