How to Do the Zercher Squat to Build Lower Body Strength | Form Check | Men’s Health Muscle
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00:00 From front squats to back squats to goblet squats,
00:02 there are a ton of squat variations out there that you have probably done.
00:05 But one that you may not have done, and it's going to make all those
00:09 other squat variations better and make you stronger at the traditional squat,
00:12 is something called the Zurcher squat.
00:15 Now, the Zurcher squat is having a moment right now.
00:17 We see a lot of Zurcher moves on social media.
00:19 It is not just a social media parlor trick, though.
00:22 It's not one of those moves.
00:23 It's actually a move that can make you stronger.
00:26 It's going to help your squat, and it's going to really help you
00:28 with your core bracing when you're doing all of your squat variations.
00:31 Now, the Zurcher squat was created in the 1930s by a strongman named Ed Zurcher,
00:36 and his whole idea was based around strongman training.
00:39 What he was trying to do is make himself stronger for that.
00:42 So the Zurcher squat and the idea of the Zurcher is less just something
00:47 that applies to the squat and something that we can actually apply
00:50 to all of our lower body lifts.
00:51 It's essentially a way to grasp the weight, a way to grasp the barbell
00:55 in a different way that's going to challenge our torso differently.
00:59 And it's going to challenge our upper body differently.
01:00 It's going to change our stability pattern a little bit.
01:02 With the Zurcher, we're instead going to hold the weight in the crooks of our elbows.
01:06 And this instantly changes a couple of things in terms of where
01:09 we're going to feel the squat most.
01:11 We have instantly taken a little bit of spinal compression off of our torso.
01:16 Normally, when we're doing a squat, we've got that bar on our spine,
01:19 and that is to some level pressing together our spine.
01:22 And we have to know how to counter that.
01:24 When we've got the weight in the crooks of our elbows, our squat is now freed up.
01:28 Our spine can move.
01:29 It can bend and it can flex and it can move a little bit more naturally.
01:32 Now, the load is a lot closer to our abs.
01:35 It is a lot closer to our midline.
01:37 So it's going to challenge us in a different way from a stability standpoint.
01:40 The great thing about the Zurcher squat is it's going to teach you
01:43 and force you how to brace.
01:45 When we have that load on our back, the main lever we're working with
01:48 from an upper body standpoint is going to be our spine.
01:52 We have to keep our torso nice and rigid the entire time.
01:55 Now we have a lever where the load is going to potentially shift
01:58 a little bit away as we lower into the squat.
02:01 And that load is also going to challenge another muscle group
02:04 that sort of gets challenged on our front and back squats,
02:07 but doesn't truly get the challenge that it's going to on the Zurcher.
02:09 And that is our mid back muscles, your rhomboids, your rotator cuff muscles
02:13 and your upper spinal extensors are all going to have to be on
02:17 throughout the life of each set of Zurcher squats.
02:19 And they're going to get a ton of work.
02:21 So this is a really, really great way to learn to brace.
02:23 And is it really, really underrated way to get a mid back pump
02:26 while you're training legs?
02:28 What this is not is a biceps exercise.
02:31 Yes, we are holding a load in the crux of our elbows.
02:34 And yes, that means we're flexing our biceps to some extent.
02:37 But two things are not happening that are not going to allow us
02:41 to really grow our biceps while we're doing Zurcher squats.
02:43 One, our biceps are never changing length.
02:46 We're just staying in that flex position.
02:48 And two, we don't actually have a real lever on our biceps.
02:52 So we've gone into elbow flexion, but the load is right at our elbow.
02:56 It is not being challenged because it is not out in front of our forearms.
02:59 It is not anywhere close to our wrists.
03:01 So we're not really going to get much out of this for our biceps.
03:04 You can pretend you're getting a biceps pump and you can tell people
03:06 you're training your biceps because technically you are.
03:08 But if you want to really train biceps, just go do some biceps curls.
03:11 We're doing the Zurcher squat and we're going to learn how to do it now
03:14 because it's going to really beef up your legs
03:17 and it's going to really attack your mid back and it's going to teach you
03:19 how to brace so it makes all your squats better.
