1Leaning forward
What you see: The weight drifts away from the chest and the torso tips forward.
The fix: "Chest up." Pull the weight back into your chest and keep your elbows down.
Form guides · Legs and hips
The goblet squat: the squat that teaches itself.
Holding one weight at your chest pulls you upright, which is why trainers hand it to beginners first.
What good looks like.
The goblet squat is a squat with a single dumbbell or kettlebell held in both hands under your chin. The weight in front acts as a counterbalance, so most people find they can sit deeper and stay taller than with no weight at all. It trains the same legs and glutes as a back squat, with far less to set up.
- Hold the weight by its top end, tight to your chest, elbows pointing down.
- Stay tall: on a goblet squat your chest stays up, not leaning forward over your knees.
- Elbows go inside your knees at the bottom.
- Knees follow your toes, heels stay down.
- Stand up by pushing the floor away, squeezing your glutes at the top.
- Chin in, eyes ahead
- Weight tight to the chest
- Knees out over the toes
- Whole foot down
The faults a trainer sees most
What goes wrong, and the cue that fixes it.
The cues in quotes are the words Brad Glaser uses with his own clients.
2Knees move inward
What you see: The knees cave as you drive up out of the bottom.
The fix: "Knees out." Think about spreading the floor apart with your feet.
3Head pokes forward
What you see: The chin juts out to meet the weight.
The fix: "Chin in." Make a double chin and keep your head back over your shoulders.
4Rounding at the bottom
What you see: The low back tucks under as you hit the deepest point.
The fix: Stop just above where it rounds. Depth comes back as your hips and ankles loosen.
Make it easier, make it harder.
Easier
- A lighter weight, or none: arms reaching forward instead.
- Squat to a box or bench.
- Heels on a small plate if your ankles are stiff, while you work on them.
Harder
- A slow three-second lower.
- A pause at the bottom, then drive up.
- Move on to a front or back squat.
Move within a range that feels comfortable, and stop any exercise that hurts. Have a health condition, or been inactive a while? Ask your doctor what is right for you first. VeraForma is coaching, not medicine. It does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it does not replace your doctor or physio.
Let your phone check it.
Prop your phone up and train. VeraForma's camera draws the line on your body and names what it sees, with the number it measured.
Free: your reps counted out loud, and the common standing faults shown right on screen, with the fix in your set report. Go Premium and it speaks the fix while you move: "Knees out." "Chest up."
Scan to open it on your phone.
Free: your movement screen, Phase 1 of your programme and all of nutrition.
More form guides
Built by Brad Glaser · NASM Master Trainer · NASM-CPT, CES, PES · 20+ years · has certified 100+ personal trainers.
He owns a personal-training studio in Southern California. The same method he uses standing next to a client, built into the app.
Train it right, free.
Scan to open it on your phone.
Free account, no card. Brad's questions. One squat on camera. Then your results.