Exercise library

How to do the Bodyweight Squat

A beginner compound exercise using bodyweight, working the quadriceps.

Primary musclesQuadriceps
Secondary musclesGlutes, Hamstrings
EquipmentBodyweight
LevelBeginner
TypeCompound
ForcePush

Steps

  1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. You can place your hands behind your head. This will be your starting position.
  2. Begin the movement by flexing your knees and hips, sitting back with your hips.
  3. Continue down to full depth if you are able,and quickly reverse the motion until you return to the starting position. As you squat, keep your head and chest up and push your knees out.

Tracking it in OneRep

Add the bodyweight squat to a routine and your previous weight and reps sit beside every set, so the decision to add load is made by what is already on the screen rather than by memory. Exercise history and volume trends are one tap away, and logging works offline for the gyms where signal does not reach.

Because OneRep tracks food on the same timeline, a stall on this lift can be read against what you were actually eating that month — which is the difference between a programming problem and an eating one. More on that in tracking progressive overload without a spreadsheet.

Where the instructions come from

The steps above come from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. They are general guidance, not coaching for your body: if a movement hurts, stop and get someone qualified to look at it.