03:21 So before we get into how to execute the Zurcher squat,
03:24 the question is, do you need to do it? Is the Zurcher squat for you?
03:27 If you fall into one of three camps, then it's an exercise
03:30 that you're going to want to do.
03:32 The first camp is if you're struggling with your squat form, period.
03:35 If you're having a lot of trouble bracing.
03:37 A lot of times when we do our back squats and our front squats,
03:40 it's really easy for us to overarch our back or to completely ignore our core.
03:45 We can kind of cheat our way through it.
03:47 It's not going to yield the best squat performance,
03:49 but we can get through it without really bracing our core.
03:52 That cannot happen on the Zurcher squat because that load is pulling us forward.
03:56 Our mid back has to fire up.
03:58 Our abs have to fire up.
03:59 In fact, when I do do Zurchers, very often I feel the most in my abs
04:03 right after a set because that's how much I really have to contract my core
04:07 as I'm working through a Zurcher.
04:08 So if you are struggling to learn to brace during your squat
04:11 and you want to figure that out,
04:13 then you should be doing some Zurchers in your training.
04:16 If you go to a cycle of that for, say, four to six weeks
04:18 and then go back to a back or front squat, expect your back and front squat
04:21 to be much better.
04:22 The second group of people who should do Zurchers,
04:25 and it is absolutely mandatory that you do them,
04:27 is those who are training for strongmen.
04:29 If you are training for strongmen,
04:31 you are constantly picking things up in front of you
04:34 and you're picking up heavy loads in front of you.
04:36 So there's a lot of use for both the Zurcher position and the Zurcher squat.
04:40 So if you're a strongman, this is mandatory.
04:43 And you probably know that already because you're ten times my size.
04:45 The last group that should be doing the Zurcher
04:47 is anyone who is just bored with their regular squats.
04:50 We have done a lot of back squats and front squats and goblet squats.
04:53 All of those load us up high.
04:55 Sometimes just getting away from that can be a little bit of fun.
04:57 The one group that should not worry about the Zurcher squat
05:00 is anybody worried about this whole it's a really functional move thing.
05:04 You're going to see this on Instagram all the time.
05:06 They're going to show you the Zurcher position.
05:08 They're going to show you that it's the same as picking up a person.
05:11 So they're going to try to tell you that that makes this a great move
05:14 for anybody who is a firefighter, a police officer or a paramedic.
05:18 They're going to try to tell you those things and make you think
05:21 that you need to do the Zurcher in order to carry humans
05:24 and in order to carry loads in front of you.
05:26 The truth is, if you're hitting your traditional squats
05:28 and your traditional deadlifts and your traditional rows,
05:32 you have covered all the functions that you need in order to learn
05:35 how to lift something in front of you.
05:37 So you will be OK.
05:38 You do not need to do this as a functional move.
05:40 That is an Instagram trend and that is not worth your time.
05:43 Now, for those other three groups, let's get into how to do this.
05:45 So we have Brett here to help us demo the Zurcher squat.
05:48 And there are two main ways that you can set up for the Zurcher squat.
05:52 One is way more complicated than advanced.
05:54 If you are very advanced and you've been doing this for a while,
05:57 you can actually pick the load up from the ground.
05:59 You have to do a Zurcher deadlift first to get set,
06:02 and then you can begin doing your squats.
06:04 A lot easier and a lot better, especially if we're going to take this heavy
06:08 or we're going to try to push our limits, is to use a rack.
06:11 And this is the best way if you've never done the Zurcher
06:13 that you should be setting up.
06:15 The key thing to think about here is going to be rack height,
06:18 because we're not going to be setting this up
06:20 like we would a normal barbell front squat or back squat.
06:23 Instead, we want the rack set at about waist height.
06:27 This is going to give you think about getting the rack.
06:30 You want the barbell to essentially align with the top of your hips.
06:33 That's going to give you plenty of clearance.
06:35 That way you can set up, you can comfortably set up
06:37 because we want to set up a little bit low.
06:39 And then all you're going to have to do after you get set up
06:42 is you're going to stand up from the rack.
06:44 So how is Brett going to get himself set up in the rack?
