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Goblet Squat

The Goblet Squat is a Dan John invention, used to help teach proper squat form. The illustration explains the exercise:

The Goblet Squat is mainly a teaching exercise. Most people will use pretty good squat form in this exercise naturally, without a lot of coaching instructions to follow. Then having "greased the groove" with the goblet squat, other squats are easier to learn. They are also a great warmup exercise, greasing the groove with light weights before a heavy squat workout.

The position of the elbows encourages you to spread your knees - the elbows will go between the knees as you lower into a full squat. The position of the weight makes it easy to use a good combination of quadriceps and posterior chain. It will not be possible to hold enough weight to turn this into a power exercise. Zercher Squats allow a similar movement, but your depth is limited in the Zercher Squat - the bar lands on the tops of the thighs at about the parallel position.

You can also do goblet squats with a kettlebell by holding one kettlebell by the "horns."

• Further discussion of goblet squats is found here in the blog.