Gym Lingo: Goblet

Have you ever wondered why it’s called a goblet squat when you hold a kettlebell in front of you chest and perform squats?

A few years ago we had a large number of clients referring to kettlebells as goblets. Along the lines of, “I dropped my marker and it landed over there near the goblets.” I always got a kick out of that, and it is a little confusing.

The goblet designation doesn’t have to be with a kettlebell though, you can goblet hold and dumbbell as well.

It’s not named after the implement itself. Instead, it’s due to the position of holding a weight in front of your chest like that. Legendary strength coach, Dan John, created the goblet squat around 2002.

He was holding a kettlebell in the front of chest position, did a squat and he said it was like he squatted the holy grail, or a big goblet. The name stuck.

And just like that, this simple, highly effective loading strategy, for both beginners and advanced trainee, was created.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain