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The Air Squat

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ByCrossFitJanuary 12, 2019

The squat is a beautiful, natural movement. It demands midline stabilization, posterior-chain engagement, and core-to-extremity movement, and it can be used to move your body weight or very large loads held in a variety of positions. At one end of the spectrum, the squat is an essential component of weightlifting and powerlifting, while at the other end, it is essential for getting off a toilet seat. Regardless of the problem, the solution is to squat. Read further to learn everything you need to know about the air squat:

  • What Is the Air Squat?
  • Air Squat Benefits
  • Muscle Groups Worked
  • How to Prepare for the Air Squat
  • Equipment Needed for the Air Squat
  • How to Warm Up for the Air Squat
  • How to Perform the Air Squat
  • Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
  • Air Squat Modifications
  • Air Squat Variations
  • Common Air Squat Workouts
  • Get Started Today!

What Is the Air Squat?

The air squat serves as the foundation for all other squatting movements in CrossFit — front squats, back squats, overhead squats, and even more complex movements like thrusters and wall-ball shots. It’s typically one of the first movements taught to new athletes because proper air squat mechanics are essential for safety and performance in more advanced variations.

You’ll see air squats programmed in warm-ups, conditioning workouts, and as a scaling option for weighted squatting movements. It’s also a common movement in benchmark workouts and everyday workouts. 

Air Squat Benefits

The air squat develops superior strength, power, flexibility, and athleticism, and is a great tool for building muscle.

Strength

The air squat is a full-body strength exercise that activates and strengthens virtually every muscle in the mid-lower body. Specifically, the relatively high volume that can be done develops strength in the quads, hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, abdominals, and upper back.  

Power

The air squat has some limitations when it comes to building significant power compared to weighted movements, but it does contribute in specific ways:

Explosive concentric phase: When performed with speed and intent (jumping out of the bottom, rapid acceleration), air squats can develop power in the hip and knee extension.

Rate of force development: Fast air squats train the nervous system to recruit muscle fibers quickly.

Movement efficiency: Builds the coordination and timing needed for more powerful loaded movements.

High-rep conditioning: In metcons, air squats can maintain power output under fatigue.

Flexibility

The air squat requires and develops great flexibility and mobility around the ankles, knees, and hips. Pausing in the bottom position is a great way to train the mobility necessary for air squats and life in general.

Athleticism

The air squat develops the powerful, controlled hip extension necessary for elite athleticism. Running, throwing, jumping, kicking, and punching are athletic movements that all rely on powerful hip extension. The air squat also develops leg and core strength to enable athletes to impart forces into the ground and objects. This means air squats can help an athlete jump higher, run faster, hit a baseball further, and change directions on the field or court faster. 

Muscle Mass

The air squat has some limitations when it comes to building muscle mass compared to weighted movements, but it does contribute in specific ways.

Beginner gains: New trainees can see some muscle development from air squats initially

Muscular endurance: High-rep air squats build endurance in the quads, glutes, and calves

Movement quality: Reinforces proper muscle activation patterns that support growth in loaded movements

Muscle Groups Worked 

The air squat incorporates many of the major muscle groups in the body, especially the muscles of the legs, core, and upper back.

Legs

As the athlete moves from a standing position to the bottom of a squat and back up again, the muscles of the legs, including the hip flexors, quads, hamstrings, and glutes, receive a great stimulus. 

Core and Upper Back

During the air squat, the muscles of the core and upper back — including the spinal erectors, abdominals, rhomboids, and traps — isometrically contract to lock the spine in place as the athlete moves through the required range of motion. 

How to Prepare for the Air Squat

Preparing to air squat requires performing a general warm-up to get the body ready to move through the range of motion required. 

Equipment Needed for the Air Squat

No equipment is needed.

How to Warm Up for the Air Squat

To warm up for the air squat, the athlete should perform general movements that work every joint through its full range of motion. For example, rowing, biking, or running to raise core temperature. Dynamic movements like burpees and jumping jacks are great too.

How to Do the Air Squat

Performing an air squat involves mastering the setup, the descent, and the return to the start position. 

The Set-Up

To set up for the air squat, the athlete stands with feet shoulder-width apart, with the toes flared slightly. They are now ready to squat.  

The Descent

The athlete initiates the descent in the air squat by pushing the hips back slightly as they squat down. This movement is very similar to sitting back in a chair. Throughout the movement, the athlete ensures their weight is shifted back toward their heels, their lumbar curve is maintained with a “chest up” posture, and their knees track in the same direction as their toes, meaning the knees do not cave in. The athlete reaches the bottom of the squat once the crease of the hips is below the top of the knees.  

