100 Squats a Day Challenge — Why? How? And Should You Even Do It?

Who doesn't love a challenge? Competition can be a driving force to commit to a routine, support consistency, and give you a clear goal to work toward. If you've been connected to your Wi-Fi over the last few years, you've probably seen the 100 squats a day challenge. It's a simple yet tough benchmark — no fancy equipment, just your body and the will to wake up each day and push through the reps.

But does knocking out a whole lotta reps every day actually deliver results, or is it just another internet fitness fad? "While not necessary for most active lifters, it can be a great way to help build the habit of exercise," says Noah Tenenbaum, MS Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, CSCS, FMS-L1, FMS-YBT, FMS-FCS. We'll get into whether this challenge is for you and how to adjust the work load for more seasoned athletes.

What is the 100 Squats a Day Challenge?

The goal of this challenge is to complete 100 bodyweight squats every single day of the week for 30 days. No rest days. No equipment needed. No set guidelines for when you complete your daily 100 reps, besides within a 24-hour period.

How To Squat with Perfect Form

Start off standing tall with your feet about hip- to shoulder-width wide and your toes angled slightly out. Engage your core — like you're about to take a punch — and hinge at your hips to send you butt back. As you bend your knees to lower down, keep your chest up and shoulders back — allowing your arms to lift up infront of you to help maintain balance. Lower down until your thighs are close to being parallel with the floor — slightly lower if mobility allows or higher if that's more comfortable. Drive through through your heels to return to standing. Make sure you keep your knees pressed out slightly throughout the move and maintain a neutral spine.

The Pros and Cons of Doing 100 Squats a Day

If you're on the fence about whether or not you want to tap in and tackle this 100 squats a day challenge, here are some pros and cons to consider:

PROS

Build A Routine: You've probably heard the saying that it takes 21 days to build a habit. Nice idea — but not exactly how it works. A 2010 study found that forming a habit took participants an average of 66 days. Some built a new habit in just two weeks, while others took nearly a year. The takeway? Everyone's different, but the key is consistency. Committing to 30 days of squats won't make the movement automatic overnight, but it will put you on the path toward a sustainable fitness routine.

Builds Lower-Body Strength: In one study, adolescent boys performed 100 reps a day for 45 training sessions over the course of 8 weeks — not quite "no days off" territory, but still close to about five or six days of training per week. Researchers found decreases in body fat, increases in lean body mass and muscle thickness, and improvements in knee extensor strength. Vertical jump height also increased by 3.4%. However, the results may apply mostly to beginners or untrained individuals, so seasoned lifters might not see the same gains. 

Boosts Energy and Mood: Moving your body increases your breathing rate, delivering more oxygen into your blood. That oxygen fuels your Mitochondria — the powerhouses that convert oxygen and food into energy your body uses — which can boost your endurance and help you feel more energized. Exercise also triggers the release of endorphins, the "feel good" hormones that lift your mood, reduce stress, and even relieve pain. Basically: more squats = more good vibes.

No Equipment Needed: You don't need a barbell, a squat rack, or even a gym membership. Just your body, some floor space, and a willingness to get going.

Easy To Squeeze In: Sneaking away to the gym might not always be in the cards when you've got work, school, housework — all the general adulting that can take up an entire day. However, do you really have a reason why you can't do 10 squats before you hop into your car? 20 squats while waiting for the microwave? 30 squats during a commercial break? Totally doable. The 100 squat challenge is easy to break up, making it much more accessible to those with busy schedules.

CONS

No Recovery Days: Tackling 100 squats every single day doesn't give your body time to recover. This can lead to overuse injuries or muscle and joint irritation — especially on your knees, hips, or lower back. Additionally, these high reps — day after day after day — can lead to cumulative fatigue, impacting other workouts or sports performance. To avoid this, listen to your body and take rest days when you need them.

Eventual Plateu in Gains: While doing 100 squats a day can improve strength and endurance, there will eventually come a point when bodyweight squats alone no longer challenge your muscles. To keep progressing, you'll likely need to incorporate progressive overload — for example, by adding a light dumbbell held between both hands to increase the challenge. And when that becomes manageable, choosing a heavier dumbbell.

Not Ideal for Strength or Hypertrophy: Consider your reasons for tackling a 100 squats a day challenge. If your goal is to build muscle or improve your maximal strength, this challenge will eventually be insufficient since you aren't working with progressive overload. However, this challenge is ideal for those looking to improve endurance and dial in their squat form.

Form Breakdown: When your rep range is low, it's easier to stay focused on your form. However, as the rep range climbs, your mind may start to wander — What am I having for dinner? Did David call me "extra" as a compliment or a dig? Did I leave a jug of milk in my grannies trunk? — and fatique can cause your form to slip. Be sure you're keeping your knees pressed out, spine neutral, chest lifted, and weight evenly distributed through your heels. If you feel your form starting to break, take a brief pause, reset, and continue. Quality reps are the way to go.

100 Squat Workout Routine

To start things off, here's a simple 100 squat workout to help kick off your month-long challenge. Be sure you're working with proper squat form and making each rep look perfect to limit the possibility of strain or injury.

