Why You Need To Know About The Zercher Squat

Admittedly, I’m not that into fashion. It just doesn’t excite me that much. My girlfriend on the other hand, now she’s is a bona fide fashionista. Some of the things she’s showed me I would have never in a million years guessed were still in style, or rather, had come back into style. You see, in the fashion world, you tend to witness styles of yesteryear come back into the spotlight. What was hot 30 or 40 years ago is now back, albeit usually with a new twist.

This is just the way things seem to go; trends that were once banished into obscurity are now being looked at under a new light, and people tend to like what they see.

Perfect Form

Weightlifting is a lot like fashion in this sense. While there are staples like the bench press and chin-up which will never go out of style, there are other, less well known exercises that are very useful but haven’t been widely seen in gyms across the country in quite some time.

One of said exercises is something called the Zercher Squat. The Zercher Squat was developed by the famous 1930’s strongman and powerlifter named, you guessed it, Ed Zercher.

Rumour has it that Ed’s home gym lacked a squat rack, so he was forced to keep his barbell on the floor. Ed knew the importance of the squat movement when it came to packing on muscle, so he had to try to incorporate it into his routine somehow.

The Result? The Zercher Squat. Ed would load his barbell up on the floor, squat down in front of it, put the bar in the crook of his arms, and lift the weight using his legs and lower back.

Zercher Squats tend to be done with relatively light weights.

As you can imagine, it takes a whole lot of flexibility to lift the bar off the floor like this and as a result, it’s suggested that you perform this exercise from a waist height position on a rack or Smith machine.

The Zercher Squat is pretty much a combination of a deadlift and a squat. It annihilates your leg muscles, glutes, and lower back in a way that no other exercise can claim.

Many lifters use the Zercher Squat to improve their normal squat. It tends to improve your form when you do a traditional squat, and also really helps to build strength at the bottom position of your squat, which is generally your weakest.

How To: 

Zercher Squat Steps

• Put the barbell on a rack at about waist height.
• Squat down and wrap your arms around the bar so you’re holding it in the crevice of your elbow. Have your elbows shoulder width apart.
• Grasp your opposite hand or arm with your hands and hold tightly.
• Push up using your legs and stand back from the rack. Place your feet slightly wider than should width apart.
• Keep the bar tight against your torso, pull your abs in and arch your back as you squat down until your elbows meet your knees.
• Rise back to the starting position slowly.