How to do it
- Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and toes turned slightly out.
- Sit down and back, keeping the chest tall and the heels planted, until the hips break parallel.
- Drive through the whole foot to stand, squeezing the glutes at the top.
Cues that matter
- Reach the arms forward as a counterweight if you tip backwards.
- Slow the lowering phase to three seconds to make bodyweight sets genuinely hard.
Common mistakes
- Letting the heels lift off the floor.
- Cutting depth short and turning it into a quarter squat.
Muscles worked
Primary
- Quads
- All four heads
Also works
- Glutes
- Core
Sets and reps
What to do with it depends on what you are training for. These are the ranges MuscleMap uses when it puts Bodyweight Squat in a session, with 150 seconds between sets.
- Strength
- 4–6 reps
- Build muscle
- 6–10 reps
- Endurance
- 12–20 reps
Same muscle, different kit
Movements that train the same part of the quads with different equipment — for a day the bodyweight is taken, or a gym that does not have one.