Maintaining your fitness is vital for staying healthy, which is why it’s good to keep things simple. Bodyweight exercises are ideal because you can do them anywhere. Squats are arguably the best exercise you can do because they’re challenging and safe while targeting a lot of muscle groups — quads, hamstrings, glutes and core — simultaneously.
For a little direction, we put together a 28-day squat challenge to boost your lower-body strength and give you a daily sense of achievement.
Best of all, this challenge doesn’t take a lot of time (you won’t have to do 200 squats in a row, we promise). Using only bodyweight exercises means you could nail your daily goal anywhere — even in your own home. Focus on fewer, quality reps that get tougher over time.
Here’s how it works:
- Every week, you’ll try a new squat variation to increase the challenge and stimulus so your muscles continue to work and grow.
- Take as little rest as possible in between sets, but take enough rest so you can do all the reps.
- If you fail to do all of the reps for that day, that’s totally fine! (Remember: It’s a challenge!) We recommend you go back to the beginning of the week and try again.The 28-Day Squat Challenge
EXERCISES
Air Squat
Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart and your toes slightly pointing out. Start the movement by sitting backward and spreading your knees apart. Descend below parallel while keeping your lower back flat. At the bottom, drive through your heels and keep your knees apart as you return to standing. Keep your arms straight in front of you.
Pause Squat
Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart and your toes slightly pointing out. Start the movement by sitting backward and spreading your knees apart. Descend below parallel while keeping your lower back flat. At the bottom, pause for 3 seconds. Then, drive through your heels and keep your knees apart. Keep your arms straight in front of you as you return to standing.
Single-Leg Squats Off Box
Start by facing away from a bench or box. Lift one leg, sit back onto the bench and come up without putting your other leg down. To make it harder, lower the bench.
Lateral Squat
Start with a very wide stance and your feet straight. Sit back into one hip and push that knee out. Repeat on the other side.
Make progress every day while you work on fitness and nutrition goals. Go to “Plans” in the MyFitnessPal app for daily coaching and easy-to-follow tasks to keep you motivated.
