The Zercher squat is a barbell squat with the bar held in the crooks of the elbows, in front of the body, rather than on the back or the shoulders. The elbows stay bent with the fists up, and the torso stays close to upright.
It is named after Ed Zercher, whom Scott Bird of Straight to the Bar calls a St Louis strongman; the USAWA, an all-round weightlifting association, records him competing in 1934. In Bird’s account the original lift started on the floor, with the bar deadlifted to the thighs and hooked into the elbows; today it usually starts from a rack. Brolic lists it as Zercher Squat (Barbell), with “Barbell Zercher Squat” as an alias, and logs it in reps with the weight on the bar.
Muscles worked
Brolic tags the quadriceps as the primary muscle group, with the abdominals, adductors, glutes and hamstrings as secondary. Jake Boly of That Fit Friend calls it close to a full-body exercise: the deep squat brings in the glutes, adductors and quads, the bar in front works the core, the biceps and forearms hold it in place, and the back works too.
No published study measures it: a PubMed search for “zercher squat” on October 30, 2026 returned nothing, so nothing establishes that it builds more leg muscle than a back or front squat.
Rack height and arm position
Set the hooks low. Boly holds his arms in the Zercher position and sets the J-hooks about 4 to 6 inches below them, so he can dip under the bar to take it and need not rise onto his toes to rack it after a hard set. On Chris Duffin’s channel, Kyle notes that even at chest height Brandon had to come up on his toes to lift the bar out; set it with an empty bar and count the holes.
Stand with the midfoot under the bar, as Boly does.
Put the bar in the elbow crooks. Boly keeps the forearms parallel, neither wide nor narrow, fists pointing at the sky and the elbow angle fixed, which he says gives the best leverage and eases some of the discomfort. Brandon warns against hugging the bar up into the body, which can cut off circulation; he keeps the arms fairly low, squeezes them together and lets the bar slide a little way down from the crease.
Pad it while your arms adapt. Kyle suggests a thicker axle bar, fat grips or a bar pad. Boly slides knee sleeves onto his arms or uses squat pads, and will not go heavy without padding.
Walk out in short steps. Boly uses the usual three-step walkout with shallower steps, because stepping back fast can shift the bar forward; it often takes him four or five, since it is harder to look down.
Squat upright
Stay tall. Kyle points out how little Brandon hinges: very up and down, like a high-bar squat in weightlifting shoes or a front squat. Brandon calls it a straight, upright position with very little bend at the hip.
Go as deep as you control. Boly says the front load lets most lifters reach a deep squat, by the same logic as giving a beginner a goblet squat.
Drive the fists up as you stand. Boly’s cue is “fist to the sky”, then bring the hips through, which he finds keeps the bar path closer to vertical. He expects the torso to lag a little as loads rise, especially in taller lifters.
Beside the front squat
| Zercher squat | Front squat | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the bar sits | In the crooks of the elbows | Across the front of the shoulders |
| Torso | Upright, little hinge | Upright, little hinge |
| What usually limits it | Discomfort in the arms | The rack position, which takes mobility and time |
Kyle uses the Zercher for lifters who cannot front squat well, because of the hips and spine or a bar that rolls off the shoulders. Boly ranks it with the Hatfield squat among his favourite squat variations for leg work. These are coaches’ judgements; no trial compares the squats.
Logging
Brolic logs Zercher Squat (Barbell) in reps. Enter the total on the bar, including the bar itself (the barbell calculator adds it up). The free workout log has room for notes, and the weekly set tally shows how these sets add to your quadriceps work beside the pendulum squat.
In the set’s note, write any padding (bar pad, fat grips, sleeves on the arms), an axle bar if you used one, and whether the bar came from a rack or the floor. Two sets at the same weight compare only with the same set-up.
Common questions
Why does it hurt my arms? Both coaches expect discomfort at first; Kyle says it “kind of sucks a little bit at first”. Pad it, keep the arms low rather than hugging the bar in, and go lighter. If it still hurts, stop.
From the floor or from a rack? The original lift, and the USAWA’s competition rules, start on the floor; Thom Van Vleck of the USAWA insists the rack version is “NOT A ZERCHER!” Both videos start from a rack, as most gym versions do. Keep the two apart in your log.
How heavy? Kyle says many people work up fairly heavy, some beyond their front squat. No source here gives a ratio, so add weight only while you stay upright and the bar stays settled on your arms.
Sources and method
- That Fit Friend, Jake Boly: Zercher squats — rack height, arm position, padding, walkout, the stand-up cue and muscles; automatic captions and description, the name from thatfitfriend.com.
- Chris Duffin: Zercher squat, key tips — Kyle and Brandon on posture, rack height, padding, arm position and load; automatic captions and description.
- Straight to the Bar, Scott Bird (2005) — Zercher as a St Louis strongman; the floor and rack starts.
- USAWA, Roger LaPointe (2012) — Zercher at the 1934 Western AAU championships.
- USAWA, Thom Van Vleck (2011) — the competition rules and the rack version.
- PubMed search for “zercher squat” on October 30, 2026 — no results.
- Brolic catalog — name, alias, logging mode and muscle tags.
The rack height and walkout are Boly’s own, not optima from a trial, and no comparative growth claim is made against the front or back squat.
