A squat with a kettlebell held tight to your chest, just under your chin. The NSCA recommends it as the first loaded squat after the bodyweight squat, and the weight in front helps you stay upright and sit deeper. The analyzer reads your depth and upright torso from the side.
Hold the bell
Hold the bell with both hands, tight to your chest and just under your chin. For light bells, hold the horns. For heavier bells, cup the round body of the bell or wedge your palms under the point where the horns meet it.
the bell resting on your chest, not hanging off your arms.
Pull your elbows down and keep them close to your body. Keep your shoulders down, away from your ears.
your upper back tight and your chest tall.
Stand with your feet hip- to shoulder-width apart, toes forward or turned slightly out. Keep the whole foot flat on the floor.
even pressure through heel, big toe and little toe.
Breathe in, hold it, and brace your midsection before you start down.
a firm, braced trunk.
Descend
Bend your hips and knees together and sit down between your legs. Your knees travel forward and apart over your toes. They can pass your toes as long as your heels stay down.
dropping straight down between your legs, chest staying tall.
Lower under control. Pull yourself down instead of dropping into the bottom, and keep the bell against your chest the whole way.
a steady, deliberate descent.
Go down until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor, with your hip crease level with or below your knee. Go deeper only as far as your lower back stays neutral and your heels stay down. At the bottom your elbows may sit just inside your knees.
settled in the bottom, heels heavy, chest up.
Drive up
Drive up through your whole foot, knees pushing out, leading with your chest. Your hips and shoulders should rise at the same rate.
your chest pushing the bell up as you stand.
Breathe out through the last part of the way up. Finish standing tall with hips and knees straight and the bell still tight to your chest, then breathe in and brace for the next rep.
tall and locked out, bell steady.
Feel it
Upright and controlled, with the bell glued to your chest and your elbows down. You sit down between your legs, your whole foot stays on the floor, and your knees follow your toes on the way down and up. If the bell drifts away from you, your chest drops or your heels come up, the weight or the depth is more than you can control yet.
Fix-its
- Heels lift off the floor Cue "keep pressure through your heels" or sit back toward a box. Toes-up squats (toes lifted, weight on the heels) teach it. If your heels only rise with a heavier bell, go lighter.
- Knees cave inward Cue "knees out" or "spread the floor". A light band around the knees gives you something to press out against. Check this from the front, not the side.
- Chest drops and you tip forward Keep the bell tight to your chest and your elbows down. Lead with your chest (and the bell) on the way up so your hips don't rise first.
- Lower back rounds at the bottom Stop just above the depth where it happens. Keep your elbows pulled down and your brace on, and build depth over time instead of forcing it.
- Squats stop short of parallel Squat to a box set at your target depth, then lower the box over time.
Drill
- Touch-and-go box squat: stand just in front of a box or bench, squat until you lightly touch it, then stand. Lower the box as your depth improves.
- Bodyweight squat to depth with no box, then add the bell as a goblet squat once that looks clean.
- Toes-up squat (for heel lift) and band squat with a band above the knees (for knee cave).
- Prying goblet squat as a mobility drill: pause in the bottom and use your elbows to gently push your knees out. StrongFirst keeps prying to the first light set and pauses without prying on heavier sets.
- Self-check: film 10 reps from the side (depth, torso, heels) and from the front (knees). A fault that shows on 2 or more reps is worth fixing. Stop if anything hurts.
Sources
- NSCA — Lincoln, Ill & Ibrahim: Progressive Strategies for Teaching Fundamental Resistance Training Movement Patterns, PTQ 10.2 (2023)
- NASM — Exercise Library: Goblet Squat
- StrongFirst — Pavel Macek: Kettlebell Simple & Sinister: Tips for Heavy Goblet Squats (c. 2022)
- Myer GD et al. — The back squat: a proposed assessment of functional deficits and technical factors that limit performance, Strength Cond J (2014)
- Myer GD et al. — The back squat: targeted training techniques to correct functional deficits and technical factors that limit performance, Strength Cond J (2015)
- Tony Gentilcore (guest post by Shane McLean) — The Humble Goblet Squat (2017)
Last checked 2026-10-26.