I never really see powerlifters who focus on carryover use zerchers. But admittedly my sample size is pretty small compared to someone who has been doing it for decades.
Do you use them leading up to your meets or know anyone that uses it in that manner?
@silveraw, you’ve asked an interesting question and made interesting observations. I have done them in the interest of being able to do them. I don’t train them regularly and haven’t ever, really.
TL;DR
But I don’t know how typical my powerlifting training is. I still feel like I have a lot to gain just from doing the main lifts and getting better at them, and my time is limited, so, in that way, I consider my approach minimalist. For example, the dead lift is my best lift, and lately I’ve been doing it for a handful of reps once a week, just because that’s how much time I have to devote to it. I have never been busier in my life so my training is focused more on what I'm not good at as I plan for a 3-lift meet at the end of October.
My preferred "Zercher" is the Z deadlift, not the Z squat. I found these videos of me doing each of these lifts from a few years back:
and here I am doing the Z squat:
That's a pretty good endorsement of the lift for a powerlifter!
So, no, I don't use them at all these days because I'm at a place in the big picture of my lifting where I feel like fine-tuning my form on the 3 big lifts is what's going to yield the most benefit for me. 20 years into powerlifting, I'm still very much _not_ an advanced lifter in this way. My squat has a long way to go to catch up to my deadlift, so while I'm not doing Zerchers, I'm having a good time this off-cycle doing front squats until they get heavy, then high bar back squats until those get heavy, and then low bar back squats to finish my weekly big squat day. While front squats and high bar back squats could be considered assistance exercises, they're still pretty close to the main thing. My bench has always been pretty weak, and my shoulders have a variety of maladies including arthritis and at least one torn labrum, so mostly I work on that just by bench pressing.
Zercher squats, although more likely Zercher deadlifts, will be in my training again for sure, just not sure when. My pattern has been to compete at powerlifting only for part of each 5-year age bracket, but I seem to be doing a lot of competing as I move towards the end of my sixties because I keep being able to post better numbers each time, so it may be another few years until I post some numbers, G-d willing and the creeks don't rise, in the 70-74 age bracket in PL first and then move into a different strength focus after that.
Life is good to be able to think about these things in this way!
-S-
