I Did 100 Air Squats a Day for a Month – You Won’t Believe What Happened!

30-day fitness challenges are a popular topic. Hardly a week goes by without a new challenge trending on social media. Some of these challenges are pretty pointless, while others are downright dangerous. However, there are some that could actually do you good.

As a veteran personal trainer and fitness journalist, it’s my job to assess and test some of these challenges. That way, when my clients ask about them, or I need to write about them, I can provide an informed, balanced insight.

With that in mind, I recently completed the 100 air squats a day for a month challenge. In this article, I explain what this challenge entails, discuss my experiences, and explain how to try it yourself.

Read about another of my fitness challenge experiences here: I Walked 10,000 Steps A Day for A Year – Here’s What Happened

What Is The 100 Air Squats A Day for A Month Challenge? 

The 100 air squats a day for a month challenge is exactly what it sounds like – participants do 100 air squats every day for 30 days straight. Air squats are a classic calisthenic exercise requiring no equipment or weights. As such, you can do them anywhere or anytime. This means the 100 air squats challenge is very accessible, even for home exercisers.

How you program your air squats during this 30-day challenge is entirely up to you. This flexibility means that you can adapt the challenge to fit your current fitness and lifestyle.

Suggested options, listed in ascending order of difficulty, include:

• 10 sets of 10
• 5 sets of 20
• 4 sets of 25
• 3 sets of 33/33/34
• 2 sets of 50
• 1 set of 100

You can do your squats in a single workout or, which may be more convenient, spread them throughout your day. Alternatively, you can mix and match strategies, using different options on different days. Just make sure you finish each day having completed 100 air squats.  

How to Do Air Squats

Air squats are a relatively straightforward exercise, but that doesn’t mean you can’t perform them incorrectly. Poor air squat form can cause injuries and make your workouts less effective.

So, with that in mind, here is a step-by-step guide to doing air squats.

1. Stand with your feet roughly shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward.
2. Stand tall, with your chest up and shoulders down and back. Brace your core.
3. Inhale, bend your knees, and squat down until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor.
4. Simultaneously raise your arms in front of you for balance.
5. Drive your feet into the floor and stand up. Lower your arms and exhale as you ascend.
6. Reset your core and repeat.

You can read more about air squats in this detailed guide.

Air Squats – Muscles Worked

Air squats work a multitude of muscles. In fact, it’s fair to say that this exercise involves your entire lower body. The main muscles, called agonists, targeted by air squats include:

• Quadriceps
• Hamstrings
• Gluteus maximus
• Adductors
• Abductors
• Calves
• Core

10 Pro Tips for Better Air Squats

Get even more from air squats (and this challenge) with my top ten tried and tested trainer-approved tips!

1. Avoid rounding your lower back, as doing so can lead to pain and injuries.
2. Push your knees out as you descend to maximize hip muscle engagement.
3. Keep your weight toward your heels and off your toes.
4. Try squatting with and without shoes to see which you prefer.
5. Experiment with the width of your stance to determine what feels most effective and comfortable.
6. Feel free to squat below parallel if your knee health and mobility permits. However, shallower squats are fine, too.
7. Front-load your day so you get most of your squats done several hours before bedtime. Don’t leave them to the end of the day.
8. Gradually raise the intensity of your squats by reducing the number of sets you use to complete the 100 reps.
9. Record your squats each day so you don’t inadvertently do too many or too few.
10. Track your progress on a calendar. Cross off each day as you complete it.

In summary, the 100 air squats a day for a month challenge involves doing 100 bodyweight squats a day for a month straight. You can do the squats in a single workout or spread them throughout the day.

Ultimately, it’s up to you how you program your squats, and you are free to choose the schedule that best fits your lifestyle.

So, one hundred squats a day for a month – it’s as simple as it sounds!

My Results from Doing 100 Air Squats A Day for A Month

Now that you know how this challenge works, I bet you want to hear about my results. So, without further ado, this is what happened when I did 100 air squats a day for a month.

Increased Muscular Endurance

Muscular endurance is your ability to resist fatigue. Activities that involve muscular endurance include walking, running, cycling, and doing high-rep sets of strength training.

Factors that contribute to improved muscular endurance include:

• Increased size and number of mitochondria (energy-producing cells)
• Increased muscle capillarization for better blood flow
• Improved tolerance of lactate
• More efficient removal of fatiguing metabolic waste products
• More muscle glycogen (stored carbohydrate)
• Improved movement efficiency
• Increased mental resilience and toughness

Doing 100 air squats a day had a noticeable impact on my muscular endurance. My legs didn’t feel tired during long hikes, and they recovered quicker between exercises, sets, and workouts. I also found that I could do the 100 reps in fewer sets. In fact, by the end of the challenge, I could do all 100 reps in a single set relatively easily.

Improved Mobility and Flexibility

Like most fitness experts, I understand the importance of stretching and mobility training. Consequently, I include some of each in all my workouts. However, despite this, I’ve always been somewhat stiff and immobile.