Standing Back Up

To stand, the athlete maintains a good squat position — chest up, lumbar curve maintained, and knees tracking over the toes — and drives the heels into the ground. Forces travel from the ground through the stable and engaged midline or core, allowing the athlete to rise from the bottom position. The repetition is complete once the athlete has stood up to full extension of the legs and hips. 

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

There are several common air squat mistakes athletes should be aware of and avoid. 

Loss of Lumbar Curve

During the execution of an air squat, it is not uncommon for the athlete to lose their lumbar curve into flexion. This “rounding” of the low back is a vulnerable position for loading the spine and may put the athlete at a greater risk of injury. By losing the proper lumbar position, the athlete is also losing midline stability, and the forces generated as the legs drive into the ground will make it difficult to stand up smoothly. To avoid losing the lumbar curve, athletes should focus on maintaining a tall, “chest up” posture as they squat down. Adequate stretching and mobility work for the hamstrings will help ensure that tight hamstrings are not pulling the athlete into a rounded position. Finally, setting the feet in a wide enough stance (approximately shoulder width) allows the athlete to squat down to proper depth without sacrificing their lumbar position. 

Weight in the Toes

When an athlete squats and their weight shifts toward the balls of the feet, they decrease the contribution of the powerful muscles of the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings) to the lift. To eliminate this inefficiency, athletes should focus on sitting back as they sit down when executing an air squat. In the bottom position, they should focus on driving through the heels to stand.

Not Going Low Enough

The standard for the bottom position of the squat is for the athlete to reach a depth where the crease of the hips is below the top of the knees. Achieving this depth ensures the athlete strengthens the muscles and joints through their full intended range of motion. If an athlete cannot reach the bottom position, they may need to widen their stance, drive their knees out further, sit back more to initiate the squat, work on improving hip and hamstring mobility, lighten the load, or any combination of these factors. 

Knees Caving In

The knees should track with the toes through the full range of motion in the air squat. When the knees cave in, forces are not being efficiently directed into the ground or back up the chain. Furthermore, as the knees cave in, they are put in an orthopedically compromised position that may lead to knee pain over time. To keep the knees tracking with the toes, the athlete should keep pushing out on the knees throughout the entire rep. Initially, the athlete may have to slow their descent to maintain control of the knees, and/or they may need feedback from a band or trainer’s hand to learn how hard they need to push out on the knees. 

Air Squat Modifications

The air squat requires strength, flexibility, and mobility. In training, modifications can be made to the stance or depth.

Stance

To achieve the proper depth or accommodate current flexibility, athletes can alter their squat stance as needed. Generally, a narrower stance requires greater hip flexibility to achieve full depth than a wider stance, but athletes may find that a narrower stance allows them to lift more weight (once they add weight in a back squat) and prevent their knees from caving in. Athletes should experiment with their stance width to see what allows for the best comfort, performance, and technique. 

Box Squat

The box squat is performed like a standard air squat, except the athlete sits back and down to a box and pauses on the box before standing up. This is a great exercise for building the strength to drive out of the bottom position of the air squat. 

Common air squat Workouts

Air squats can be used as part of a metabolic-conditioning (met-con) workout.

Angie: 100 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 air squats

Barbara: 5 rounds for time of 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 air squats, 50 sit-ups (3-minute rest between rounds)

Tabata Squats: 8 rounds of 20 seconds of air squats, 10 seconds rest

Get Started Today!

Comments on The Air Squat

4 Comments

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DAVID NELSON
January 15th, 2019 at 3:16 pm
Commented on: The Air Squat

I have a pain on the interior portion of my right knee when I try to squat below the knee hinge. Any ideas on building that up so that I can squat fully?

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Adam Coleman
January 16th, 2019 at 9:27 pm

I had similar problems awhile back. I did alot of work with bands. Clamshells. Lateral shuffle. Banded squats (slow squat, concentrate on pushing the knees out). Worked pretty well for me, but I'm not PT or other expert by any means.

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Brady Scanlan
January 17th, 2019 at 12:41 pm

I would definitely see your doctor about it. No sense making a bad problem worse. I'm guessing he will recommend seeing a physiotherapist. Mine did amazing things for my shoulder.

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Kareem Elbasty
February 22nd, 2024 at 9:42 pm

Try creating ground tension backwards while lowering into your squat. MeatHeadMonk on ig if you need help understand what that means.

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