Barbell Back Squat: How to Do It & Muscles Worked

How to do the barbell back squat

1. 1 Step 1: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes slightly turned out.
2. 2 Step 2: Hold the barbell across your upper back, resting it on your traps or rear delts.
3. 3 Step 3: Engage your core and keep your chest up as you begin to lower your body down.
4. 4 Step 4: Bend at the knees and hips, pushing your hips back and down as if sitting into a chair.
5. 5 Step 5: Lower yourself until your thighs are parallel to the ground or slightly below.
6. 6 Step 6: Keep your knees in line with your toes and your weight in your heels.
7. 7 Step 7: Drive through your heels to stand back up, extending your hips and knees.
8. 8 Step 8: Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Form cues

• Set the bar on your upper traps (high bar) or across the rear delts (low bar), squeeze it into your back and walk it out in two or three steps.
• Feet about shoulder width, toes turned out 15 to 30 degrees so your knees can track over them.
• Take a big breath into your belly and brace before every rep, then sit down between your heels rather than back onto a bench.
• Push your knees out over your toes on the way down and keep the bar over the middle of your foot.
• Drive up by pushing the floor away, letting hips and chest rise at the same speed.

Common barbell back squat mistakes

• Knees caving inward as you stand up.

  Fix: Lighten the load, think "spread the floor" and pause briefly at the bottom to own the position.

• Hips shooting up first so the lift turns into a good morning.

  Fix: Lead with your upper back out of the hole and keep the chest up against the bar.

• Cutting depth as the weight climbs.

  Fix: Pick a depth you can hit every rep (hip crease at or below the knee for most people) and only add weight when you hit it.

• Heels lifting off the floor.

  Fix: Widen your stance slightly, turn the toes out more or use small heel plates or lifting shoes.

Sets, reps and programming

Squat first in a leg session while you are fresh. For strength, work in sets of 3 to 6 reps with 3 to 5 minutes of rest; for muscle growth, sets of 6 to 12 with 2 to 3 minutes. Add 2.5 to 5 kg when you complete every set at the top of your rep range with one or two reps in reserve. Deeper squats grow the glutes and adductors more than half squats, so earn depth before load.

Ranges follow the ACSM position stand on progression in resistance training. Muscle grows across a wide range of loads when sets end close to failure (Schoenfeld et al., 2017), longer rests between heavy sets support strength and size (Schoenfeld et al., 2016), and stopping a rep or two short of failure works about as well as training to failure (Grgic et al., 2022). Estimate your working weights with the strength calculators.

Variations and progressions

• Goblet squat — Easier: a front-loaded dumbbell teaches an upright torso and depth.
• Front squat — More quad emphasis and a more upright torso.
• Barbell hack squat — Bar behind the legs; very quad-dominant.

Barbell Back Squat alternatives

• Leg press — Machine option that removes the balance and back-loading demands.
• Split squat — Bodyweight or dumbbells; trains each leg on its own.
• Smith machine front squat — Guided bar path if you train alone.

More exercises that train the glutes as their main target:

• 

  Angled Barbell Narrow Stance Squat

  Glutes · Barbell · Intermediate compound
• 

  Arms Apart Circular Toe Touch (Male)

  Glutes · Body Weight · Intermediate balance
• 

  Barbell Clean-Grip Front Squat

  Glutes · Barbell · Intermediate compound
• 

  Barbell Deadlift

  Glutes · Barbell · Intermediate compound
• 

  Barbell Front Chest Squat

  Glutes · Barbell · Intermediate compound
• 

  Barbell Front Squat

  Glutes · Barbell · Intermediate compound
• 

  Barbell Full Squat (Back Pov)

  Glutes · Barbell · Intermediate compound
• 

  Barbell Full Squat (Side Pov)

  Glutes · Barbell · Intermediate compound

Barbell Back Squat FAQs