Squats Are Hard

This doesn’t really provide an answer to your question, but in order to reassure you I wanted to let you know that it is perfectly normal to find squatting challenging, squats are hard. There is a huge difference in effort, both perceived and actual, when we perform an upper body movement like a bench press and a lower body variation like a squat. The squat movement requires complete body tension and control. It raises the heart rate far higher than upper body movements as it is far more challenging physically, making it more challenging mentally.

Large Muscle Groups

The muscles groups of the legs include the quads, the hamstrings and the glutes, all of which are some of the largest muscles in the body. This means that they can both lift a great deal of load and perform a great deal of work, both of which result in the exercise of the squat being very challenging mentally and physically. Squats also require a lot of stabilisation from the upper body, making them much more of a full body exercise.

Requires Mobility

On top of the fact that they are challenging due to the load and work being done, they also require good levels of mobility. In order to perform a perfect squat, it is required to have excellent levels of mobility, most of us do not have these levels of mobility meaning we will moving through positions that challenge our mobility all while dealing with high levels of fatigue. This in turn is another reason why a set of squats, including goblet squats, can feel very challenging.

The Loading Position

The goblet squat can be particularly uncomfortable because of how it is loaded, with the weight out front. This loading position means that even the upper body has an important role to play throughout the lift. When goblet squats are performed with challenging weights or for high repetition ranges maintaining this position becomes very mentally challenging.

High Repetition Ranges

It is rare to do low repetition strength work when performing the goblet squat. This means that the repetition range usually varies between 6-15+. These sorts of high repetition sets are extremely challenging both mentally and physically. If you are performing goblet squats in cardiovascular circuits then this can be even more challenging as you will be performing them with a very high heart rate and likely have to perform a large amount of repetitions.

Keep Moving

Squats are hard, goblet squats are hard, yet they are part of a well designed exercise training protocol. So make sure you keep at them and keep building that crucial lower body strength.