50 Squats A Day For 2 Weeks Before And After

Fitness challenges have become immensely popular in the social media age. One of the most popular right now is the 50 squats a day challenge. With squats being a fundamental full-body exercise with a ton of benefits, this is one challenge that is worth taking up.

In this article, we take a look at what you can achieve from doing a 50-squat challenge. We will specifically look at what 50 squats a day for two weeks can do for you.

What is the 50 Squat Challenge?

The 50 squat challenge couldn’t be any simpler. Your workout routine simply involves doing 50 repetitions of the squat daily. It might last for 2 weeks, a month, or longer. The key is to hit that 50 rep total every single day.

You can get your 50 reps done in whatever way you choose. So, you might decide to do five sets of 10 reps, two sets of 25, or a single set of 50 repetitions.

The challenge is designed to be done with body weight or air squats, but if you are a regular barbell back squatter and want a real challenge, you can do weighted squats. Reduce your one-rep max weight by 50%  and make up your 50 reps in whatever way you can – just be prepared for some serious quad pain at the end of the day!

You can include any type of squat variation in the challenge. As well as injecting variety to beat monotony, doing so will allow you to work your muscles from various angles. These may include sumo squats, the squat jump, resistance band squats, split squats, mini squats, narrow squats, or Bulgarian split squats.

Benefits of the 50 Squats Challenge

Works the Upper & Lower Body Muscles

Squats allow you to train a variety of lower body muscles. These include the back and core muscles as well as the hamstrings, calves, gluteus maximus, and quadriceps. Squats are n excellent exercise for strengthening and building the butt muscles, as well as the quadriceps. 

Supports Muscle Growth

Squats encourage your body to produce more anabolic hormones since they train multiple muscle groups at once. These are the hormones that support muscle growth and fat loss.

A 2014 study compared the machine leg press to squats, a free-weight exercise. Although both movements work for the same main muscle groups, the researchers found that the body’s reaction was different: Squats provided a larger hormonal and physiological response and specifically more muscular activation than the leg press when performed at comparable intensities. [1]

Weight Loss

Squats can be a crucial component of any effective weight loss program. Strength training on a regular basis can help you burn more calories and reduce body fat.

A 2013 study that examined the health advantages of an eight-week bodyweight squat regimen discovered that it reduced participants’ body fat percentage and boosted their lean body mass. [3]

Lowers Injury Risk

Squats are not only a powerful exercise, but they can also lower your risk of lower-body joint injuries.

This is due to the exercise strengthening the tendons, bones, and ligaments surrounding your leg muscles, which can especially assist relieve some of the strain on your knees and ankles. In fact, squats are frequently used to address ankle instability therapeutically.

But only if you perform squats with the right form can you prevent injuries.

Inadequately executed shallow squats without fully bending the knees to a 90-degree angle, according to a 2013 analysis, may cause knee degeneration. [3]

Strengthens Bones

Squats may also aid in boosting bone mineral density, which can strengthen your skeleton, especially the bones in your lower body and spine. Bone strength increases the body’s resistance to harm.

In a 2013 study, postmenopausal women with osteoporosis or osteopenia—conditions that result in low bone density—were found to have improved skeletal health and bone mineral content after completing a 12-week squat regimen. According to the research, strength training may help with osteoporosis prevention and therapy. [4]

Improved Athletic Performance

Squats are a fantastic exercise in and of themselves, but they can also improve your performance in other sports.

Squats increase your power foundation since they put a special emphasis on strengthening your lower body. After all, more power comes from stronger muscles.

For instance, a tiny 2011 study discovered that soccer players’ short sprint performance improved when they performed squat workouts. The findings imply that the power generated during squat exercises aided in the enhancement of athletic speed.

The Proper Way to Do Air Squats

1. Stand with feet hip-width apart, torso upright, and eyes looking straight ahead. Clasp your hands together at chest level.
2. Drop your hips as you go down into a parallel squat position. Keep your torso upright, avoiding any back bend.
3. Press into the floor as you come back up to the start position. 
4. Move directly into your next rep. 

What Results Can You Get From the 50 Squat Challenge?

As a personal fitness trainer, I encourage my clients to jump into as many fitness challenges as they can handle. Sometimes it can be hard to tell what benefits they are getting because I am giving them other exercises at the same time. However, I have recently had a few clients who have, for various reasons, only been doing the 50 squat challenge for two weeks.

All of these clients received positive benefits from doing 50 squats per day. Most of them hadn’t done any lower body exercise for a while and, so, felt a measure of soreness through the quads when they began. They all reported feelings of positivity and accomplishment at the end of each day’s challenge.

After two weeks, all of my clients had lost weight, with the average being 2.3 pounds. Their waist measurements and butt dimensions were also slightly reduced. 

In preparation for this article, I tested four of my clients on the leg press before and after they did the 50 squat challenge. All four of them were able to press more weight for 8 reps after doing the challenge. The average strength increase was 7.5 pounds. 

Summary

The 50 squat challenge is definitely worth taking on. Each squat session will strengthen and tone your legs, develop core strength, build your back, and burn calories for weight loss. I recommend combining the challenge with a reduced-calorie diet and mixing your routine up with sumo squats and the squat jump. Be sure to use proper form and a full range of motion to get the most benefit from the 50 squat challenge.