goblet squat

The Goblet Squat is a front loaded squat that serves as a perfect accessory exercise for anyone who wants to develop their barbell front or back squat. This exercise uses a dumbbell or kettlebell, held in rack position at chest level for the duration of the exercise.

By incorporating the additional weight in a front-loaded position, you also shift the weight onto your anterior chain, which are the muscles down the front of your body.

Here we will delve into the muscles worked, how to perform the Goblet Squat, benefits, common mistakes to avoid, reps and sets, how to progress this exercise, how and where to fit it into your workout plan and finally other exercises targeting the same muscle groups.

Muscles Worked When Performing a Goblet Squat

The Goblet Squat, like all squats, engages various muscle groups, making it a very powerful compound exercise:

Quads (Front Thigh Muscles): The load on these muscles is further emphasised when you squat with a narrower stance, i.e. feet at shoulder width apart or closer together.

Gluteus Maximus (Buttocks): Your glutes are your biggest muscle group and their job is to keep you upright. During the Goblet Squat your glutes are engaged throughout, and you can place additional emphasis on them if you squat with a wider stance, i.e. feet outside of shoulder width apart. A wide foot position in a squat is commonly known as “sumo”.

Hamstrings (Back of Thighs): As you come up from the squat position, your hamstrings assist in bringing you back to an upright position.

Calves: These muscles at the back of the lower leg provide stability and balance throughout your squat.

Core (Abdominals and Lower Back): Holding the weight in a front loaded position puts more emphasis on your core from the front and the lower back.

Upper Back and Deltoids: Holding the dumbbell or kettlebell in the goblet position also engages your upper back and deltoids.

You can use the muscle highlighted image at the top of this page for a visual guide of the muscles worked.

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How to Perform a Goblet Squat

1. Equipment: Begin with a dumbbell or kettlebell that you can comfortably hold in the goblet (rack) position. Hold the weight vertically, cupping one end with both palms. I fit’s a kettlebell, you will be holding it upside down with the bottom facing up.

2. Stance: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, ensuring your toes are pointing slightly outward. You can switch your foot position as you progress with this exercise.

3. Execution: Keep your elbows close to your body and your head held high. Initiate the squat by sitting back and down, ensuring your thighs are at least parallel to the ground. Your chest and head should be up the whole time.

4. Depth: Squat as low as your flexibility allows while maintaining good form. A parallel position or lower is ideal.

5. Power Up: Pause briefly at the bottom of the squat and then power up,with a strong glute squeeze at the top.

6. Go for reps.

Other Weight Types You Can Use to Perform This Exercise

Besides the dumbbell and kettlebell method described above, you can also perform this exercise with a medicine ball or a sandbag.

Benefits of the Goblet Squat

Build a More Powerful Squat: The Goblet Squat will help you develop your overall squatting power. So when you’re working a bigger squat, i.e. the Barbell Back Squat, you will be conditioned to progressively lift more there.

Multiple Muscle Group Engagement: Goblet Squats provide a full-body workout, targeting your lower body, core, and upper body simultaneously.

Functional Strength: The lighter load combined with a full squat movement for reps means that you are building more overall endurance and better functional strength that you can use in your everyday life.

Improved Posture: Consistency with any squat variation will help improve your posture, with the weight distribution in a front position, this will force core engagement from a different perspective when compared to unloaded or back loaded squats.

Versatility: Goblet squats can be adapted for different fitness levels by adjusting the weight, making them accessible to beginners and challenging for advanced lifters.

Goblet Squat: Common Mistakes to Avoid

Footwear: Use proper footwear for squatting, such as lifting shoes, flat-soled shoes, or go barefoot to ensure stability. We do not recommend squatting in gel bottom trainers as this does not provide a stable surface to squat on.

Maintain Proper Form: A front-loaded weight can feel different from a back-loaded weight. Ensure your upper body remains upright, look up all the time and avoid allowing your knees and ankles to cave in.

Reps and Sets

The number of reps and sets you perform depends on your current strength with this exercise.

Beginners: Start with simply mastering the move. Keep in mind that if you’re just starting out, 3 reps is a valid set.

To determine how many reps/sets of the Goblet Squat you should start with, you first need to figure out how many reps you can comfortably perform. Then add 2, and perform that number of reps for 3 sets.

For example; let’s say you can perform 4 reps comfortably. Add 2 to make 6 reps. Perform those 6 reps 3 times over, allowing yourself sufficient rest inbetween.

Experienced lifters: You know your body and its abilities better than anyone, use your own judgment.

We recommend that you avoid performing more than 12 reps per set. If you’re comfortably performing 12 reps for up to 6 sets, it’s time to make the exercise more challenging.

How to Make the Goblet Squat More Challenging

To make this exercise more challenging you can add more weight of course, or you can slow down the range of motion so that you are performing your Goblet Squats with more time under tension.

You also have the option to perform pause squats with the same load, so squat down, hold for an extended period of time before you power back up.

How to Incorporate the Goblet Squat into Your Workouts

Goblet Squats will fit nicely into your lower body, leg or full-body strength workouts. This exercise is a compound movement, meaning it will target multiple muscle groups. Because it’s loaded with some weight too, it’s a pretty powerful move which should therefore be positioned towards the beginning of your workout.

You can use it as a warm up for bigger squats, or as a finisher after you have exhausted your energy on heavier loaded squats.

Always start with the biggest moves that move the most weight, and work your way down from there. If your plan includes a squat or a deadlift, do that first, but always perform your Goblet Squats before any cable, machine or bodyweight exercises, including any isolation exercises. You can learn more about exercise order here.

Exercises That Work Similar Muscles to the Goblet Squat

Exercises like Barbell Back Squats, Lunges and Bulgarian Split Squats are great compound moves to help further strengthen your lower body for your Goblet Squat. Compound exercises are crucial for muscle growth since they allow you to move more overall weight than isolation exercises, helping you build the muscle faster.

You can also pair this exercise with other squat variations, such as the Dumbbell Sumo Squat, Hack Squat or Sumo Squat; if you’re looking for more glute isolation exercises, you can perform Cable Kickbacks, or Hip Thrusts. A combination of compound and isolation exercises is recommended for well rounded results.

There are more Leg Exercises at the bottom of this page. Or you can check out our entire exercise database broken down by muscle group here.

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