Training guide
A Zercher squat is a squat with the barbell held in the crooks of your elbows, in front of your body, with your hands clasped near your chin. You take it from a rack set at about the height of your lower ribs, step back, sit down until your thighs are at least level with the floor, and stand up with the bar kept tight to you. It needs no wrist bend, which is why some people prefer it to a front squat, but it presses into your elbows, so you pad the bar and build the weight up slowly.
Only one study has measured it: in 14 young men, it drew less thigh muscle activity than a front squat. Nobody has measured what it does to your lower back or your elbows, and holding a load in front isn't proven to spare your back.
This guide shows you how to do it step by step with a 3D demo, how to pad the bar and look after your arms, how it compares with front and back squats, how deep to go, how heavy and how many, the Zercher lift and carry, and the warning signs.
Set the bar in a rack at about the height of your lower ribs, slide it into the crooks of your elbows, clasp your hands near your chin, step back and squat until your thighs are at least level. One lifting association describes it as a front squat with the bar held in the crook of your arms. It's named after Ed Zercher, a US lifter of the 1930s.
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Only one study has measured it: in 14 young men lifting 60% of each squat's best single lift, the front squat drew more thigh muscle activity than the Zercher squat. That conference paper comes from the same research group as a front and back squat study, and no training study has used the Zercher squat.
Holding a load further forward kept 18 adults more upright but raised the effort at the lower back at the same weight; that study used a special bar, not a Zercher squat. No study has measured the lower back in a Zercher squat, and in a small front and back squat study, how far people leaned mattered more than which squat they did.
Pad the bar with a towel or a squat pad and build the weight up slowly. A heavy load forcing a bent elbow straight is how the biceps tendon at the elbow tears, so keep your arms squeezed up, and let the safety bars take the bar if it starts to pull your elbows open.
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In 17 men, 10 weeks of full squats grew the glutes and inner thighs more than half squats, and a review found deep squats with good technique no more harmful to healthy knees and spines. Go as deep as you can keep your back flat and the bar tight.
Start with the empty bar for 3 sets of 5 and add about 2.5 kg a session while every rep looks the same (our editorial starting point, as our front squat guide starts). Then 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6, stopping 2 or 3 reps short, resting 2 to 3 minutes (its move page's dose), once or twice a week. It isn't only for strongmen: a UK armed forces programme for women returning to training after childbirth includes it.
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The barbell rests in the crooks of your elbows, in front of your body, your forearms folded up and your hands clasped near your chin. Most people take it from a rack. The original Zercher lift, in the rulebook of a US all-round weightlifting association, starts on the floor: you deadlift the bar to your thighs, bend down to hook it into your elbows, then stand.
The same hold works for walking and standing still: the NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association) lists Zercher carries among its loaded carries for the hips and trunk. Our figure shows the squat; the carries, holds, split squats and lunges are described here in words only.
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Your thighs (quadriceps) and glutes lower and raise you, as in every squat, and your inner thighs work more the deeper you go. The muscles along your spine and your upper back keep you upright against a load in front, and your biceps, forearms and the front of your shoulders hold the bar still.
The one study measured EMG (electromyography: electrodes measuring how hard a muscle works over a few reps). It shows effort, not what a muscle will build.
A barbell front rack needs a lot of wrist bend: in 20 CrossFit athletes, a good catch of a clean went with about 92 degrees of wrist extension. A Zercher hold needs none, which is why our front squat guide suggests it for stiff wrists. The price is pressure on the inside of your elbows.
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A controlled goblet squat or front squat, as its move page says. Our goblet squat guide teaches the same upright, load-in-front pattern with a dumbbell, and the goblet squat is the Zercher squat's easier step on our figure.
Longer thighs tip the trunk further forward in any squat, so a slightly wider stance or a little less depth may suit you, and stiff ankles limit depth, as our squat guide explains. Bigger forearms and upper arms change where the bar sits, so padding and bar position are personal. People new to it are usually stopped by the hold and their elbows, not their legs (our observation; one experienced lifter says the same).
