How Many Squats Should I Be Able To Do? Squat Averages By Age + Sex

Unfortunately, while there is a lot of data about how much weight you should be able to squat based on your sex, age, and even body weight, there is a relative lack of normative data providing insight into how many squats you should be able to do.

In other words, there are squat weight standards or lots of available average weights for squats but very little in terms of official squat standards or squat averages for the number of squat reps for men, women, and age, among other factors.

That said, in this guide, we will look at the average number of squats people can do based on age, sex, fitness level, and body weight, ultimately trying to answer the question: “How many squats should I be able to do?”

We will cover: 

• How Many Squats Should You Be Able To Do?
• How Many Squats Should I Be Able To Do? Average Squat Count By Age, Sex, And Training Background

Let’s dive in!

How Many Squats Should You Be Able To Do?

Trying to answer the question, “How many squats should I be able to do?“ is that determining the average squat count by age, the average number of squats for women, a good number of squats for men, etc., requires looking at bodyweight squats, also called air squats, rather than squats with weight.

Otherwise, it would be pretty impossible to make an apples-to-apples comparison or answer: “How many squats can the average person do?“ when a different squat weight is being used for all of the average number of squats data.

Ultimately, many people perform weighted squats with a barbell, dumbbells, or other weights rather than bodyweight squats or air squats.

Unless you are a beginner or a senior, or perhaps someone who is classified as overweight or obese based on body mass index (BMI), bodyweight squats aren’t super challenging such that you might have to perform many air squats or get such a high bodyweight squat count before your muscles give out.

Thus, most people are less interested in testing the maximum number of squats they can do and are more focused on the max squat weight (squat 1RM) they can lift.

Or, they prefer to just do the correct number of squats using an appropriate load based on fitness level and fitness goal rather than banging out super long sets of bodyweight squats to see how many air squats they can do before hitting failure.

Therefore, it is important to consider why you are interested in determining the average number of squats by age or sex.

Perhaps your fitness goals are better aligned by looking at how much weight you should be squatting and how many reps and sets of squats you should do based on your fitness level, squat weight, and training goal.

One final way that you can bring more value to looking at the question: “How many squats should I be able to do?“ for assessing your fitness level based on the average number of squats age-matched and sex-matched peers might be able to do is by putting a time limit on the number of squats.

For example, “How many squats should I be able to do in one minute? Is 30 squats in a row good in 30 seconds? Is 100 squats without stopping good if I can perform them with proper form in under two minutes?”

Basically, much like a push-up test or curl-up test (which are also fitness tests for muscular endurance), you can look at the average number of bodyweight squats by age, sex, or fitness level in a distinct bodyweight squat test time period.

Although air squats aren’t generally used as a test of muscular endurance (as mentioned, this is usually sit-ups or push-ups), seeing how many squats you can do in one minute can be a good benchmark to assess your lower-body muscular endurance.

Then, you can track your improvement in your body weight squat count over time by retesting how many squats you can do in a minute using proper form.

Top End Sports describes how to do the squat test to determine how many squats you can do, how to interpret your results, and how to understand the average number of squats by age and sex.

How Many Squats Should I Be Able To Do? Average Squat Count By Age, Sex, And Training Background

While there may not be official bodyweight squat standards in terms of how many squats you should be able to do by age, sex, or body weight, Strength Level does have average squat reps for men and women by age and sex for basic bodyweight squats using self-submitted 134,331 data points from users of the online community for the website.

What Is the Average Squat Count By Age for Males?

According to Strength Level, here is the average squat count for men by age:

Age (years)	Beginners (reps)	Novice (reps)	Intermediate (reps)	Advanced (reps)	Elite (reps)
15	< 1	9	44	91	147
20	< 1	14	55	109	173
25	< 1	16	57	113	178
30	< 1	16	57	113	178
35	< 1	16	57	113	178
40	< 1	16	57	113	178
45	< 1	13	53	105	167
50	< 1	11	48	97	155
55	< 1	8	42	87	141
60	< 1	6	36	77	126
65	< 1	2	29	67	111
70	< 1	< 1	23	57	97
75	< 1	< 1	18	48	84
80	< 1	< 1	13	40	72
85	< 1	< 1	9	33	61
90	< 1	< 1	6	26	52

What Is the Average Squat Count By Weight for Males?

