When it comes to toning your lower body, squats are at the top of our exercise list. A squat is a simple yet super effective exercise that sculpts your thighs, lifts your booty, and whittles your core. So you could only imagine what changes could happen to your body if you squatted every day. Or you could find out for yourself… we’ve put together a 30-day squat challenge that you can start anywhere, anytime!
What is a Squat?
A squat is a compound movement that recruits major muscles in your lower body and core. It’s a foundational functional movement that we actually perform in our day-to-day lives (like when your mom would remind you to lift heavy boxes with your legs, not your back… or was that just mine?). The traditional squat, where your feet are hip-width, parallel and arms are at your sides, is also the foundation of a number of other lower body exercises like jump squats, burpees, sumo squats, split squats, back squats, front squats, single-leg squat, pistol squat, narrow squat… you get the gist.
Fun Fact: This is Sydney Benner’s favorite move. FitOn trainer and the founder of TAKE FLIGHT FITNESS, a non-stop workout fusing yoga and dance, Sydney knows a thing or two about getting fit. She says the squat is an age-old favorite for good reason — it’s a total body exercise that targets all the good parts!
The Benefits of Squats
Aside from giving you a booty, you’ll want to look back at, the squat has a number of other motivating benefits worth mentioning as you embark on your very own squat challenge!
Like how they:
- Release hormones, like testosterone, which help you build more muscle more easily overall.
- Recruit stabilizing muscles to help improve balance and stability.
- Improve hip flexibility and make daily activities easier, like walking up the stairs.
- Reduce the risk of injury by building the muscles around your knees.
- Build the foundation for explosive movements, so you can jump higher.
- Burn calories by increasing your heart rate.
30 Day Squat Challenge
Time to get fired up because you’re about to be one sizzling 30-day squat challenge before and after photo. Hellooo booty! We see you wanting to come out for some backside building and lower body toning.
Day 1: 10 Squats
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance parallel. Arms can be by your sides or clasped in front of you.
#2: Pull your belly button into your spine to engage your abs and protect your lower back. With your weight on your heels, bend your knees and sit down into your squat. Make sure to keep your knees in line with your toes, back straight, and shoulders away from your ears.
#3: Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes as you come back to your starting position for one rep.
Day 2: 15 Split Squats Each Side
#1: Start with your right foot forward, left foot staggered a couple of feet behind. Hands can be on your waist, clasped in front of you, or down by your sides (extra credit if you add resistance with some dumbbells!).
#2: Balancing on the ball of your back left foot, pull your abs in, and bend both knees to 90-degree angles. Make sure your front knee tracks over your front toes and back knee drives straight to the ground.
#3 Squeeze your glutes and come back to your starting position for one rep. Repeat on the opposite side.
Day 3: 10 Squats + 15 Split Squats Each Side
Combine the exercises from Days 1 and 2!
Day 4: 15 Squats
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance parallel. Arms can be by your sides or clasped in front of you.
#2: Pull your belly button into your spine to engage your abs and protect your lower back. With your weight on your heels, bend your knees and sit down into your squat. Make sure to keep your knees in line with your toes, back straight, and shoulders away from your ears.
#3: Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes as you come back to your starting position for one rep.
Day 5: 15 Squat to Presses (With Weights)
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance, parallel. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, a barbell, or one dumbbell in both hands at your chest, elbows bent.
#2: Keeping your abs engaged and shoulders away from your ears, bend your knees, and come down to your squat position.
#3: Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes to come back to standing. Raise your arms up to the sky and lift the dumbbells straight overhead.
#4: Lower your arms to come back to your starting position for one rep.
Day 6: 15 Squats + 15 Squat to Presses (With Weights)
Combine the exercises from Days 4 and 5!
Day 7: 20 Squats
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance parallel. Arms can be by your sides or clasped in front of you.
#2: Pull your belly button into your spine to engage your abs and protect your lower back. With your weight on your heels, bend your knees and sit down into your squat. Make sure to keep your knees in line with your toes, back straight, and shoulders away from your ears.
#3: Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes as you come back to your starting position for one rep.
Day 8: 15 Jump Squats
#1 Start standing with feet hip-distance, parallel.
#2 With your abs pulled in tight, come down to your squat, arms in front of you. Hands can be clasped.
#3: Drive through your heels and push off the ground as you come back up to standing and jump up into the air.
#4: Come back down to the bottom of your squat for one rep.
Day 9: 20 Squats + 15 Jump Squats
Combine the exercises from Days 7 and 8!
Day 10: 25 Squats
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance parallel. Arms can be by your sides or clasped in front of you.
#2: Pull your belly button into your spine to engage your abs and protect your lower back. With your weight on your heels, bend your knees and sit down into your squat. Make sure to keep your knees in line with your toes, back straight, and shoulders away from your ears.
#3: Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes as you come back to your starting position for one rep.
Day 11: 10 Broad Jumps
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance parallel, arms by your sides.
#2: Pull your belly button into your spine and bend your knees into your squat.
#3: Drive through your heels and push off the ground as you come back up to standing and jump up into the air, propelling forward as far as you can.
#4: Landing gracefully, with control back into your squat position for one rep. Continue hopping forward or if you have a small space, turn around and hop back the other direction.
Day 12: 25 Squats + 10 Broad Jumps
Combine the exercises from Days 10 and 11!
Day 13: 30 Squats
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance parallel. Arms can be by your sides or clasped in front of you.
#2: Pull your belly button into your spine to engage your abs and protect your lower back. With your weight on your heels, bend your knees and sit down into your squat. Make sure to keep your knees in line with your toes, back straight, and shoulders away from your ears.
