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Bodyweight squat

Also called air squat, unweighted squat, body squat.

What is a bodyweight squat?

A bodyweight squat is an unloaded squat performed with both feet on the floor. You lower by bending your hips, knees and ankles, then stand again without holding or wearing extra weight. It trains the quadriceps, gluteus maximus and adductor magnus, with the soleus assisting at the ankle. A barbell back squat, goblet squat or dumbbell squat uses the same general pattern but adds an external load and is a different exercise variation.

Two-frame anatomical illustration of a bodyweight squat on a white background. On the left, a man stands with his feet a little wider than his hips, toes turned slightly out and both arms extended forward at shoulder height. On the right, the same man is in a deep squat with his heels planted, knees bent outward over his feet, hips below his knees and torso leaning forward while his arms remain extended. No equipment or external weight is shown. The quadriceps, glute area, inner thighs and part of the lower legs are highlighted red.

How do you perform a bodyweight squat?

Set up

  1. Stand with your feet around shoulder width and turn your toes slightly out to a comfortable angle.
  2. Keep your whole foot on the floor, stand tall, and reach your arms forward for balance.

Execution

  1. Bend your hips, knees and ankles together to lower between your feet, letting your knees follow the direction of your toes.
  2. Go only as low as you can while keeping your whole foot down and the movement controlled.
  3. Push the floor away and straighten your hips and knees to stand, then reset before the next rep.

Common mistakes

  • Letting the heels or inside edges of the feet lift

    That makes the base less stable and shifts your balance as you descend. Shorten the range or adjust your stance until the whole foot can stay in contact with the floor.

  • Letting the knees collapse toward each other

    The knees no longer follow the feet, which makes it harder to keep a consistent path. Let them move in the same direction as the toes.

  • Chasing the depth shown in the illustration

    The picture shows one person's deep bottom position, not a required depth. Stop sooner if going lower lifts your heels, tips you off balance or makes you lose control.

  • Folding the chest toward the floor

    Some forward lean is normal, but dropping the chest turns the descent into a balance problem. Keep looking ahead and let the hips and knees share the movement.

Where it fits in a session

Use it wherever an unloaded squat fits the session: as the main lower-body movement in a bodyweight workout, as technique practice or before a loaded squat.

Choose a range you can repeat with the whole foot down and the same balance from rep to rep. If the movement needs to be easier, hold a stable support or squat to a higher target. If you intentionally add a dumbbell, kettlebell or barbell, log the matching loaded variation rather than this bodyweight record.

Muscles worked

Front
Front — Schematic surface view. Some muscles are partly visible or not shown.
Back
Back — Schematic surface view. Some muscles are partly visible or not shown.

Primary

Secondary

Select a muscle name to locate it.

Schematic surface view. Some muscles are partly visible or not shown.

The quadriceps extend the knees while the gluteus maximus and adductor magnus help extend the hips; the soleus assists as the ankle moves. Exact demands change with stance, depth and trunk angle, so this list describes the standard movement rather than promising the same distribution in every squat. The hamstrings may be active, but they are not listed as a target because agreement across the movement-specific check sources puts them outside the main muscle list.

Scientific studies on bodyweight squats

Bodyweight squats have been tested as training, not just as a warm-up. Results depend on who trained, how the exercise progressed and which outcome was measured.

Unloaded squats can improve some strength and muscle-size measures, but benefits are not consistent across studies. A fixed repetition target is not a guarantee of progress, and research on harder single-leg variations does not establish what ordinary two-leg squats will do.

Can squats without weights build muscle and strength?

In an eight-week study of 94 adolescent boys, the squat group improved knee-extension strength and front-thigh muscle thickness more than the control group. Strength increased by about 16% in the training group and 8% in controls; thigh thickness increased by about 3.2% and 0.5%, respectively. Participants aimed for 100 squats on training days, lowering until their thighs were parallel to the floor.

A separate eight-week study of 52 adolescent girls used a similar 100-repetition program. Changes in muscle thickness and strength did not clearly differ from controls. These studies show that unloaded squats can provide a training stimulus, but they do not establish a universal dose or predict the response of an experienced adult lifter.

Why the population matters

Both studies involved growing adolescents, whose strength and body size can change without the added program. That is why the control-group changes matter. The boys’ study recorded training about four to five days per week on average; its findings do not establish that beginners need 100 daily repetitions. We read the boys’ methods and results and the girls’ complete abstract.

Does a deeper bodyweight squat always work better?

A small study followed 16 older adults doing home squats for 12 weeks. One group used a 60 cm chair-and-cushion target; the other used a 40 cm chair. They touched the target without sitting down. Both groups improved their sit-to-stand performance and leg-press maximum compared with their own starting values, but neither showed a clear increase in measured thigh thickness or isolated knee-extension strength.

This does not establish a best depth. There was no non-training control group, only eight people per depth, and the two versions also used different lowering and lifting timings. “Deep” meant the lower chair in this study, not an unrestricted full-depth squat. Choose a repeatable range you can control; this trial does not justify forcing everyone to the same endpoint.

