Zercher Squat
A barbell squat with the bar cradled in the crook of your elbows in front of your body, which keeps your torso upright and puts the work on your quads and glutes.
- Primary muscles
- Quads, Glutes
- Secondary
- Front delts, Adductors
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- Weight × reps
Loads from YouTube only when you press play. The video is by an independent creator.
Why do it
With the load in front you stay upright, much like a front squat, but there's no rack position to fight for, so it suits lifters whose wrists or shoulders don't get along with a front rack. It also teaches you to hold a heavy load close to your body, which carries over to lifting awkward objects. The catch is comfort: the bar digs into your arms, so use a pad or sleeves and add weight slowly. Learn a regular squat first.
How to do it
Set the bar in a rack at about mid-torso height and hook it into the crook of your elbows, hands clasped in front of you and elbows close together.
Stand up to unrack it, step back and set your feet shoulder-width apart with your toes turned out slightly.
Push your hips back and squat down, keeping your torso as upright as you can so the bar stays put.
Drive back up through your whole foot. The bar digs into your arms, so use a pad or sleeves and build up the weight slowly.
Common mistakes
Chest dropping as you descend
If your chest falls forward, the bar pulls you over and your arms take the strain. Keep your torso as upright as you can, as the steps say.
Elbows drifting apart
Spread elbows let the bar roll down toward your forearms. Clasp your hands and keep your elbows close together the whole set.
Skipping arm padding
The bar presses hard into the inside of your elbows, and the discomfort ends sets early. Use a pad or long sleeves before the weight gets heavy.
Unracking from too low
A bar set too low means a deep squat just to get it out. Rack it at about mid-torso height so you can stand straight up with it.
Sets, reps and progression
How many sets you do and how close to failure you take them depend on your goal and your week, not on the exercise. These guides cover it:
Alternatives that train the same thing
Same movement, a different angle or piece of equipment.
