The 16 Best Exercises to Do Instead of Squats

Squats are one of the best exercises for building a strong lower body. However, some people can't perform squats due to pain or injuries. Others may feel bored with squats if they've been working on them for years or their progress has stalled.

Thankfully, you can still train your lower body even if you're not willing or able to add squats into your workouts right now. Below, we share our favorite squat alternatives to use in your workouts.

Some people dislike squats because they're difficult to perform or cause pain. If you're rehabbing an injury and your doctor or physical therapist has instructed you not to squat, you should avoid them for now. Instead, skip to the "hip-dominant squat alternatives" section further down. (FYI: Hip-dominant exercises primarily target your glutes, hips and hamstrings and place less stress on your knees.)

For the rest of us, it's beneficial to figure out how to perform squats without discomfort rather than removing them entirely from our workouts. Squats mimic many important everyday movements, such as getting up and down out of a chair, picking up a child or using the restroom. If we are unable to sit down and stand up without pain, our daily lives are much more challenging.

One of the best ways to learn proper squat form and potentially reduce pain is to use external assistance like a suspension trainer, box or light weight. These tools offload some of the weight on your joints, provide useful feedback about where your body is in space and teach you to use your core more effectively.

If you're really struggling with squats — especially technically complex, heavy squat variations like barbell back squats — take a step back and work on these assisted squat drills.

The TRX-assisted squat is a wonderful drill for beginners or those with joint problems, overweight or obesity. Using the TRX takes some of the load off your lower-body joints and lets you use your upper-body muscles to assist you.

Many beginners have a hard time figuring out how deep they should squat. Even folks who have been squatting for a while can develop the bad habits of squatting too high or too deep.

Squatting onto a box helps clean up technique and provides an external cue for exactly how deep you should squat based on your body type, injury history and pain levels. For example, if squatting below parallel hurts your knees but squatting slightly above parallel feels good, practice squatting to a box that's a little higher than parallel.

Squatting to a box can also turn the squat into a more hip-dominant movement, which is helpful for people who experience knee pain. You can sit your hips back farther than you would be able to otherwise because the box is there to support and catch your body.

One of the primary reasons you may struggle with squats is not understanding how to use your core properly. Your core muscles provide a key foundation of support while moving. They also act as a bridge to transfer force between your upper and lower body.

Learning how to properly create tension in your core can facilitate mobility in your ankles and hip — two of the joints most important for squatting. Press-out squats are a great tool to help build this kind of full-body stability, connection and mobility.

You can do press-out squats using a sandbag, small weight plate, medicine ball or sideways dumbbell. It's important to keep the weight light (10 pounds or less), because this is not a drill intended to be done with a heavy load.

The leg press machine is another alternative squat exercise that takes a lot of the stress off your joints while still building lower-body pushing strength. This machine requires you to push and lower a loaded sled in a manner that imitates a squat, and it works your quads, glutes and hamstrings.

It's important to remember that although this machine can help you build strength and muscle in your lower body, it will not build any of the core strength and stability that you get with regular squats. This means it's much less applicable to the activities of daily life. You'll also generally be able to leg press a lot more weight than you can squat.

If you're struggling to squat due to knee pain or are very new to lifting weights, the following exercises may not be a great fit for you at the moment. Instead, jump to the "hip-dominant squat alternatives" section below.

However, if your main issue is that squatting causes lower back pain or you're just bored with squats and want to mix up your lower- body training with some fresh new movements, single-leg, knee-dominant exercises may be the perfect solution for you.

Single-leg exercises are easier on your lower back because you can't hold as much weight, and you also typically use spine-friendly loading methods — like holding dumbbells in your hands or in front of your chest (as opposed to loading a heavy barbell on your back). Many people who complain of back pain while squatting are able to train hard and heavy with single-leg exercises without issue.

However, don't be fooled by the lighter loading of these movements. Single-leg exercises can be some of the most challenging — and rewarding — exercises at the gym. They challenge your legs, core, glutes and hips in ways you can't get with most other movements.

Because you have to perform all the reps on both legs, your endurance will certainly be challenged. Single-leg exercises also have tons of real-world carryover to activities, such as walking, running and hiking.

