Exercise guide · evidence-graded

Zercher Squat

The Zercher squat is a barbell squat with the bar held in the crooks of your elbows in front of your body. The low, forward load keeps your torso upright and works the quads, glutes and adductors, while the upper back and trunk work hard to keep the bar from pulling you forward.

Also called: Zercher Squats, Elbow-Crook Squat · Equipment: barbell · Pattern: squat

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How to do it

Step by step

Set the bar in the rack at about the height of your belly button. Many lifters wrap a pad or towel around the middle of the bar.
Bend your knees slightly, hook the bar into the crooks of your elbows and clasp your hands together in front of your chest, pulling the bar tight to your body.
Stand up to unrack, take two or three short steps back and set your feet about shoulder-width apart with your toes turned out slightly.
Take a big breath into your belly, brace your trunk hard and set your upper back tight with your chest tall.
Squat down with your knees pushed out over your toes and your torso as upright as you can hold, keeping the bar close to your body.
Go as deep as you can with your back held flat, ideally until your hips are below the top of your knees.
Drive up by pushing the floor away, leading with your chest, until you stand tall.
After the last rep, walk the bar forward until it touches the uprights, then bend your knees to set it down into the hooks.

Coaching cues

Chest tall, pull the bar into your body
Big breath and brace before every rep
Knees out, sit down between your legs
Upper back tight, hands clasped high
Drive up chest first

In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.

Muscles worked

What it trains

Muscle	Role	Evidence
Quadriceps: vastus lateralis	Prime mover	C
Quadriceps: vastus medialis	Prime mover	C
Gluteus maximus	Prime mover	C
Quadriceps: rectus femoris	Secondary	C
Erector spinae	Stabiliser	C
Rectus abdominis	Stabiliser	D
Trapezius: middle	Stabiliser	D
Biceps brachii	Stabiliser	D

Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.

Common faults

What goes wrong, and the fix

Torso folding forward

Fix: Keep your chest tall and upper back tight, and use a load you can squat upright.

Bar sliding down the forearms

Fix: Keep your elbows tightly bent and the bar pulled into your body.

Losing the brace at the bottom

Fix: Take a big breath before each rep and hold your brace through the bottom.

Knees caving in

Fix: Push your knees out in line with your toes on the way down and up.

Bare bar in the elbow crooks

Fix: Wrap the bar with a pad or towel where it sits in your elbows.

Programming

What the research says

StrengthMuscle growthSport performance

Load by goal — Research comparing loads finds maximal strength favours heavier loads, while muscle growth is similar across a wide range of loads when sets are taken close to failure. In the Zercher squat, the elbows and trunk usually limit the load before the legs do.
Effort — Studies show strength gains are largely insensitive to how close to failure sets are taken, and training to failure gives no strength advantage on average.
Depth — In a 10-week trial, full-depth squats built more glute and adductor muscle than half squats, with similar quadriceps growth.
The evidence gap — There is no direct research on the Zercher squat itself; its use comes from strongman and old-time strength training.

Alternatives · VALDA FLEX

Swap it mid-workout

With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.

Log the zercher squat in VALDA, with these cues one tap away while you train and your history for it in one place.

General information about exercise technique, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, your healthcare provider is the right person to ask.