Strength in your legs is a big deal. Your legs take you everywhere you want to go and a set of good legs will leet you bound up stairs, run, and feel great everywhere you go. Developing your legs helps with your overall body development and it makes it easier to get around.
The full squat is one of your keys to leg development. Many people have issues with full squat saying they are bad for the knees. Many people do not have issues with the full squat saying that it is good for the knees. Well, now we have a conundrum, don’t we? I maintain that you should be able to full squat as a skill. Having this full range length strength feels really good.
The goblet squat is a great type of squat to do for a full squat. The first thing it does is limit the weight. You’re not going to hold much more than 100 pounds—if that. And you don’t need to. 50-70 pounds is great. You don’t need to be moving excessive amounts of weight to feel really strong.
As you lower yourself holding the weight, your stomach increasingly must flex to support the weight. Thus you get strong abs. As you pull yourself into the bottom position, everything is tight, all over your body. Then you drive up through the heels, feeling your butt driving the work out of the bottom position. Super-usable strength here.
You’re isometrically holding the weight. You can really squeeze the weight to get more benefit out of this isometric hold.
Finally, holding the weight in front of you like this lets you stay relatively upright and really drive from your hips. You’ll develop a lot of power in your legs. Since the weight is lower, in won’t take a ton out of you, either. Unlike a back squat that can force you to recover for days on end.
Here’s a short video going through some of the benefits.