A YouTuber did 300 squats a day for 30 days, and by the end his quads were an inch bigger

• A YouTuber did 300 squats a day for 30 days and his quads grew an inch by the end of the month.
• Evan Zhang broke the 300 down into sets of 20, but it was physically and mentally draining.
• He didn't change his diet but ensured he was eating ample protein, Zhang told Insider.

A man did 300 bodyweight squats a day for 30 days and documented his journey on YouTube.

Singaporean vlogger Evan Zhang took on the challenge hoping to build his quad muscles.

9,000 squats later, Zhang found that his quads grown an inch, and his glutes "became rounder and fuller" too.

Zhang told Insider he was glad with the results, since he barely ever did squats before, favoring weight training at the gym.

Zhang did his daily 300 squats in sets of 20 throughout the day, ensuring he performed them with full range of motion.

"My body is really trying to get used to the insane amount of volume," Zhang said in the video. "In the very first week my quads were constantly burning, they were super sore every single day."

Despite being no stranger to fitness challenges, Zhang found doing so many squats particularly draining, both mentally and physically.

A calorie surplus is the best way to build muscle

Zhang told Insider he used to do weight training but, as gyms have been closed in Singapore for a couple of months, he has mainly been doing calisthenics and bodyweight exercises.

"I wasn't doing any squats before this challenge so this was to kick-start my squat training," he said.

When an exercise or style of training is new, our bodies respond favorably to the stimulus, as was the case with Zhang.

While it's possible to build muscle eating at maintenance calories (or even in a deficit if you're new to strength training), experts agree that the best way to do so is to eat in a calorie surplus, with plenty of protein, while strength-training in the right rep range.

Zhang said he didn't make any specific changes to his diet for the challenge though.

"I just ate as per normal, making sure I have adequate protein intake," he said. "I did not particularly track my calories, but since my weight increased by 0.5kg (1lb), it must have been a slight caloric surplus."