06:46 All he's going to really think about doing to get set up,
06:48 he's going to get low and you want to kind of squat down to get into this.
06:52 He's getting the crooks of his elbows inside that barbell.
06:55 Now, the next day, especially after the first time you've done this,
06:58 there's a very, very good chance that you'll have a little bit of bruising there.
07:01 That is normal.
07:03 And if you wind up Zurchering a lot, what I would suggest is
07:05 either you do it in long sleeves or you do it in some kind of sleeve,
07:08 or you can easily put a pad on the barbell.
07:10 That's another way you can get around it.
07:12 I actually like to get in a little bit of a stagger stance
07:14 when I'm in that squat down.
07:15 Now, in this position, a couple of things Brett is thinking about.
07:18 One of the main ones is he wants to make sure that his upper
07:22 arms are perpendicular with the ground.
07:23 You don't want to be in too tight and you don't want to be too wide.
07:26 And then he wants to think about creating external rotation
07:30 at his shoulder joints.
07:31 Your shoulders are doing a lot of work in the Zurcher
07:34 in terms of stabilizing and managing that load.
07:37 He's going to think about getting his upper arms perpendicular to the ground.
07:40 But then he's going to think about almost squeezing his elbows together.
07:43 As if you're in the front rack, if you're doing a front rack kettlebell squat,
07:47 or if you're really squeezing your elbows together in a goblet squat,
07:50 we're going for that same tension.
07:51 Once he has that down, he's going to get a little bit of tension
07:54 through his mid back.
07:55 You want to think about keeping that mid back live.
07:57 Again, you're going to get a lot of work in the Zurcher.
08:00 Last thing he's going to do, there are two things he can do with his hands.
08:03 One of them is what he's doing right now.
08:05 And this is a great thing to do.
08:07 You can make fists, right?
08:08 We don't want our hands nice and open.
08:10 We want our hands active and we want to be able to create tension.
08:12 So you want to be able to squeeze your fist nice and tight.
08:15 That'll help him radiate through the rest of his body.
08:17 It's going to give him a much more stable setup.
08:19 The other option, and this is what I tend to go to
08:22 if I'm going heavy on the Zurcher, you can clasp your hands together.
08:26 Again, it's going to create a lot of tightness.
08:28 We want to just essentially be able to really squeeze through our hands.
08:33 It's going to give us a lot more stability for the Zurcher squat.
08:35 Once he is set up like this, all he's going to do is stand up from the rack.
08:40 He's going to brace nice and tight,
08:42 think rib cage down, and he's going to stand up from the rack.
08:45 He's going to take two steps back.
08:48 That should land him in his squat stance.
08:50 Whatever your squat stance is for this, you can essentially use that same posture.
08:54 The only thing we want to be very conscious of is we want to make sure
08:58 our knees that we can open them up wider than shoulder width.
09:01 So he is shoulder width with his shoulders and with his elbows right now.
09:06 That means when he lowers into the squat, if his knees are too tight,
09:10 he's not going to be able to get his maximum squat range of motion.
09:13 So we're not going to get the entire benefit of the move.
09:15 That's why we want to go maybe a little bit wider than your normal squat stance.
09:19 Depending on what your normal squat stance is, once you're there,
09:23 then we are set to execute this Zurcher squat.
09:25 We put a little bit of weight on here.
09:27 We actually did that for a reason, because it can be very, very deceptive
09:30 and very easy, and you can get away with a lot when you just have that 45 pound bar.
09:35 As soon as you start loading the move, and we're going to see this
09:38 once Brett lowers into the squat, something is going to happen.
09:41 And that's something that we want to pay attention to.
09:43 So we want to demo this with a little bit of load on the bar.
09:45 The process for going through a rep is very similar to what you would do
09:50 on your standard squat.
09:51 So Brett's going to think about having his weight
09:53 relatively even between his heels and his big toe.
09:56 He's going to think about having a good tripod foot.
09:58 He's going to squeeze his shoulder blades, squeeze his glutes
10:01 in that starting position.
10:03 He's going to take a deep breath.
10:04 He's going to hold his breath once he does that.