#3: Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes as you come back to your starting position for one rep.
Day 14: 15 Squat to Shoulder Raises (With Weights)
#1: Start with feet hip-distance, parallel. Hold one weight (dumbbell, kettlebell, water bottle, whatever you have) in front of you with both hands, arms straight.
#2: Abs tight, bend your knees into a deep squat position. Make sure your knees are tracking over your toes!
#3: Drive through your heels as you stand back up. Using your upper back and shoulders, bring the weight up to the middle of your chest. Lower your arms back down to your starting position for one rep.
Day 15: 30 Squats + 15 Squat to Shoulder Raises (With Weights)
Combine the exercises from Days 13 and 14!
Day 16: 35 Squats
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance parallel. Arms can be by your sides or clasped in front of you.
#2: Pull your belly button into your spine to engage your abs and protect your lower back. With your weight on your heels, bend your knees and sit down into your squat. Make sure to keep your knees in line with your toes, back straight, and shoulders away from your ears.
#3: Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes as you come back to your starting position for one rep.
Day 17: 20 Split Squats Each Side
#1: Start with your right foot forward, left foot staggered a couple feet behind. Hands can be on your waist, clasped in front of you, or down by your sides (extra credit if you add resistance with some dumbbells!).
#2: Balancing on the ball of your back left foot, pull your abs in, and bend both knees to 90-degree angles. Make sure your front knee tracks over your front toes and back knee drives straight to the ground.
#3 Squeeze your glutes and come back to your starting position for one rep. Repeat on the opposite side.
Day 18: 35 Squats + 20 Split Squats Each Side
Combine the exercises from Days 16 and 17!
Day 19: 40 Squats
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance parallel. Arms can be by your sides or clasped in front of you.
#2: Pull your belly button into your spine to engage your abs and protect your lower back. With your weight on your heels, bend your knees and sit down into your squat. Make sure to keep your knees in line with your toes, back straight, and shoulders away from your ears.
#3: Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes as you come back to your starting position for one rep.
Day 20: 20 Squat to Presses (With Weights)
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance, parallel. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, a barbell, or one dumbbell in both hands at your chest, elbows bent.
#2: Keeping your abs engaged and shoulders away from your ears, bend your knees, and come down to your squat position.
#3: Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes to come back to standing. Raise your arms up to the sky and lift the dumbbells straight overhead.
#4: Lower your arms to come back to your starting position for one rep.
Day 21: 40 Squats + 20 Squat to Presses (With Weights)
Combine exercises from Days 19 and 20!
Day 22: 45 Squats
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance parallel. Arms can be by your sides or clasped in front of you.
#2: Pull your belly button into your spine to engage your abs and protect your lower back. With your weight on your heels, bend your knees and sit down into your squat. Make sure to keep your knees in line with your toes, back straight, and shoulders away from your ears.
#3: Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes as you come back to your starting position for one rep.
Day 23: 20 Jump Squats
#1 Start standing with feet hip-distance, parallel.
#2 With your abs pulled in tight, come down to your squat, arms in front of you. Hands can be clasped.
#3: Drive through your heels and push off the ground as you come back up to standing and jump up into the air.
#4: Come back down to the bottom of your squat for one rep.
Day 24: 45 Squats + 20 Jump Squats
Combine exercises from Days 22 and 23!
Day 25: 50 Squats
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance parallel. Arms can be by your sides or clasped in front of you.
#2: Pull your belly button into your spine to engage your abs and protect your lower back. With your weight on your heels, bend your knees and sit down into your squat. Make sure to keep your knees in line with your toes, back straight, and shoulders away from your ears.
#3: Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes as you come back to your starting position for one rep.
Day 26: 15 Broad Jumps
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance parallel, arms by your sides.
#2: Pull your belly button into your spine and bend your knees into your squat.
#3: Drive through your heels and push off the ground as you come back up to standing and jump up into the air, propelling forward as far as you can.
#4: Landing gracefully, with control back into your squat position for one rep. Continue hopping forward or if you have a small space, turn around and hop back the other direction.
Day 27: 50 Squats + 15 Broad Jumps
Combine exercises from Days 25 and 26!
Day 28: 55 Squats
#1: Start standing with feet hip-distance parallel. Arms can be by your sides or clasped in front of you.
#2: Pull your belly button into your spine to engage your abs and protect your lower back. With your weight on your heels, bend your knees and sit down into your squat. Make sure to keep your knees in line with your toes, back straight, and shoulders away from your ears.
#3: Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes as you come back to your starting position for one rep.
Day 29: 20 Squat to Shoulder Raises (With Weights)
#1: Start with feet hip-distance, parallel. Hold one weight (dumbbell, kettlebell, water bottle, whatever you have) in front of you with both hands, arms straight.
#2: Abs tight, bend your knees into a deep squat position. Make sure your knees are tracking over your toes!
#3: Drive through your heels as you stand back up. Using your upper back and shoulders, bring the weight up to the middle of your chest. Lower your arms back down to your starting position for one rep.
Day 30: 55 Squats + 20 Squat to Shoulder Raises (With Weights)
Combine exercises from Days 28 and 29!
Let’s See Those Squat Challenge Results!
Congrats rockstar! You did it! Okay so, we really want to see your before and after pics because this squat challenge is seriously effective. I know, I know, taking that before picture is always a little, eer, nerve-racking. But I promise you, you are going to love seeing little changes in your body you won’t notice in the mirror. Feeling bold? We thought so. Help inspire others to do something amazing for their bodies and post your before and after pics with the hashtag #GetYourFitOn on Instagram or Facebook. And don’t forget to tag @fitonapp. We love you and can’t wait to see your results!
