How Many Squats Should You Do a Day?
There is no fixed number of squats a day that suits everyone. If ten bodyweight squats are hard, two or three sets of five to eight is enough. If you can do 30 clean reps in a row, 50 to 80 a day in a few sets is reasonable practice. For stronger legs, two to four harder sessions a week usually do more than any daily count.
In this guide
How many squats a day should you do?
There is no fixed number. A squat count only means something next to two other facts: how deep each rep goes, and how many clean reps you can do in one set. A quick test gives you both:
- Place a stable chair or box behind you at the depth you can control. Touch it lightly on each rep without sitting down.
- Do one continuous set at a steady pace. Stop at the first rep where your heels lift, your knees cave in, or you cut the depth. Stop at 50 if you get there.
- Use that number to find your row in the table below. Repeat the test every two weeks.
Most people get more from two to four harder sessions a week than from a fixed daily count. A daily count still has a place, mainly as a habit and as light practice for your hips and knees. If your form needs work first, start with how to do a squat.
How many squats a day by level?
The daily column is light practice for most days of the week. The harder-session column is for two to four nonconsecutive days. Choose one approach for a month; if you mix them, keep the daily sets very easy on hard-session days. Treat the numbers as coaching starting points.
| Your test | Level | Daily practice | Or 2–4 harder sessions a week | When it gets easy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | New to squatting | 2–3 sets of 5 box squats | 3 sets of 5–8 box or supported squats | Lower the box, then retest without it |
| 10–24 | Beginner | 3 sets of 6–10 (18–30 a day) | 3 sets of 6–10 with a 3-second lower | Add a 2-second pause at the bottom |
| 25–49 | Some training | 3–4 sets of 12–20 (36–80 a day) | 3 sets of 8–12 split squats per leg | Raise your back foot on a low step |
| 50 or more | Trained | 2–4 sets of 20–25 (40–100 a day), only if you enjoy it | 3–4 sets of 6–10 per leg of a harder single-leg squat | Follow the pistol progression or add weight |
Daily practice and harder sessions do different jobs:
- Daily practice keeps the habit, moves your hips and knees through their range most days, and builds endurance at that rep count. Once the sets feel easy, it adds little strength.
- Harder sessions use slower, paused, or single-leg squats with a rest day after each one. They are the better tool for strength and leg muscle, and they leave time to recover.
What will 50 or 100 squats a day do?
It depends on your test. With a test of 20, fifty squats as five sets of 10 is hard work. Over the first few weeks your legs will usually get stronger and better at long sets, because new leg work is a real stimulus when you are untrained. With a test of 60, fifty squats split into two or three sets is light practice. It keeps you moving but adds little strength.
A hundred squats a day mostly builds endurance at high reps, and the returns shrink once the reps are easy. Muscle needs sets that are hard for you. Schoenfeld and colleagues found similar muscle growth across load ranges when sets were hard, while heavier loads favoured strength. Bodyweight squats can build leg muscle while they stay hard. When 25 in a row is easy, a slower or single-leg version keeps them hard. For strength, harder variations or added weight do more than extra reps.
Squats will not burn fat from your thighs, hips, or belly in particular. You cannot choose where your body loses fat by training the muscles there. Fat loss follows your overall diet and activity. Squats add activity and build muscle, but the fat they help you lose comes from your whole body.
Is the 30-day squat challenge worth doing?
Popular squat challenges get some things right. They give you a daily habit, a clear target, and a gradual build, and many include a few rest days. They also get several things wrong:
- Everyone starts at the same number, whether their test is 8 or 80.
- Reps rise by the calendar, not by how your last session went.
- For a new squatter, the total can climb faster than thigh soreness settles.
- One variation for 30 days turns the plan into an endurance test.
- Day 30 ends with no retest and no next step.
A better 30 days keeps the habit and ties each step to your own test:
| Days | Week shape | Main work on training days | Move on when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Test day | One clean set to your depth; write down the number | Start the plan the next day |
| 2–8 | 3 training days, 2 easy days, 2 rest days | 3 sets of half your test (up to 15) with a 3-second lower | Every set is clean at the same depth |
| 9–15 | Same shape | 3 sets of half your test (up to 15) with a 2-second pause, then 2 sets of 6–8 split squats per leg | Both legs reach 8 clean split squats |
| 16–22 | Same shape | 3 sets of 8–12 split squats per leg, then 2 sets of pause squats | Every split-squat set reaches 12 |
| 23–29 | Same shape; make day 29 a rest day | 3 sets of 6–10 split squats per leg with your back foot on a low step, or stay on floor split squats until you reach 12 | Every set is clean on both legs |
| 30 | Retest | Repeat the day-1 test | Pick your next row in the level table |
On easy days, do two sets of 10 easy squats or take a walk. If your day-1 test was under 10, use box squats in place of split squats and lower the box a little each week. For this month, the day-30 test replaces the two-week retest.
