Legs
Heels Elevated Goblet Squat
A goblet squat with your heels up on a yoga block or plate. Raising your heels lets your knees travel forward and your chest stay tall, so you can squat deeper and put more of the work into your quads.
- Works
- Quads, glutes, adductors, core
- Equipment
- One dumbbell and a yoga block or plate
- Load
- Medium to heavy
How to do it
- 1Rest your heels on a yoga block or plate with the balls of your feet on the floor, about hip width apart. Hold one dumbbell upright at your chest.
- 2Brace your core and stand tall, elbows pointing down.
- 3Squat straight down, letting your knees travel forward over your toes, as deep as you can with your chest up.
- 4Push through your whole foot to stand back up.
Cues
- Rest your heels on a yoga block.
- Let your knees come forward; that's the point of this one.
- Pause at the bottom for a second before you stand.
Common mistakes
- Sitting back like a regular squat. With your heels up, go straight down and let your knees come forward. Sitting back tips you off balance.
- Block sliding around. Set it on a mat or against a wall so it stays put, and keep your heels fully on it.
- Bouncing out of the bottom. Lower under control and hold the bottom for a beat. Bouncing lets momentum do the work your quads should.
Easier
Go lighter, skip the pause, or squat down to a box so you know how low to go.
Harder
Try 2 full reps, then 2 small pulses at the bottom, and repeat that for the whole set.
Try it: 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps, or 30 seconds on and 30 off.
Why elevate your heels when you squat?
Raising your heels lets your knees move farther forward and your chest stay more upright, so most people can squat deeper. It also puts more of the work into your quads. A yoga block or a plate works fine.