10:06 And then the reps for this are essentially the exact same as a standard squat.
10:11 We've just got that really good brace because Brett's holding his breath.
10:14 So he's going to lower down this squat.
10:15 He's going to think about pushing his butt back to get that motion started.
10:18 And then he lowers down and presses back up.
10:22 Now, the couple of things we want to think about as he goes into this lower down,
10:25 you want to notice a couple of things.
10:26 One, that wide stance for the legs, slightly wider than normal is key
10:30 because as he lowers, he wants to make sure that his elbows
10:34 are off of his knees.
10:36 We're trying to make sure that we get that really good
10:39 and aggressive stretch position in the bottom of our squat.
10:41 And you can't get that if your elbows are touching your knees.
10:44 Suddenly we've lost tension somewhere.
10:46 We've lost tension in our core.
10:47 We've lost tension in our thighs.
10:48 But either way, we're not getting the max benefit of the move.
10:51 So when he lowers down,
10:52 he wants to make sure that his elbows are not touching his knees.
10:55 One thing you can do to help that process is if you squeeze those elbows
10:58 in nice and tight, then they should be able to essentially fit between your knees.
11:02 That's one way we can get around that.
11:04 The other thing you're going to notice is the weight shifts away
11:07 from his body as he's doing this.
11:10 When you're doing a heavy zurcher squat, it is not going to stay close to your body.
11:14 And that is natural because what's happening as Brett lowers into the squat,
11:17 let's go into it.
11:18 He's trying his best to stay upright with his torso,
11:23 but he's going to get that same forward body lean with his torso
11:26 ever so slightly that we get on all of our squat variations.
11:29 So don't be afraid to let the weight shift a little bit forward
11:33 when that happens on the zurcher squat.
11:35 And it's actually going to just create a little bit more challenge for your glutes.
11:39 That is just fine.
11:40 So let's give them one more rep rep.
11:42 Lowers down, keeps his elbows off of his thighs, lets the weight shift forward.
11:47 That is also that really good opportunity when that weight shifts forward on the bottom
11:50 where his mid back is live and his core has to really stabilize.
11:54 So that's actually what we're going for in the zurcher squat.
11:56 What I really like to see people do on the zurcher squat, lower down Brett
11:59 and stay there for one, two seconds, come up.
12:02 So appreciate that chance to really focus on that brace,
12:05 really focus on your mid back, linger in that bottom position,
12:08 then come up and squeeze the heck out of your glutes.
12:10 That is how you execute a zurcher squat.
12:12 It's going to make you awesomely strong for all the other squat variations that you do.
12:15 And again, this is not a move that everybody needs to do,
12:18 but if you have it in your routine, it's going to have a ton of utility
12:21 for building your overall lower body strength and setting you up to squat more.
12:26 You can use this easily on your leg days as one of your top two lifts.
12:30 Make it something that you're training heavy.
12:32 Think about doing it for, say, three to five sets of three to five reps.
12:36 That's a really great, aggressive way that will challenge you
12:39 and challenge your core as you're doing it.
12:41 And again, we can load this up just as we would with any of our other squats,
12:45 whether we're doing a back squat or a front squat.
12:47 Once you learn the zurcher, you're going to be able to take it heavy.
12:49 The other underrated way that you can actually use a zurcher
12:53 is you can use it on the back end of a lower body day or of a total body day.
12:57 And we can use it to pile up some really, really good volume
13:00 to grow our quads and glutes in particular.
13:02 If you're going to do it this way, you're going to leave it for, say,
13:05 your third or fourth exercise in the workout.
13:07 You're going to think about going a little bit lighter.
13:10 We're going to go for three to four sets of anywhere from 12 to 15 reps,
13:13 focusing on a really good contraction and focusing on constant tension.
13:17 Maybe you're not even coming up to a full lockout at the very top of your zurcher.
13:21 It's a really, really good way to attack your quads and attack your glutes.
13:25 Regardless of how you use the zurcher squat, expect people to look at you in the gym
13:29 because this is not a lift that they're going to see every day.
13:32 Unlike all the useless Instagram lifts, though, that they don't see every day.
13:36 This one will actually help get you jacked.
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