Legs · Bodyweight
Bodyweight Overhead Squat
How to do the bodyweight overhead squat, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- Squat
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Stand with feet about shoulder-width apart and reach both arms straight overhead, hands wider than your shoulders. Push your hips back and bend your knees to squat until your thighs are at least parallel, keeping your arms locked overhead. Drive through your heels to stand back up.
- 1Feel your shoulders and upper back working to hold your arms overhead
- 2Drive your hips back and down while keeping your arms over your midfoot
- 3Keep your chest up and core tight through the whole squat
Common mistakes
- Do not let your arms drift forward out of the overhead position
- Avoid letting your knees cave in or heels lift
- Do not overarch your lower back at the bottom
Muscles worked
The bodyweight overhead squat mainly works the quads, with the upper abs, glutes, front delts, side delts, triceps, lower back, upper traps, mid traps, lower abs, obliques, hamstrings, and calves assisting.
- QuadsPrimary
- Upper AbsSupport
- GlutesSupport
- Front DeltsSupport
- Side DeltsSupport
- TricepsSupport
- Lower BackSupport
- Upper TrapsSupport
- Mid TrapsSupport
- Lower AbsSupport
- ObliquesSupport
- HamstringsSupport
- CalvesSupport
- Lower TrapsMinor
Kovo programs the bodyweight overhead squat for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More quads exercises
- How to do the resistance band squat
- How to do the resistance band squat to press
- How to do the resistance band thruster
- How to do the resistance band squat walk
- How to do the barbell squat
- How to do the barbell bulgarian split squat
Last reviewed June 2026.