Here is the average number of squats for males based on body weight:

Body Weight		Beginners (reps)	Novice (reps)	Intermediate (reps)	Advanced (reps)	Elite (reps)
Pounds	Kilograms
110	50	< 1	12	62	131	215
120	55	< 1	13	61	127	206
130	59	< 1	15	61	123	198
140	64	< 1	15	60	120	191
150	68	< 1	16	59	116	184
160	73	< 1	16	58	113	178
170	77	< 1	17	57	110	172
180	82	< 1	17	56	107	167
190	86	< 1	17	55	104	162
200	91	< 1	17	54	101	157
210	95	< 1	17	53	99	152
220	100	< 1	17	52	96	148
230	105	< 1	17	51	94	144
240	109	< 1	17	50	92	140
250	114	< 1	17	49	90	137
260	118	< 1	16	48	88	133
270	123	< 1	16	47	86	130
280	127	< 1	16	46	84	127
290	132	< 1	16	45	82	124
300	136	< 1	16	44	80	121
310	141	< 1	15	44	79	119

How Many Squats Should Men Be Able to Do?

When all of the male squats numbers from Strength Level are aggregated, the average number of squats for men by training level is as follows:

Strength Level	Reps
Beginner	< 1
Novice	16
Intermediate	57
Advanced	113
Elite	178

What Is the Average Squat Count for Females By Age?

According to Strength Level, here is the average squat count for women by age:

Age (years)	Beginners (reps)	Novice (reps)	Intermediate (reps)	Advanced (reps)	Elite (reps)
15	< 1	3	29	65	107
20	< 1	7	37	78	126
25	< 1	8	39	81	131
30	< 1	8	39	81	131
35	< 1	8	39	81	131
40	< 1	8	39	81	131
45	< 1	6	35	75	122
50	< 1	4	31	69	113
55	< 1	1	27	61	102
60	< 1	< 1	22	54	91
65	< 1	< 1	17	46	79
70	< 1	< 1	12	38	68
75	< 1	< 1	9	31	58
80	< 1	< 1	5	24	48
85	< 1	< 1	1	19	40
90	< 1	< 1	< 1	14	33

What Is the Average Squat Count for Women by Weight? 

Here is the average number of squats for females based on body weight:

Body Weight		Beginners (reps)	Novice (reps)	Intermediate (reps)	Advanced (reps)	Elite (reps)
Pounds	Kilograms
90	41	< 1	7	46	100	165
100	45	< 1	8	44	95	156
110	50	< 1	8	43	91	148
120	55	< 1	8	42	87	140
130	59	< 1	9	40	83	133
140	64	< 1	9	39	80	127
150	68	< 1	9	38	77	122
160	73	< 1	8	37	74	117
170	77	< 1	8	35	71	112
180	82	< 1	8	34	68	108
190	86	< 1	8	33	66	104
200	91	< 1	8	32	64	100
210	95	< 1	7	31	61	96
220	100	< 1	7	30	59	93
230	105	< 1	7	29	57	90
240	109	< 1	7	28	56	87
250	114	< 1	6	27	54	85
260	118	< 1	6	26	52	82

How Many Squats Should Women Be Able to Do?

When all of the female squats data is aggregated, the average number of squats for women by training level is as follows:

Strength Level	Reps
Beginner	< 1
Novice	8
Intermediate	39
Advanced	81
Elite	131

So, how do you interpret these squat rep averages?

There are actually two different ways to look at these fitness levels.

Strength Level classifies these fitness levels based on actual level of experience as well as percentiles.

Beginners know how to perform the exercise correctly but have only been training for about a month. In terms of percentiles, a “beginner level“ in terms of the average number of squats is someone who is better than just 5% of the population.

In other words, if you are indeed a beginner because you have just begun exercising and have only been doing squats for about a few months, you will look at the average number of squats beginners can do based on your age, sex, and body weight and aim to achieve that level or above.

On the other hand, if you are only able to do the number of bodyweight squats reported in the “Beginner“ column for your sex, age, or body weight, but you have been training longer than six months and fall into one of the other experience levels, your fitness is at a beginner level.

This is despite your training experience and shows that you aren’t as fit as other men or women (biological males or females) with similar experience, age, and body weight.

The categories are as follows:

• Beginner: Less than six months of training; stronger than 5% of lifters.
• Novice: Training at least six months but less than two years; stronger than 20% of lifters.
• Intermediate: Training at least two years; stronger than 50% of lifters.
• Advanced: Training at least five years; stronger than 80% of lifters.
• Elite: Training or competing competitively for at least five years; stronger than 95% of peers.

So, how many squats can the average person do?

Because the “intermediate“ level constitutes the 50th percentile, you could say that the number of squats the average male can do is 57, and the number of squats the average female can do is 39.

Remember that while you certainly can perform squats as a muscular endurance exercise, in which case most people do bodyweight squats and try to do as many squats as possible, the squat exercise is typically performed as a lower-body strengthening exercise or lower-body hypertrophy (muscle-building) exercise.

If you want to be able to do more squats, consider trying our 30-day squat challenge here.