The Squadra Program

Who Squadra is For

Squadra is for people serious about getting healthy or staying healthy — those willing to put in the work to achieve exceptional results. Right now in America, strong health isn’t the norm, so what we expect is exceptional dedication. It’s not about quick fixes or optimization hacks. It’s about hard work: consistent strength and cardio training, healthy eating, and honest accountability. Whether you’re starting from scratch or already in great shape, Squadra gives you the tools, support, and community to push yourself further.

Commitment and Celebration

This program welcomes all who are ready to grow, but kindness and support are non-negotiable. Squadra thrives on diversity — we’ve had successful participants who’d never lifted a weight and those who were professional athletes. What unites us is a shared commitment to personal transformation and a culture that celebrates effort and growth over judgment. If you’re ready to be part of a team that challenges and inspires you, Squadra is for you.

Your Team

Squadra is a bit like Color Wars for health and wellness. In that spirit, you are assigned a team that will become your biggest source of accountability and motivation in the program. Together, you will share goals, challenges, and wins. You will also compete as a unit in our end-of-season competition (in addition to our individual competitions).

Teams have their own group chat and are encouraged to set up weekly goal-setting and check-in meetings (these are not mandatory but are encouraged and incentivized throughout the program). Your team will also have a coach whose job is to stay up to date on your progress through the program - kind of like your camp counselor.

Workouts

Over the past four years, in consultation with experts in the fields of sports medicine, fitness, and longevity, we’ve refined our workouts to ensure we are prioritizing the movements that extend your health span. Those workouts are described in detail here. You are not required to do all (or most) of the workouts but are encouraged to do as many as you can. 

At a simple level, that means we are concerned with three things above all else:

  • Strength

  • Stability

  • Aerobic capacity

Our heavy emphasis on strength may come as the most surprising element of our program. We believe strength is important not because of the aesthetics (This is not a “beach muscle” or “bro science” program.), but because being strong is key to a long and happy life. To quote Dr. Peter Attia:

"In its simplest form, strength means utilizing muscle to generate force. And if you are interested in living a long and healthy life and playing with your great-grandkids someday, then muscle mass should be a priority. Never in the history of human civilization has a 90-year-old said, “I wish I had less muscle.”

Muscle degeneration can start as early as age 30, with a 3 to 5% loss of muscle mass every decade, and accelerates around 65. Muscle mass also plays a crucial role in metabolic health. Muscles efficiently metabolize glucose, maintaining low, stable blood sugar levels. Building muscle also helps store glucose as glycogen for immediate energy use, reducing the risk of it being stored as harmful fat.

Megha Upadhyaya

I'm a 2 season veteran of Squadra, and in that time I've seen fat loss, and gains in lean muscle mass. The most meaningful part of Squadra for me is a mindshift towards this idea that anything is possible at any age - that I can still get in the best shape of my life - as long as I continue to implement what I learn in this program.

The Squadra Ten

Though our program includes many exercises, we’ve prioritized ten benchmarks to gauge the physical fitness of members:

In addition to earning points for all workouts, you will track your personal records (PRs) on these movements throughout the program. 

The program mostly emphasizes your inputs, though we do require everyone to take a body scan every two months (Dexa, Inbody, etc. . .). Everyone is required to track either their percent body fat (PBF) or their skeletal muscle mass (SMM). Most tend to choose the former (Over the course of our 2023 six-month program, participants lost 3% percent body fat on average.), but people who come in with low PBF tend to choose the latter. Many do both. We emphasize the scans because knowing how much skeletal muscle mass and body fat you carry is essential to understanding whether you are progressing. I am yet to meet someone who hasn’t needed to improve on at least one of those measures. The scans also tend to provide other useful information, like bone density. 

Biomarker Tracking 

In addition to the mandatory scans, you can track additional optional biomarkers, which will feed into a Squadra Dashboard. We will tell you where you fall relative to others in the general US population for your age cohort. 

Mandatory Biomarkers:

  • Percent body fat or skeletal muscle mass ​​

Optional Biomarkers:

  • V02 Max

  • Apolipoprotein B 

  • Lp(a)

  • HbA1c

  • Bone mineral density 

  • Glucose

Competitions

You earn points every week for the workouts you complete, for healthy habits, and for completing challenges. You also earn points for progress on the biomarkers listed above. 

At the end of the program, we crown gold, silver, and bronze medalists at both the team and individual levels. We also give out a host of other awards (most improved, best teammate, best captain, etc. . . ).

Put another way, if you are a type-A striver who misses awards and badges from your adolescence, then this is for you.

〰️

Put another way, if you are a type-A striver who misses awards and badges from your adolescence, then this is for you. 〰️

Cost

$29 per month for the general program.

That includes everything mentioned above. At the end of the program, you can do one of two things:

(a) get a full refund if you are unhappy with the program, or

(b) offer an additional donation to the program in line with how meaningful it's been to you.

In this sense, we are a bit like a church (or a cult). Our reason for testing this business model is that it will motivate us to go above and beyond — and it will allow us, over time, to keep the basic price low to make the program accessible. 

Program Timing

March 2 - 8

Orientation

You will learn the basic elements of the program, arrange for your body scan, meet your teams, and practice key exercises and healthy habits. 

March 9 - November 8

The “Season”

You will work through the program and compete both as teams and individuals. You will also work towards individual health and wellness goals.

November 9 - 22

Competition

We culminate the season with a series of individual and team challenges and competitions.