Bodyweight Squats
The bodyweight squat is the basic squat pattern with no load: sit your hips down and back between your feet, then stand up. It trains your quads and glutes, with your hamstrings assisting. Use it to learn squat mechanics, warm up or build endurance. Make it harder with slower tempos, pauses or single-leg variations.
Muscles worked
The bodyweight squats trains the quadriceps and glutes, with hamstrings helping.
Primary
Helpers
Weekly sets for quadriceps
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for quadriceps, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the bodyweight squats
- 01Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart, toes turned out slightly, and arms reaching forward for balance.
- 02Brace your abs and take a breath before you start the descent.
- 03Bend your hips and knees together, pushing your knees out over your toes as you sit down.
- 04Lower until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor while keeping your heels down and chest up.
- 05Drive through your whole foot to stand back up, squeezing your glutes at the top.
Coaching cues
- Knees follow your toes
- Sit between your heels
- Whole foot stays planted
Common mistakes
- Letting your knees cave inward as you stand puts the load in the wrong place; push your knees out in line with your toes.
- Lifting your heels off the floor shifts weight onto your toes; sit back slightly and keep pressure through the middle of your foot.
- Stopping far above parallel cuts most of the glute work; lower as deep as you can while keeping your back flat.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers compound lifts toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Once the top of the range is easy, Swole.fit suggests a harder variation or added load.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Bodyweight Squats alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your bodyweight squats free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.