Weighted Squat

IntermediateOtherCompoundPushStrength
Weighted Squat — start position
Weighted Squat — end position

How to do it

  1. Start by positioning two flat benches shoulder width apart from each other. Stand on top of them and wrap the weighted belt around your waist with the amount of weight you feel comfortable with. Make sure your toes are facing out.
  2. Once you are standing straight up with the weight hanging in between your legs, position your arms so that they are fully extended to the side of your body. This is the starting position.
  3. Begin by bending the knees as you maintain a straight posture with the head up. Continue down until the angle between the upper leg and the calves becomes slightly less than 90-degrees (which is the point in which the upper legs are below parallel to the floor). Inhale as you perform this portion of the movement. Tip: If you performed the exercise correctly, the front of the knees should make an imaginary straight line with the toes that are perpendicular to the front. If your knees are past that imaginary line (if they are past your toes) then you are placing undue stress on the knee and the exercise has been performed incorrectly.
  4. Begin to move the body back up by pushing the floor of the flat bench with the ball of your foot mainly as you straighten the legs again and go back to the starting position. Exhale as you perform this portion of the exercise.
  5. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.

Muscles worked

Programming this lift? The warm-up calculator builds your ramp, and the 1RM calculator sets your percentages.

More quadriceps exercises

All quadriceps exercises →

This is one card in your program builder

Trainers on AirFit drag movements like this into programs — demo media included — and clients follow them and log sets in AirFit on iOS, Android or the web. Lifters: AirFit Coach can program it for you, or find a human coach.