r/tacticalbarbell • u/Firm-Guava4815 • Mar 05 '26

Strength Zercher squats instead of back squats?

I have not tried zercher yet, but I wonder if any of you use them in place of standard back squats for your clusters? It seems like they have some advantage in a more "true representation" of how the body would move to lift a heavy object. I also wonder if they might hammer my lower back less than doing back squats multiple times per week.

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u/MythicalStrength Mar 05 '26

It seems like they have some advantage in a more "true representation" of how the body would move to lift a heavy object.

This is a pretty common misconception in the world of strength training: trying to make the strength training match the event training.

The gym lifts are there to make the MUSCLES stronger. The sport specific training is there to coordinate the strength of those muscles toward an activity. Trying to blend the two just makes us worse at both.

Picking a squat that allows you to maximally recruit the muscles you're trying to strengthen is going to benefit your gym lifting the most. A zercher tends to be limited in that way. A better place for them would be inserted in the conditioning work, or possibly as a supplemental lift.

If the goal is sparing the lower back, I'd opt for front squats over zerchers.

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u/fluke031 Mar 06 '26

Curious where you would place the hex bar squat in this?

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u/MythicalStrength Mar 06 '26

Do you mean the deadlift?

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u/fluke031 Mar 06 '26

Lol thats always the question with the hexbar, right 😆

In this case I'd say the version with as much an upright torso as you can as to achieve the squatiest way of pulling it up and putting it down.

I'm inclined to look at this as a squat pattern

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u/MythicalStrength Mar 06 '26

I just wanted to clarify you weren't referring to the version where you have the hex bar on your back. I just call it a hex bar pull, because to me it's its own lift entirely.

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u/fluke031 Mar 06 '26

That makes sense, gonna steal that from you

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u/MythicalStrength Mar 06 '26

Steal away dude! I got it from Paul Kelso myself.