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How to do it
- Set the barbell in a rack at about waist height and step close to it.
- Cradle the bar in the crooks of your elbows with your elbows around shoulder width.
- Interlace your fingers with the knuckles facing up and stand tall with the bar close to your body.
- Step back and take a stance slightly wider than your usual squat.
- Break at the hips and descend with your chest up until your elbows reach the inside of your thighs.
- Drive through the whole foot and stand back up, keeping the bar centered and tight to your torso.
Common mistakes
- Setting the bar off center, which makes it slide sideways in the elbows under load.
- Holding the bar away from the body, which loads the lower back instead of the legs.
- Placing the elbows too narrow or too wide, which loses the shelf that holds the bar.
- Training the lift while fatigued, since a failed rep with the bar in the elbows is hard to dump safely.
Muscles worked
- Secondary
- AbsBicepsHamstringsUpper Back
Good to know
- What muscles does the Zercher Squat work?
- Mainly the glutes and quads. It also works the abs, biceps, hamstrings and upper back.
- What equipment do you need for the Zercher Squat?
- It uses a barbell. Without it, the Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat and the Dumbbell Front Squat (Tempo) train the same muscles the same way.
- Is the Zercher Squat good for beginners?
- GymVim rates it intermediate. For a beginner-rated exercise on the same muscle and movement, see the Band Squat.