Daily Rep Breakdown

While you could tackle all 100 squats in one go, you can also opt to break up your reps to make tackling the work more manageable. Here are some samplings of how you can get it done:

• 1 set of 100 — done all at once.
• 2 sets of 50 — one set in the morning, one set in the afternoon.
• 5 sets of 20 — two sets in the morning, one set at lunch, and two sets in the evening.
• 10 sets of 10 — Try tackling one set of 10 reps every hour on the hour for 10 hours.

Pro Tip: Consider tackling a variety of bodyweight squat-type movements to keep your workouts feeling fresh: squat-to-box, curtsy squat, sumo squat, Cossak squat, and walking lunges. For those looking for even more of a challenge, try adding in some Bulgarian split squats or assisted pistol squats to introduce new movement patterns and keep your muscles adapting.

Progressive Overload and Movement Variation

This substitute to a beginner squat challenge has progressive overload stepping in to help increase your gains. By upping the weight each week, you'll be providing a larger stimulus on your muscles which will be forced to adapt to the higher load.

However, when following a progressive overload approach, your muscles are under increasing stress each week. That means recovery becomes more important — doing 100 weighted squats every day can lead to fatique, form breakdown, or overuse injuries.

Week 1: 100 bodyweight squats daily. If you feel sore, take a rest or active recovery day as needed.

Week 2: 100 goblet squats daily — holding a dumbbell or kettlebell up to your chest between both hands. Take 1-2 rest or active recovery days throughout the week.

Related: How To Do a Goblet Squat

Week 3: 100 split squats daily — holding a dumbbell in each hand, stagger your stance so you're in a lunge position. You'll lower down so that both knees bend at 90-degree angles, with the back knee hovering above the floor and your front knee pointing up. Without moving your feet, tackle 50 reps on one side. Then switch your stance and do 50 reps on the other. Take 1-2 rest or active recovery days throughout the week.

Related: How To Do Split Squats

Week 4: 100 barbell back squats daily — holding a barbell across your back with light plates loaded on each side. Take 3-4 rest or active recovery days throughout the week.

Pro Tip: For those that want to opt out of barbell squats, consider trying a barbell Romanian deadlift to better target your hamstrings, or a barbell hip thrust to reduce load on your spine. You can also check out our article on more squat alternatives you can try.

While this substitute to your typical 100 bodyweight squats challenge has you changing the way you squat — goblet squat, split squat, and barbell back squats — and the stimulus to your body, the goal is primarily to increase the load from one week to the next. 

Limited Equipment Progressive Overload Substitute

If you're working with limited equipment, work with what you've got! Progressive overload is simply about increasing the resistance, so here are some ideas to help you get creative when you need an alternative to standard home gym equipment.

Week 1: 100 bodyweight squats daily. If you feel sore, take a rest or recovery day as needed.

Week 2: 100 bodyweight squats with a book in your arms. Take 1-2 rest or active recovery days.

Week 3: 100 bodyweight squats with a backpack on. Take 1-2 rest or active recovery days.

Week 4: 100 bodyweight squats with a backpack on and a larger book in your arms. Take 3-4 rest or active recovery days. This can help increase the challenge — first adding arm load, then total load, then combining both for a bigger core, back, and leg challenge to wrap it up.

Squat Challenge Results

Tackling 30 days of a dedicated program can help you build cofidence in a movement pattern, increase strength and muscle, and kick start a fitness routine that can help you tackle you goals. Here are key takeaways to consider before you begin:

• Goals: If you want to build strength and muscle, consider working with progressive load to increase the challenge.
• Squat Challenge Before and After: Take a picture of yourself on day 1 and film your first set of reps. Then, on day 30, take another picture of yourself and film your last set of reps. This can help you grasp the changes you've made to your body and to your ability with this movement pattern!
• Dedication > Motivation: Motivation wavers for the best of us, but make a commitment to remain dedicated to your routine. Even the best athletes don't always feel motivated to do the work they need to do, but their dedication to improvement keeps them locked in and commited. 
• Recovery is Key: While the standard 100 squats a day challenge doesn't include rest days, listen to your body and take a day of recovery when you need it! You'll give your muscles time to recover and come back the next day ready to keep doing the work.
  

FAQs

What happens when you do 100 squats a day?

The answer to this question depends on your current athletic abilities and training routine. For beginners, 100 squats a day can help build lower-body strength, muscular endurance, and confidence with movement. However, you'll want to make time for rest and recovery to limit the possibility of muscle strain and overuse injuries. For more experienced athletes, 100 squats a day may not be enough of a stimulus to build max strength and muscle, so we'd recommend working with progressive overload or squat variations for continued growth and gains.

Do you have to do all 100 squats at one?

No! The challenge is to complete 100 squats a day — whether that's 100 in one go, or 10 sets of 10 spread throughout your day — so you can choose to split up your squats however you'd like. Splitting up your reps can also help reduce fatique, keep your form locked in, and make the challenge more accessible for those with busy schedules. 

Rosie Borchert is a NASM-CPT, former Nike Volleyball coach, and fitness writer whose work has appeared on BarBend and Tonal. If anyone would like to hire her to play beach volleyball, snowboard, binge watch TV, or go climbing, please get in touch.

This article was reviewed by Ashley Boyer, ACE-CPT, for accuracy.