# Bodyweight Squat: how to do it

- Main muscles: quads, glutes
- Also works: hamstrings, adductors
- Equipment: bodyweight
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/bodyweight_squat/24b37c9ff1/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Stand with feet just wider than your hips, toes turned out slightly.
2. Push your hips back and bend your knees at the same time.
3. Lift your arms forward for balance as you lower.
4. Stop when your thighs are about parallel to the floor.
5. Push through your whole foot to stand tall again.

## Cues

- Sit back and down, chest up.
- Knees point over your toes.
- Keep your heels on the floor.

## Common mistakes

- Letting the knees fall inward.
- Lifting the heels as you get lower.
- Rounding the back to get deeper.

## Starting position

Stand with the feet slightly wider than hip-width (about shoulder-width), toes turned out a little, whole foot flat. Arms hang at the sides, palms in. Shoulder blades down and back, chest up, head neutral, eyes forward. Brace the trunk.

## The movement

The hips start back and down while the knees bend at the same time, so the hips and knees hinge together. The knees drift forward over the 2nd toe and the shins tilt forward under control. The back stays flat and, seen from the side, the trunk stays roughly parallel to the shins. On the way up, push the floor away through the whole foot; hips and chest rise together and the arms lower back to the sides.

## End position

The rep turns round when the thighs are parallel to the floor or just past it. Stop earlier if the heels would lift or the back would round. Thigh horizontal (90° from vertical) plus trunk about 40° gives about 110–130° hip flexion; the lower end is used because the trunk tracks the shin, which is about 35° from vertical.

## Tempo

2 s down, 0.3 s pause at the bottom, 1 s up, 0.5 s stand.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Stance, heel to heel | 1.0 × shoulder width | 0.9–1.2 × | [1] [2] |
| Toe-out, each foot | 10° | 0–20° | [1] [2] |
| Depth: hip crease vs top of knee | level | 5 cm above to 5 cm below | [1] [2] |
| Thigh angle from horizontal at the bottom | 0° (parallel) | 10° above to 10° below | [1] [2] |
| Knee flexion at the bottom | 115° | 105–125° | [3] |
| Trunk vs shin, side view | parallel | within 10° | [1] [2] |

## Sources

1. [ACE, Bodyweight Squat](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/135/bodyweight-squat/)
2. [Myer et al. 2014, Strength Cond J, "The back squat: a proposed assessment of functional deficits and technical factors that limit performance"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4262933/)
3. [Front Sports Act Living 2024, "Impact of the deep squat on articular knee joint structures" (scoping review)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11618833/)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/bodyweight-squat