While doing 100 air squats a day hasn’t given me the flexibility of a gymnast or contortionist, by the end of the month, my squat depth had noticeably increased, and my ankles, knees, and hips felt more mobile.

I suspect that doing 100 air squats a day helped offset all of the sitting I do, providing my muscles with a welcome daily dynamic stretch. Research published on PubMed suggests that dynamic (moving) stretches are an effective way to improve flexibility and range of motion (1).

Fat Loss

I started the 100 squats a day for a month challenge already relatively light and lean. So, I was surprised that, at the end of the month, I was down three pounds and noticeably more defined.

Calisthenic training can burn a significant number of kilocalories, but doing 100 air squats doesn’t take long, so energy expenditure isn’t very high. However, despite this, I still lost weight.

Related: Calories Burned Calisthenics Calculator

I put this weight loss down to Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption, or EPOC for short. Also known as the afterburn effect, EPOC describes how exercise increases your energy expenditure both during your workout and for several hours afterward.

Don’t expect 100 squats a day to cause rapid or massive weight loss. However, research on PubMed suggests that daily squatting can contribute to fat loss (2).

Improved Muscle Tone

Muscle tone means different things to different people. On the one hand, muscle tone (or tonus) refers to the readiness of a muscle to contract. It’s a term used by medical professionals when discussing the health of muscle tissue.

On the other hand, fitness enthusiasts use muscle tone to describe how lean and well-shaped a muscle or group of muscles is.

By the end of my month-long 100 air squats a day challenge, both interpretations of muscle tone had improved. In other words, my quads, hamstrings, glutes, etc., looked better and felt firmer. While I didn’t experience any noticeable muscle hypertrophy or growth, I was very happy with the changes in muscle tone.

The Drawbacks of Doing 100 Air Squats A Day for A Month

While I was impressed with the results from doing 100 air squats a day for a month, I did experience a couple of minor drawbacks that I must also share.

The Commitment Factor

While 100 air squats should only take a few minutes a day, it’s still a commitment that you’ll have to slot in around your other responsibilities. That’s why I suggest doing your squats as early as possible. That way, you won’t get to the end of the day with squats left to do.

Potential Boredom

While there is no denying the effects and benefits of air squats, some people may find doing 100 reps of the same exercise every day tiresome. However, you can overcome this drawback by doing a few different variations. Doing different squats and different days could enhance your motivation for this challenge.

Good options include:

• Cyclist squats (heels-elevated)
• Hindu squats
• Deep knee bends
• Plié squats
• Front-facing wall squats

Mixing and matching a few squat variations with different set and rep schemes provides an almost infinite number of ways to do the 100 air squats a day challenge. This variety will go a long way to preventing boredom and making the challenge more enjoyable.

Initial Fatigue

The first week of this challenge was the hardest. While I am used to doing lots of air squats, doing 100 reps every day was a bit of a shock to my 55-year-old legs! However, my body soon adapted, and subsequent weeks were noticeably easier. In fact, the workouts actually became energizing and something to look forward to rather than dread.

Aches and Pains

While doing 100 squats a day improved my mobility and flexibility, I did experience some joint aches and pains during this challenge. It sometimes took 15-20 reps for my hips and knees to loosen up and start to feel supple. However, by the end of the challenge, my joints felt surprisingly good, and there were no lasting unwanted aftereffects.

That said, exercisers with a history of hip or knee pain should carefully consider the risks vs. the benefits of this challenge and modify it if necessary. Speak to your health professional if you are worried about any aspect of this challenge.

Closing Thoughts

The 100 air squats a day challenge was an enlightening experience. It was enjoyable and rewarding, and I’m glad I did it. While this was not the hardest fitness challenge I’ve ever done, it represents a good test for beginner and early intermediate exercisers. Experienced exercisers will probably enjoy it for its therapeutic benefits.

Doing 3,000 air squats over the course of a month will improve your muscular endurance and mobility. It could even help you lose some body fat. However, don’t expect much muscle growth, although muscle tone should noticeably improve.

All in all, doing 100 air squats a day for a month is one of the better fitness challenges currently doing the rounds. However, it’s important to stress that one month of exercise won’t get you in shape, and a long-term commitment is the best way to achieve your fitness goals.

Related: Forget Boring Push-Ups — I Did 50 Russian Push-Ups Every Day for One Week, Here’s What Happened

References:

1. Iwata M, Yamamoto A, Matsuo S, Hatano G, Miyazaki M, Fukaya T, Fujiwara M, Asai Y, Suzuki S. Dynamic Stretching Has Sustained Effects on Range of Motion and Passive Stiffness of the Hamstring Muscles. J Sports Sci Med. 2019 Feb 11;18(1):13-20. PMID: 30787647; PMCID: PMC6370952.
2. Takai Y, Fukunaga Y, Fujita E, Mori H, Yoshimoto T, Yamamoto M, Kanehisa H. Effects of body mass-based squat training in adolescent boys. J Sports Sci Med. 2013 Mar 1;12(1):60-5. PMID: 24149726; PMCID: PMC3761779.

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