From our move page: the rack height, the clasped hands, the depth, the breathing and the pad are its own. The safety bar heights, the elbow and stance fixes and setting a stalled rep down are our editorial suggestions.
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The movement on the figure: Zercher squat
The bar presses on the soft inside of your elbows, so wrap it with a squat pad or a folded towel and add weight in small steps over weeks, as its move page advises. Some bruising or soreness at first is common (our observation); one experienced lifter finds a thicker bar kinder on the biceps tendons.
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The biceps tendon at the elbow usually tears when a bent elbow is forced straight against a load that's too heavy, as when you grab a box that turns out heavier than you thought. In a Zercher squat, squeeze your arms up the whole time, and if a rep stalls and the bar starts to drag your arms open, sit down onto the safety bars rather than fight it.
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If your hands tingle or go numb during the hold, put the bar down and move it or the pad slightly. Tingling or numbness that comes on suddenly or after an injury needs an urgent treatment centre or A&E, as the NHS says; tingling that keeps coming back is in our ulnar nerve guide.
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Keep it to about 3 to 4 out of 10 during the set, settling within an hour and no worse the next morning, as our elbow guides say. If it's worse, pad the bar better and go lighter next time, or swap to goblet squats for a while.
In 14 healthy young men doing 6 reps at 60% of each squat's best single lift, the front squat drew the highest activity in three thigh muscles, significantly more than the Zercher squat; the hack squat drew less lower back and hamstring activity than the others. The abstract reports no other Zercher difference. It's a conference paper read as its abstract, from the same group as one of the front and back squat studies below, and muscle activity doesn't predict growth.
The nearest studied relatives: in 15 trained adults, muscle activity was the same in front and back squats, with less force at the knee in the front squat. At maximal loads in 12 adults, the front squat worked the inner quadriceps a little more and the back squat the hamstrings, with more trunk lean. At the same share of each squat's maximum, knee demands were comparable in 11 athletes.
In 24 trained women over 12 weeks, front and back squats grew the thigh about equally; the back squat raised leg press strength more. No trial has tested the Zercher squat for growth, but there's no reason to expect much less from hard sets through a full range (our reading).
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In 18 adults at 70% of their best front squat, placing the load further forward cut trunk and pelvic tilt (large effects) but raised the low back's extension effort (medium to large effects), with hip and knee loads about the same. In 8 strength-trained men, trunk lean affected lower back loads more than the type of squat for half of them. Rounding the lower back while lifting wasn't shown to cause back pain, though that evidence is of low quality. No study has measured the lower back in a Zercher squat.
In 17 men over 10 weeks, full squats raised the full squat maximum more than half squats (31.8% against 11.3%) and grew the glutes (6.7% against 2.2%) and the inner thighs (6.2% against 2.7%) more; the thigh muscles grew about the same. A review of over 164 articles found deep squats with good technique and progressive loads no more harmful to healthy knees and spines.
A UK armed forces protocol programmes the Zercher squat (3 sets of 2) and the Zercher farmer's walk (3 carries of 18 metres) in the final block of a supervised programme that starts 12 weeks after the birth; it's a protocol, so there are no results yet. Coaching articles list Zercher carries among loaded carries for the hips and trunk.
The front squat drew more thigh activity in the one comparison and uses the rack position weightlifters need. The Zercher squat needs no wrist bend but presses on your elbows. Choose the hold you can keep comfortably and load steadily; our front squat guide teaches the front squat.
The back squat usually lets you lift the most, because your back holds the bar rather than your arms. Front-loaded squats grew the thigh as well as the back squat in one trial, so a Zercher squat can be your main squat if it suits you; your arms, not your legs, may set the weight. We found no study comparing how much people lift in each.
The goblet squat is the easier step: the same upright squat with a dumbbell at your chest, no elbow pressure, and a weight your arms can hold. Move to the Zercher squat when a goblet squat is easy and you want a heavier front-loaded squat.
A Zercher squat keeps you upright, but at the same weight a load held further forward asked more of the lower back in a lab study, and nobody has measured the lower back in a Zercher squat. Don't choose it to protect a sore back.
