Jul 22, 2015Coaching The Goblet Squat
Training & Conditioning is pleased to bring you the first edition of our Digital Guide to Strength and Conditioning! Containing seven specific exercises to use in training your athletes, the guide features text and a video showing each being performed. Here, we look at the goblet squat.
Goblet squats are a fantastic teaching tool and can still be used beyond the initial training sessions to continue to build strength and improve mobility. Most athletes are physically unprepared to handle a barbell squat right off the bat, be it a strength, mobility, mechanical, or some combination issue.
We’ve found at our facility that we can spare our athletes potential injury and quickly build a strong foundation by utilizing the goblet squat for the first few weeks of an athlete’s training. Goblet squats are perfect for teaching the squat: the front loading forces the athletes to keep their chests up, sit back in their hips, and by cuing them to put their elbows inside their knees, you can easily prevent valgus collapse at the knees. Grooving the squat pattern early on in training will set your athletes up for greater success down the road. Goblet squats are the most efficient and simple way to do so!
Why stop at merely teaching the movement? You can continue to load a goblet squat and still build strength—particularly in the upper back and core.
If an athlete is struggling to keep his/her chest up with barbell squat, a cycle of heavy goblet squatting can fix it. High reps are a frequently used tool to build muscular endurance and mental toughness. However under a barbell, there are multiple opportunities for injury. High rep goblet squats are an effective and safe alternative that still gets the job done. No athlete is ever too advanced to benefit from the goblet squat.
To view more exercises, click on the complete interactive guide below: