Introducing: zercher squats

I tried zercher squats for the first time in my deload week (have you had one recently?) and recorded the event for posterity.

The zercher squat: equipment

To do them, I used the fat bar that I made a few weeks ago.  I read somewhere that a larger diameter bar makes the lift less painful on the arms.  I’m glad I did because it wasn’t the nicest sensation even with the bigger bar!

My rack doesn’t go very low so I used the 12″ plyometric boxes that I made in the summer and a few bricks to get the right height.  It’s a similar set up to the one I used when I did the floor press for the first time recently.

And that’s it.  Not really very sophisticated but it works and I’m happy.

The zercher squat: a basic primer

This is me having set up the boxes and the bricks so that the bar is just above my knees.  My upper back is curving over slightly so I’ll have to keep an eye on it but I’m fairly happy with the depth and I don’t think I’m pushing myself into position to get it.  

You can see that from this position, I can slide my arms underneath the bar and clasp my hands together on the other side.  I’ve seen the zercher done without clasping the hands together but this feels most natural to me.  So I’ll do it this way unless I find that it causes a problem that I haven’t thought of yet.

Then I just stood up.  I found that, as long as I got into the right position at the bottom, the hip drive came naturally.  It’s definitely easier to master than the front squat (which still eludes me to proper depth) or the back squat (which I am nearly there with).  It’s similar to the lumberjack squat but the stresses are in slightly different places.  I’m still curving over a little at the top but I think that’s more a function of looking at the bar than anything else.

Here you can see the bar position most clearly.  It really is just as uncomfortable as it looks.

So that’s it.  The zercher squat.  I’m going to start rotating it into my routine and see what happens.  I’m not sure whether it will be as brutal as the lumberjack squat but only time will tell.

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