Keep the bar tight to your body, stay upright, and squat only as deep as you can keep your back flat. A clinical review of the squat suggests limiting trunk lean and using a slightly wider stance for people with low back pain.
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Follow our back pain when squatting guide: discomfort up to about 5 out of 10 is fine if it settles within an hour and your back is no worse the next morning. The warning signs below come first.
Bodyweight squats, 10 controlled reps (as our leg day and wrestling strength workouts warm up); goblet squats, 3 sets of 8 to 12 with 2 or 3 reps to spare (our beginner strongman workout); the hands-free front squat, 2 to 3 sets of 5 to 8 with an empty or light bar (its move page's dose); front squats to a bench, 2 sets of 5, light, to check your depth (our front squat technique workout); then the Zercher squat with the empty bar for 3 sets of 5 (our editorial starting point), building to 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6 (its move page's dose).
Deadlift the bar to your thighs, squat down to hook it into your elbows, then stand. It's harder on your elbows and back than starting from a rack, so learn the squat from a rack first (our view).
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The same hold with a walk, a still stand, a split squat or a lunge. Our figure doesn't show these; keep the load light, because your arms tire before your legs (our view).
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Sitting lightly to a box or bench at the right height teaches depth. You can hold a Smith machine bar the same way; the fixed path takes the balancing out, and no study has compared them (our view).
A goblet squat gives the same upright, load-in-front squat without the elbow pressure, and our goblet squat guide teaches it.
Squeeze your arms up and keep your chest up, as the move page cues; go lighter until you can hold the position for the whole set.
Re-seat it in the crooks of your elbows and clasp your hands; a pad helps it stay put.
Widen your stance a little and let your knees travel out over your toes.
Go lighter, brace, and keep the bar tight to you: how far you lean changes the load on your lower back more than the squat you choose.
End the set, or squat to a box set at the right height.
Take one breath per rep, as our breathing guide teaches.
Your elbows need weeks to get used to the bar: pad it and go up in small steps.
The empty bar, padded, for 3 sets of 5, adding about 2.5 kg a session while every rep looks the same and your arms are comfortable (our editorial starting point, as our front squat guide starts the empty bar).
3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6, stopping with 2 or 3 reps to spare, resting 2 to 3 minutes (its move page's dose, which it labels editorial; the rest as our plans give for heavy compound sets). Heavier loads build strength best, in the ACSM's (American College of Sports Medicine) overview of 137 reviews.
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Count each set as a squat set for your thighs. Sets longer than about 8 reps are usually stopped by your arms and upper back rather than your legs, so most people build leg volume with squats and leg presses and use the Zercher squat for a few of their weekly sets (our view).
Stop each set with 2 or 3 reps to spare, or 3 or 4 in your first two weeks, as our plans advise. Going to failure adds little muscle, and people underestimate the reps they have left by about 1.
Once or twice a week, as one of your squats; strength rose more with two or more sessions a week in the ACSM's overview.
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There are no Zercher squat strength standards, and we found no study comparing it with the back squat by weight. Judge it by your reps in reserve.
Knee-to-wall ankle rocks, 10 a side (its move page's dose), and thoracic rotations, 6 a side (its move page's dose), before you squat; the deep squat hold, 60 seconds holding a support (our squat technique workout); dead bugs, 2 sets of 5 to 8 a side (our squat technique workout), and band pull-aparts, 15 reps (our shoulder workout), for your trunk and upper back; and farmer's carries, 2 carries of 30 metres (our wrestling strength workout), for grip and trunk.
Our beginner strongman workout moves from goblet squats to Zercher squats once they're easy. The front squat and squat technique workouts teach the upright squat, and the leg day and wrestling strength workouts are where a Zercher squat can stand in for your main squat.
A 60-minute strongman starter session for an ordinary gym: trap bar deadlifts, goblet squats, clean and presses, farmer's and suitcase carries and sled pushes.
60 minBeginner13 movesCardio machine, A wallA 30-minute practice session for the front squat: loosen your wrists and upper back, groove an upright squat, then find your grip and depth with a light bar.