You can do all of these single-leg options with just your body-weight if you're newer to training or need to use less load. Stronger and more experienced athletes can add heavier weights when appropriate.

A split squat is a stationary lunge. Split squats are easier to perform than lunges because your feet stay planted on the floor the entire time. This reduces some of the balance demands of the exercise. Everyone should build competency and strength with split squats before moving on to more advanced lunging variations.

The reverse lunge is the most joint-friendly lunge variation because you place less demand on your knees and don't need to slow down as much of your body-weight as you step back. Start here if you are new to lunging.

Walking lunges are a progression of reverse lunges. Switching to a forward step makes walking lunges more challenging than either stationary split squats or reverse lunges. For this reason, you should get the hang of those exercises first rather than jumping right into heavy walking lunges.

Many coaches consider rear-foot elevated split squats to be one of the gold-standard exercises for building lower-body strength. This challenging exercise requires an impressive combination of lower-body strength, core strength and balance to perform well.

You can get seriously strong and build lots of muscle using rear-foot elevated split squats as your primary lower-body pushing exercise, even if you never perform bilateral squats again.

You can perform rear-foot elevated split squats using a dedicated foot stand (like in the video below) by placing your back foot on a bench, box, machine pad (like a leg extension or leg curl machine) or with your foot wrapped around a barbell placed in a power rack. You can even place your foot on a couch or chair if you're training at home. Get creative and use whatever equipment you have available.

One final single-leg squat alternative is the step-up. Because step-ups use your lower body in a different manner than split squats and lunges, some people who cannot perform those exercises without pain may be able to use step-ups as a squat alternative.

For best results, start with a box that places your thigh no higher than parallel with the ground. You shouldn't need to swing your arms or propel yourself off the foot on the ground to step up on the box.

Advanced athletes can experiment with doing step-ups onto a higher box so long as they are able to control their body throughout the entire rep.

Sometimes, like if you're dealing with pain or injury, you need to take a step back from knee-dominant lower-body pushing exercises like squats, lunges and split squats. In these situations, you can still train your lower body and core using exercises that primarily target your glutes, hips and hamstrings and place less stress on your knees.

Any of the following exercises can be used in place of knee-dominant lower-body movements. For example, if you see a barbell back squat in your workout, you could substitute trap bar deadlifts or hip thrusts. If you see a lunge, swap it out for a single-leg glute bridge.

Continue to also prioritize other hip- and hamstring-dominant exercises like Romanian deadlifts, leg curls and good mornings whenever possible. These will help keep your knees healthy and your legs strong.

You can perform most of these hip-dominant squat alternatives with just your body-weight if you are newer to training or need to use less load. Stronger and more experienced athletes can add heavier weights when appropriate.

The glute bridge is a great exercise for people who are just getting started with their fitness journey or who are returning to training after an injury. It works well as a squat alternative because you still focus on pushing through your lower body but without as much stress on your joints.

You can make glute bridges more challenging by elevating your heels on a box, bench or a sturdy couch or chair if you're training at home. This increases the range of motion of the exercise, which makes your muscles work a little harder.

Hip thrusts are a more challenging glute bridge variation that requires greater glute, core and hamstring strength. To do them, you can use a hip thruster machine if your gym has one, which is specifically designed for this exercise. However, you don't need special equipment if you have access to a bench, couch or sturdy chair.

If you can't perform lunges, split squats or step-ups but still want to build single-leg strength, single-leg glute bridge variations are your best option.

The single-leg hip thrust is an advanced movement that helps build impressive levels of glute and core strength. This is a fantastic exercise for people who are looking for a more challenging, knee-friendly squat alternative.

A trap bar is a hexagonal bar that can be used for deadlifts, rows, carries and other exercises. Many people have an easier time deadlifting with a trap bar than a traditional straight barbell because the trap bar makes it easier to use good form.

Trap bar deadlifts look somewhat similar to squats, especially if you allow your knees to bend more as you reach for the bar. This makes the trap bar deadlift a great squat alternative for folks who are unable to squat.