The Ultimate Guide to Air Squats (Bodyweight Squats)

Air squats, also known as bodyweight squats, are a fundamental exercise that can benefit an incredibly wide range of people.

They are simple yet highly effective, requiring no equipment while offering numerous benefits. 

As a professional basketball player, I’ve relied on air squats throughout my career, especially during my first year in Macedonia, when I had limited access to a weight room. 

That year, I performed hundreds of air squats daily, which helped me maintain muscle mass, improve cardiovascular endurance, and enhance my overall athletic performance. 

Even now, air squats are a regular part of my training, from warm-ups to high-intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions.

What Are Air Squats?

Air squats are a basic squat variation performed without added weight. 

They involve lowering your body from a standing position into a squat and then returning to a stand. 

This movement mimics the squat pattern without the external load, making it an excellent exercise for beginners and a versatile tool for advanced athletes.

How to Do Air Squats Correctly

To perform an air squat:

• Start Position: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, with your toes slightly pointed out (depending on tibialis/ankle/calf mobility).
• Descent: Lower your body by bending your knees and pushing your hips back like sitting in a chair. Keep your chest up, your spine neutral, and your eyes looking forward.
• Depth: Aim to lower your hips below knee level, ensuring your knees track over your toes.
• Ascent: Push through your heels to stand back up, squeezing your glutes at the top of the movement.

Common Mistakes to Avoid:

Knee Valgus: Don’t let your knees collapse inward; keep them aligned with your toes.

Rounded Back: Maintain a neutral spine to avoid undue stress on your lower back.

Heels Lifting: Keep your heels grounded throughout the movement to ensure proper muscle activation.

Benefits of Air Squats

Air squats are more than just a lower-body exercise. They offer a range of health benefits, including:

Muscle Building: Even without weights, air squats engage major muscle groups like the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, promoting muscle growth and strength.

Cardiovascular Endurance: Performing air squats at a high volume or intensity can significantly boost your heart rate, improving cardiovascular fitness.

Functional Movement: Air squats enhance your body’s ability to perform daily activities, making them a functional exercise that translates well to real-life movements.

Air squats were crucial in maintaining my fitness during my time in Macedonia. 

Without access to a weight room, I relied on them to keep my muscles strong and my lungs conditioned. 

I still incorporate them into my training, particularly in Tabata and CrossFit-style workouts, where their versatility shines.

Bodyweight Squats Muscles Worked

Air squats primarily target the following muscles:

Quadriceps: The front thigh muscles that extend your knee.

Hamstrings: The back thigh muscles that help with knee flexion and hip extension.

Glutes: The muscles of your buttocks that drive hip extension and stability.

Core: Although not the primary target, your core muscles stabilize your torso throughout the movement.

These muscles work in concert to perform the squat, making it a compound exercise that effectively builds lower body strength and stability.

Best Body Weight Squat Workouts

Air squats are highly adaptable to various workout styles. Here are some of my favorite options:

EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute)

I frequently use bodyweight squats in EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute) workouts, where you perform a set number of squats at the start of every minute and use the remaining time to recover. 

This format pushes your cardiovascular system and muscular endurance, ensuring you maximize your workout in a short period. 

The most I ever worked up to was 25 air squats every minute on the minute for 25 minutes. 

This challenging workout tested my physical endurance and mental toughness, requiring sustained effort and focus throughout.

Tabata

Another of my favorite air squat workouts is the Tabata interval workout, which involves 20 seconds of all-out effort followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated for eight rounds. 

Air squats are perfect for this high-intensity protocol because they can be done quickly and with minimal setup, allowing you to maintain a high heart rate and build muscular endurance.

CrossFit Workouts

Additionally, I love incorporating air squats into 21-15-9 circuits—a CrossFit staple. 

In this format, you perform 21 reps of air squats followed by 21 reps of another exercise, such as pushups or sit-ups. 

You then move on to 15 reps of each, and finally, nine reps.

This descending rep scheme challenges your muscles and tests your mental toughness as you endure fatigue.

Keys to Proper Form

Doing bodyweight exercises like air squats is the safest option for most people, especially beginners.

However, you should still exercise caution when performing your form over time so that your body squats and you can try to improve. You can eventually progress to additional, challenging squat variations.

Mobility: Ensure your hips, knees, and ankles have the necessary range of motion. Regularly incorporate mobility exercises to improve your squat depth and form.

Muscle Tissue Quality: Use foam rolling and other self-massage tools to release tight muscles and improve tissue quality, enhancing your performance and recovery.

Focusing on these aspects will help you perform air squats more effectively, leading to better results in your overall fitness.

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