30 minBeginner12 movesA wall, A bench or boxA 25-minute practice session for the squat: find your depth on a chair, groove the bodyweight squat with pauses, then load it with a slow goblet squat.
25 minBeginner8 movesA wall, A bench or boxA gym leg day: back squats, leg press, leg curls, Bulgarian split squats, leg extensions and calf raises.
55 minIntermediate9 movesA wall, A barbellA 55-minute strength and power session for wrestlers: jump squats, medicine-ball throws, trap bar deadlifts, split squats, pull-ups, carries and neck holds.
55 minIntermediate16 movesA wall, A bandThese plans use our leg day workout or squat technique workout, where a Zercher squat can take a squat's place.
A 6-day push/pull/legs plan for experienced lifters: two push, two pull and two leg days, with sets, reps, rest and lighter weeks.
6 training days55 minAdvanced4 days a weekA 4-day upper/lower split: two upper body and two lower body gym days, each muscle trained twice a week, with sets, reps and progression.
4 training days50 minIntermediate3 days a weekA 12-week workout plan for skinny guys who find it hard to gain: three full-body gym days, eating a little more, protein, sleep and honest timelines.
3 training days50 minBeginnerSwap to goblet squats until it settles (our suggestion), and see our elbow pain when lifting guide. Pain at the front of the elbow that's getting worse is in our guide to pain at the front of the elbow.
Move the bar or the pad, use a thicker pad, or choose a goblet or front squat instead.
Choose the squat that feels best rather than the Zercher squat by default, and follow our back pain when squatting guide.
Breathe out through every effort and keep the weight moderate, as our breathing guide says: heavy lifts to failure with a held breath sent blood pressure to an average of 320/250 mmHg in 5 bodybuilders. People with controlled blood pressure can do moderate strength training with proper breathing, the American Heart Association says.
Once a bump shows, swap to a goblet squat: the bar sits right in front of your tummy, and a pregnancy charity advises avoiding exercises where a weight could hit your bump (our reading for this squat). The NHS says strength training is fine if you already do it, and not to start new vigorous activity in pregnancy.
Strongman had the highest injury rate of the weight-training sports in a review, at 4.5 to 6.1 injuries per 1,000 hours, so learn each implement light, as our beginner strongman workout advises.
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If you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise. The American Heart Association says these need immediate medical evaluation.
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For chest pain that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away, feels tight or like squeezing, or spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back; a sudden, extremely painful headache, for example during a heavy lift (the NHS says a bleed on the brain may be more likely when lifting something heavy); someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, breathlessness or feeling faint; or signs of a stroke, even if they've stopped. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
If you haven't exercised for some time or have a medical condition, speak to your GP first, as the NHS advises. Get advice before heavy lifting if your blood pressure is uncontrolled, or you have heart disease or chest pain when you're active, a pacemaker or defibrillator, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, a hernia, recent eye or tummy surgery, or you're pregnant, as our breathing guide lists.
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Go to an urgent treatment centre or A&E for a pop or snap and sudden pain during an effort, which could be a torn tendon. At the front of the elbow, with bruising and a bulge in the upper arm, don't wait for it to settle: a torn biceps tendon is best repaired within the first 2 to 3 weeks. A sudden pop with pain at the shoulder or upper arm needs a GP or NHS 111 the same day.
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See a GP if elbow or arm pain hasn't gone after a few weeks of looking after it yourself; in many areas you can refer yourself to NHS physiotherapy. Go to an urgent treatment centre or A&E if your arm tingles or feels numb after an injury, and call 999 for arm pain that comes on suddenly with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across your chest.
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Call 999 or go to A&E for loss of feeling or numbness around your genitals or bottom, new trouble peeing or controlling your bladder or bowels, changes in genital sensation during sex or problems with erections or orgasm, or pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs. These are signs of cauda equina syndrome, which needs treating in hospital urgently; don't drive yourself. Back pain with chest pain is also a 999 call.