Sources

Are bodyweight squats equivalent to barbell squats?

A six-week trial in 13 sedentary young women compared barbell squats with a progressive bodyweight program. It found no clear difference between groups in measured strength and muscle-thickness changes. However, the bodyweight group progressed through lunges and single-leg variations; it was not simply repeating the two-leg squat shown here.

With only six or seven participants per group, an unclear difference is not proof that the programs are equivalent. The study supports investigating harder bodyweight progressions, but it cannot tell us that ordinary unloaded squats will match barbell training. Its detailed results also do not support the broad claim that every measured muscle and strength outcome improved.

Sources

Variations

  • Assisted bodyweight squat — Hold a stable rail or suspension straps for balance while keeping the same unloaded squat pattern.
  • Anatomical illustration of a woman performing a barbell box squat to a flat bench, shown standing and seated, with the quadriceps and glutes highlighted.
    Box squat to a benchUse a stable bench or box as a clear depth reference, sitting lightly before standing again.
  • Anatomical illustration of a woman holding one dumbbell at her chest while performing a goblet squat, with the thighs and glutes highlighted.
    Goblet squatHold a dumbbell or kettlebell at the chest, adding an external load to the squat.
  • Anatomical illustration of a bodyweight pistol squat at the standing and lowered positions, with the working thigh and glute highlighted.
    Pistol squatSquat on one leg while the other stays off the floor in front, adding substantial balance and mobility demands.
  • Two-frame anatomical illustration of a barbell back squat on a white background. On the left a muscular male figure stands upright, seen square from the front, with a loaded barbell across his upper back and both hands gripping it wide; from the front the bar's height on the back cannot be read. The fronts of both thighs are shaded red, as is a strip down the front of each shin. On the right the same figure is at the bottom of the rep, seen from the side and a little behind, hips at or below the knees in a deep squat with the feet flat and the toes turned out slightly; from this angle the red shading covers the fronts of the thighs and the inner thigh running up toward the groin. The buttock is in view in that frame and is not shaded, and nothing on the back of the thigh is shaded in either.
    Barbell back squatRest a barbell across the upper back and squat inside a rack; the added load changes both setup and demand.

Related tools

Frequently asked questions

What muscles do bodyweight squats work?

The quadriceps extend the knees, while the gluteus maximus and adductor magnus help extend the hips as you stand. The soleus assists at the ankle. Stance, depth and torso position can change how the work is distributed, so no single muscle ranking fits every person or rep.

How deep should a bodyweight squat be?

Use the deepest range in which your whole foot stays down and you can reverse the movement under control. The illustration shows a deep squat, but that endpoint is not a pass-fail standard. Ankle, hip and knee motion all contribute to depth, and individual proportions and mobility differ.

Can my knees move past my toes?

Yes. The knees normally move forward as the hips, knees and ankles bend, and how far they travel depends on your stance and proportions. Focus on keeping the whole foot down and letting each knee follow the direction of its toes rather than forcing the shins to stay vertical.

Why are the arms held forward?

Reaching forward helps balance the hips moving back and can make an unloaded squat easier to control. The arms are not providing resistance; they are simply a counterbalance.

Is a bodyweight squat the same as a barbell squat?

They share the basic squat pattern, but they are not the same exercise record. A bodyweight squat has no external load and needs no rack. A barbell back squat adds a bar across the upper back, along with a rack, safety setup and bracing demands that do not belong in this beginner guide.

How can I make a bodyweight squat easier?

Hold a stable rail or suspension straps for balance, or squat to a firm bench or box that limits the range. Keep the same foot contact and knee direction, then lower the target or use less hand support when the movement feels controlled.

Sources

  1. Straub RK, Powers CM. A Biomechanical Review of the Squat Exercise: Implications for Clinical Practice. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2024. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38576836/
  2. Lee TS, Song MY, Kwon YJ. Activation of back and lower limb muscles during squat exercises with different trunk flexion. J Phys Ther Sci. 2016. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5276771/
  3. Sato T, et al. Relationship among the COM Motion, the Lower Extremity and the Trunk during the Squat. Prog Rehabil Med. 2024. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39132411/
  4. Takai Y, Fukunaga Y, Fujita E, Mori H, Yoshimoto T, Yamamoto M, Kanehisa H. Effects of Body Mass-Based Squat Training in Adolescent Boys. 2013. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24149726/
  5. Yoshimoto T, Takai Y, Fukunaga Y, Fujita E, Yamamoto M, Kanehisa H. Effects of school-based squat training in adolescent girls.. 2016. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27336797/
  6. Yoshiko A, Watanabe K. Impact of home-based squat training with two-depths on lower limb muscle parameters and physical functional tests in older adults. 2021. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7994411/
  7. Wei W, Zhu JX, Ren S, Jan YK, Zhang WL, Su R, He L. Effects of progressive body-weight versus barbell back squat training on strength, hypertrophy and body fat among sedentary young women. 2023. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10439966/

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