No guideline gives a daily squat count
There is no official number of squats a day. The WHO 2020 guidelines ask adults to train all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, at moderate effort or harder. They talk about days and effort and never give a rep count.
The ACSM position stand on resistance training doesn’t give a daily count either. It sets frequency by experience, starting at 2 to 3 days a week for beginners, and says its advice should fit your goals, your physical capacity and how trained you are.
- 2+ days a week Strength work for all major muscle groups, at moderate effort or harder WHO, 2020
- 2 to 3 days a week Training frequency for beginners ACSM, 2009
Squats a day not set by either
Start from your max, not a round number
A fixed target doesn’t care who is squatting. Fifty squats is less than one set for someone whose max is 60, and more than three sets for someone whose max is 15. So the plans on this site start with a test: as many full squats as you can do in one set without stopping.
Each set is half that max. Train three days a week and you do four sets; on four or five days, three sets; on six or seven, two. The push-up calculator uses the same rule. It’s our rule of thumb, not a number from a study.
Move the slider to your max and pick your training days. The plan shows your day and your week, and checks the days against the ACSM ranges.
4×10
sets × squats · 40 a day · 120 a week
- 40 Week 1
- 44 Week 2
- 48 Week 3
- 52 Week 4
Inside the ACSM range for beginners: 2 to 3 days a week.
Each set is half your max. Add 1 to every set each week while your form holds.
Add a rep every week
The ACSM rule for progress is written for weights: once you can do one or two reps more than your target, add 2 to 10% to the load. Bodyweight squats have no load to add, so the plan adds reps.
Every seven days, add one rep to each set, or two if your max is 30 or more. A max of 20 starts with sets of 10 and reaches 13 by week four. A max of 40 goes from 20 to 26. After a month, test your max again and build the next plan from the new number.
- Max 20: +1 a week
- Max 40: +2 a week
Squats every day, or rest days?
You can squat every day, but the guidelines don’t ask you to. The WHO team found no evidence that strength work beyond the two-day minimum brings extra health benefit. In the ACSM paper, even people with years of training get 4 to 5 days a week.
If you train most days, keep each day lighter. That’s why the plan above drops to two sets at six or seven days. The 30-day squat challenge has a rest day every fourth day. If your knees still ache the next morning, take the day off.
How Pushgard sets your squat week
In the Pushgard camera counter the target is weekly. It comes from your squat max as it stood when the week began. On Easy, the week asks for one and a half maxes a day over five days. Normal doubles that and Hardcore triples it. A new record raises the target from next week, not this one, and past a max of 120 the target stops growing.
The weekly calendar has five steps, so two days stay free for rest. Add more exercises and each one’s share gets smaller, so adding push-ups to squats doesn’t double your week. Every squat the front camera counts hits the monster in front of you. If you’re unsure about depth, the squat form guide shows what counts, and squat benefits covers which muscles you’re training.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- Easy 225
- Normal 450
- Hardcore 675
Squats plus push-ups on Easy: 159 squats for the week instead of 225.