Daily squats or training days: which is better?
Light daily squats are a reasonable habit if every set stays well short of your limit. Hard sessions need recovery, so put a day between them. ACSM's resistance-training position stand includes two to three days a week for novices and progress through gradual overload. Three harder leg days a week fits that pattern.
Squats alone are not a full strength routine. The WHO guidelines recommend muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days a week, as do the U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines. The NHS guidance asks for strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups on at least two days a week. Squats mainly train your legs and hips, so add a push, a pull, and a core exercise. How many push-ups a day uses the same sizing idea for pushing, and the calisthenics hub lays out the other skills.
A week that uses both approaches could look like this: harder squat sessions on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; two easy sets of 10 on Tuesday and Thursday; the weekend off.
How can you make squats harder without weights?
Change one thing at a time. Move on when every set reaches the top of its range in two sessions. That is progressive overload without a barbell.
- Slow lowering: take three or four seconds to reach your depth, then stand at a normal speed.
- Bottom pause: hold for two seconds at your clean depth with no bounce, then stand.
- One-and-a-half reps: lower, rise halfway, lower again, then stand. That counts as one rep.
- Split squat: stand in a long stagger and lower mostly straight down. The supported split squat lets you hold a post for balance.
- Back foot raised: put your rear foot on a low step, then a higher one as you get stronger.
- Single-leg squats: box single-leg squats and assisted pistols lead toward the full pistol squat.
The bodyweight squat exercise page has the basic movement steps.
How do you look after your knees with daily squats?
Deep squatting does not need to scare you. Hartmann and colleagues reviewed the evidence and concluded that concerns about deep squats injuring passive knee tissues are unfounded when technique is learned and load is progressed gradually. Both conditions matter for daily squatters. A challenge that multiplies your reps within a month is not gradual progression.
Sore thighs for a day or two after starting a new routine are normal. Joint pain is different. Back off when you notice any of these:
- An ache in or around the kneecap that is still there the next morning.
- Pain on stairs that started with the new routine.
- Sharp pain at any point in the squat.
Halve your daily reps, shorten the depth to a range that feels comfortable, or take two or three days off squats. Stop a session for sharp pain. If pain persists, see a physiotherapist or doctor before you return to daily squats.
How do you track your squats?
Write down your test number, the variation, the depth, and the clean reps in every set. "Split squat, 10, 10, 9 per leg" tells you what to do next time; "60 squats" does not. Trainer logging is free, and every set arrives pre-filled with the reps to hit next.
Sources
- Schoenfeld et al., 2017. Strength and hypertrophy adaptations between low- vs high-load resistance training. J Strength Cond Res
- ACSM, 2009. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc
- WHO, 2020. WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour
- U.S. ODPHP: Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans
- NHS: Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64
- Hartmann et al., 2013. Analysis of the load on the knee joint and vertebral column with changes in squatting depth and weight load. Sports Med
Frequently asked questions
Is 100 squats a day too much?
Not if your test is 50 or more and you built up over a few weeks in sets of 20 to 25. For a beginner who can do 15, starting at 100 a day is too big a jump. Start near twice your test, add 10 to 20 reps a week while every set stays clean, and keep at least one rest day.
Will squats every day make my legs bigger?
Only while the sets are hard for you. Easy daily squats mostly build endurance. To keep building muscle, use slower, paused, or single-leg squats, or add weight, and leave a rest day after each hard session.
Do squats burn belly fat?
Not specifically. Training a muscle does not burn the fat over it or near it. Squats add activity and build leg muscle, while fat loss depends on your overall diet and activity.
Should I rest between squat days?
Rest a day after each hard session of slow, paused, or single-leg squats. Light practice sets can run on most days. Take at least one full day off a week, and more if your knees or thighs stay sore.
Try the numbers for yourself.
Workout log template
Fill in your sets, download a CSV, or print a log for the gym.
Calories burned lifting
Estimate a lifting session with moderate or vigorous MET values.
A useful next read.
All guidesDepth, knee travel and the fixes for lifting heels or caving knees.
Box pistols, assisted reps and negatives on the way to a full pistol.