IOL Strength and Conditioning

Scouring the ‘net, the best I can figure is goblet squats were invented by Dan John a couple of years ago to teach his student athletes how to squat well, his favorite overhead squats specifically. The thinking was the goblet groove would help the athlete learn to squat between the legs, rather than with the upper body stiff at the hips. I suspect it also works very, very well for teaching women how to squat.

You see, we have a hip thing going on. In case you didn’t know.We are, for the most part, more suited for front squats over the more common back squats, too, so you guys trying to teach your spouses to squat should take note of Coach John’s handy teaching tool.

My blogger partner Byron Chandler notes:

The goblet squat is excellent for teaching you to spread your stance and “squat between your heels.” The reason you squat upright with a goblet squat is because it’s basically a front squat. You won’t be able to duplicate that upright position with a back squat. Incidentally, if you are long legged, you might be better off focusing on the front squat rather than the back squat.

Many of us took to them immediately. In fact, I use them regularly with a medicine ball as a pre-workout warm-up, working the toes to the shoulders… scratch that, higher. Gets my head in the game, too.

I usually proceed to a medicine ball clean/goblet/thruster effort as the warm-up proceeds.

Well into the warm-up, I like to get and stay down at the bottom position, hold and stretch a little. Dave doesn’t agree with this and says it looks like a warm-up to a knee problem instead. So shake a little salt into the sweetness.

As an aside: A lot of us have a noisy knee thing going on. Fred Hatfield (you know him as Dr. Squat) discusses squats and knee issues here, and for an opposing viewpoint may I quote Coach Bill Starr about noisy knees:

“If they don’t hurt, I wouldn’t be concerned. I’ve trained with quite a few lifters who experienced noise in their knees when they squatted, but it never caused them any real trouble. Naturally, if they do start hurting, it would be wise to see a doctor.”

Your foot position — the width between your feet — is, I think, suggested by individual physiology, although I believe one can adjust from the natural position and strengthen the supportive muscles in the process. For example, my natural position involves a fairly wide stance, yet I see a value in a narrow stance to strengthen the muscles around the knees. I wouldn’t suggest much experimentation until you’re fairly proficient, completely warmed up but not tired, or before your body awareness is well developed, because you’re more likely to train yourself right into bad form, straining your knees or low back if you’re not careful.

The natural stance of the goblet squat will ensure a more upright body during the downward motion. If you’re attentive to a straight-back position, a narrow-stance, butt-back goblet squat is perfectly save and very effective as an exercise you might keep in the arsenal for years to come.

Back to my warm-ups, the medicine ball goblets move agreeable to a clean from the floor/goblet squat/thruster effort that really gets my heart pumping and the full body working. Then I’m ready to move to goblets with a kettlebell by the horns — or a barbell or dumbbell, depending on where I’m training that day. Once things get heavier, I keep the reps at six or below because it’s an easy exercise to learn, but as one gets tired, things get sloppy and danger sets in.

Keep the goblet object close to your chest. Coach John points out that your elbows should be between your knees at the bottom, not on top or to the side of your knees (unlike the photo above, however that’s the only goblet squat photo currently floating around these parts).

When doing goblets with kettlebells, I like to follow them (or just as often, superset them) with swings. If using a dumbbell, I go for pullovers after… or between sets. These return the backside to an extended, upright position.

Want to really blast it? Superset your goblets with swings or pullovers and follow the whole package with elevated lunges. You won’t be forgiving me for a while. Ouch!

Here’s another thing: Because the weight used is so light, I do these goodies most every workout.

Nice!

Taskmaster Dan suggests this:

While doing your goblet squats, drop down to rock bottom, rise back up to just parallel, then drop down again and repeat many times. Then, without rest and still maintaining good form, do step-ups while holding your dumbbell or kettlebell in the goblet squat position. Yow!

While developed as a teaching exercise, many of us — especially the women — may like to keep this exercise around for the duration. Meanwhile, here are a couple of…

• Step-by-step how to squat instructions
• Squat description and squatting tips
  
• Krista on learning to squat, written for women — for whom goblet squats shine — but suitable for men, too

Next up: Maybe after Byron clears up any faulty thinking above he’ll tell you about thrusters. These are real cool, too.