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Barbell Newbie Experience of a Zercher Squat with Unloaded Olympic Bar

Antti said:
Aren't you proficient with barbell squats? Is 60kg a meaningful load to you?

Try to equal your best front squat 1RM. Maybe it will tax your core more.

I wouldn't compare any squat to rollouts.
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My usual “cruise weight” / off season FSQ is 105 - 125 kg for sets of 3-5.

That keeps my off season jerk at about 100 kg
 
watchnerd said:
My usual “cruise weight” / off season FSQ is 105 - 125 kg for sets of 3-5.

That keeps my off season jerk at about 100 kg
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I can zercher squat more than 80% of my back squat.

So, if want a challenge from the zercher squats, I have to load it properly. If I find triples with 200kg challenging with the back squat, I'll use at least 80% of it, 160kg, for triples with it.

Still, I think the load/difficulty ratio is a bit askew with the zerchers. They're not that bad until they get bad. So I've always been able to use a relatively heavier load with them.
 
watchnerd said:
Just to revisit it, I tried a quick set of 10@60 kg before I mowed the lawn.

Other than the discomfort in the crook of my arms, didn't feel anything special in my core.
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Dude, if little old me can do 100 kg, you can do 100 kg. :)

YouTube description says, "Age 66, BW = 150 lb, Zercher 225 x 1. Haven’t done these in forever, what a great mid-back movement for me."



-S-
 
Just to add spice to the already spicy thread, I read online that "Alexander Karelin used the Zercher Squat as the key to his wrestling career." And because I read it on the internet, I know its true.
 
@Antti:

How do you programming zercher squat, both for yourself and your student, to improve competiton squat?
Do you use this as the ME movement with lower rep range (1-3 reps), or as secondary movement with higher rep range (5-8)?
Which variation of zercher do you usually use? More hinge or more upright?
How long does the lift stay?One/two/three blocks?
 
Hung said:
@Antti:

How do you programming zercher squat, both for yourself and your student, to improve competiton squat?
Do you use this as the ME movement with lower rep range (1-3 reps), or as secondary movement with higher rep range (5-8)?
Which variation of zercher do you usually use? More hinge or more upright?
How long does the lift stay?One/two/three blocks?
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Improving the competition squat is always on my mind.

So far, with the trainees, it has only been used as a ME exercise, and rarely. Starting from the rack, not the floor. I'm not big on starting from the floor, apart from some fun.

However, I also do really like starting from the bottom in the rack. I think this is something where the zercher shines compared to other squats. It's also something that's typically unspoken of in these discussions.

For myself, I do both ME and accessory. Always 1-3 reps. ME can be rare, or not. At most 3-6 weeks / 1-2 blocks.

I find the zercher always gives us the most depth of squat variations, so I like to always use it.
 
watchnerd said:
?

Shouldn't be any more flexibility than you'd need to grab a can of beans lying on the floor.

Albeit heavier.
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Here we are with that elitist mobility :)


. . .though I had much the same thought!

watchnerd said:
I agree with him that front squat, once you become competent to do it right, isn't a great core excercise...

...but is instead a great upper back exercise.
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I am by no means proficient or super strong in the front squat, though it has become my go-to squat. It just feels better for me than back squats; there's something about the placement of the load and... the shoulder position.

I always hear people talking about front squats taxing the upper back and I simply don't understand. If you want your elbows to drive forward and up, you spread your shoulder blades apart, wrapping them around the ribcage (which would mean lengthening the rhomboids and mid traps, not contracting them). That alone got me from a semi-uncomfortable front rack position that required multiple sets of front rack mobility drills to one that I can do with hardly any "mobility warmup." So....I guess I don't understand where the "upper back work" in front squats comes from. I feel almost zero work in my upper back, because I am not trying to squeeze anything up there.

Unless by upper back you mean "upper traps" or something? I don't know what I'm missing. Maybe I just haven't gotten to a point where it's heavy enough to cause something up there to kick on?
 
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