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Get advice from NHS 111 if your knee is very painful, you can't move it or put weight on it, it's badly swollen or has changed shape, or it locks, gives way or clicks painfully; painless clicking is normal. In the US, use urgent care.
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See a GP if you think you have a hernia. Get help from NHS 111 if you have a hernia and pain in or around it, a bloated tummy, sickness, constipation, a high temperature or sudden confusion. Call 999 or go to A&E for a femoral hernia (a lump at the top of the thigh) with very bad tummy pain, sickness, being unable to fart or poo, a high temperature or sudden confusion.
Strongmen made it famous, but it's a squat for anyone who can't hold a bar on their back or in a front rack: a UK armed forces programme for women returning to training after childbirth includes it, and the NSCA's coaching magazine lists Zercher carries among its loaded carries.
A load in front keeps you upright, but holding the same weight further forward raised the effort at the lower back in 18 adults, and no study has measured the lower back in a Zercher squat. How far you lean matters more than which squat you choose.
No study has counted elbow injuries in the Zercher squat. The risk worth respecting is a heavy bar forcing bent elbows straight, the way a biceps tendon tears: pad the bar, build up slowly and keep your arms squeezed up.
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The only study found less thigh activity than in the front squat, and front and back squats grew the thigh about equally in a trial. Choose the squat you can load well and recover from.
A squat with the barbell held in the crooks of your elbows, in front of your body, with your hands clasped near your chin. It's named after Ed Zercher, a US lifter of the 1930s, and it's sometimes described as a front squat with the bar in the crook of your arms.
Pad the bar with a towel or a squat pad, set it deep in the crooks of your elbows, clasp your hands and squeeze your arms up so the bar can't roll. Build the weight up slowly over weeks, and go lighter if elbow discomfort goes above about 3 to 4 out of 10. Set the bar down rather than fight a rep that pulls your elbows straight.
Your thighs and glutes, as in any squat, with your upper back, trunk, biceps and forearms holding the bar. The one study of it found less thigh muscle activity than in a front squat at the same share of each lift's maximum, and squatting deep works the glutes and inner thighs more.
Neither in general. The front squat drew more thigh activity in the one comparison and uses the rack weightlifters need; the Zercher squat needs no wrist bend but presses on your elbows. Pick the one you can hold comfortably and load steadily.
They can be your main squat if they suit you. No study has measured growth with Zercher squats, but front and back squats grew the thigh about equally in a trial, so hard sets through a full range are likely to work. Your arms, not your legs, may limit how heavy you go.
They're not proven to spare it. Holding a load in front keeps you upright, but at the same weight it raised the effort at the lower back in a lab study, and nobody has measured the Zercher squat itself. With back pain, follow our back pain when squatting guide and keep the bar tight to you.
Until your thighs are at least level with the floor, keeping your back flat and the bar tight. Full squats grew the glutes and inner thighs more than half squats in a trial, and deep squats with good technique aren't more harmful for healthy knees.
Start with the empty bar for 3 sets of 5 and add about 2.5 kg a session while every rep looks the same. Then 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6, stopping 2 or 3 reps short and resting 2 to 3 minutes. There are no Zercher squat standards.
The original Zercher lift starts on the floor: you deadlift the bar to your thighs, hook it into your elbows and stand. It's harder on your elbows and back, so learn it from a rack with the safety bars set first.
No study has tested them for grappling sports such as wrestling, BJJ (Brazilian jiu-jitsu) or MMA (mixed martial arts). They train the legs, the upper back and a hold in front of your body, which may be why grapplers like them. Our wrestling and martial arts pages cover the strength work those sports need.
You can hold a Smith machine bar the same way, though the fixed path takes the balancing out. With dumbbells or a kettlebell, a goblet squat gives the same upright, load-in-front squat without the elbow pressure.
If you already lift, keep the weights moderate and don't hold your breath; once a bump shows, swap to a goblet squat, because the bar sits right in front of it. Leaking during heavy lifts is common and treatable: see our pelvic floor guide and a pelvic health physiotherapist rather than stopping lifting.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
