How often should I squat?
Twice a week for most lifters: enough to practise the pattern and accumulate volume, spread far enough apart that both sessions stay hard.
Three times a week works if you vary the intensity: one heavy day, one moderate, one light or technical. Squatting more often than that mostly buys skill, not muscle, and it is where most people start accumulating knee and hip complaints.
Frequency is a tool for splitting up weekly volume, not a goal of its own.
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- Schoenfeld, B.J. et al. (2016). Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Med 46(11). Twice weekly beat once weekly when volume was equated.
- Grgic, J. et al. (2018). Effect of Resistance Training Frequency on Gains in Muscular Strength: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Med 48(5). Frequency mattered little once weekly volume was matched.