HEAVY Zercher Squats and strongman event training…
Amazing session in the books today. One of my all time goals was to complete a 250kg/ 551 lb raw zercher squat in preparation for my final year of college football. I phased out the standard barbell back squat in favor of the Zercher squat in April of 2024. The results have been astounding. First off, I have no lower back pain and my shoulders feel great. Secondly, my upper back, spinal erectors and quads have gotten immensely stronger in the last 3.5 months of training. While the Zercher squat has been an almost forgotten lift it seems to be making a comeback thanks to exposure on social media. In my book, the zercher squat is a top tier exercise that should be utilized by almost everyone to develop functional strength and power.
To prepare for this lift, I take a hyper-efficient approach to “warmups”. I believe warmups are exactly what they’re called- warmups. The goal of warmup sets is to prime the body for the actual moving set- not exhaust it prior to a max effort exertion. I took only 5 attempts prior to this max effort single: 135x1, 245x1, 365 x1, 425x1, 495x1.
To follow up my zercher squats, I took a heavy run with the frame. My goal for the day was to be somewhere over 700lbs for a distance of 40 feet without the use of straps. Again, I do not like to waste time excessively warming up. The frame implement weighs 170lbs empty, so I added 8 plates to it for a first attempt of 530 lbs. For the last run, I added 4 more plates to get to a combined weight of 710lbs for my 40 foot burst- a massive PR.
To wrap the session up, I also did 2 runs with a 600lb yoke. Today was my first time training the yoke outside of the zercher position so I was ultra-conservative with my steps and the weight on the yoke. After I did some single leg RDL’s with a med-ball, banded neck extensions and medicine ball throws overhead. As a football player, I believe functional and effective training is cardinal when it comes to dominating the line of scrimmage and staying healthy. Choosing heavy compound lifts that stimulate the most growth is the way to go in my book!
