
It’s also good for people with not-so-great upper-body mobility as the arms are down lower and in front of you. If you train for Strongman, you may also see amazing benefits of doing this exercise. It also helps to strengthen your lifting posture even when your shoulders are slightly rounded forward, which is actually many times necessary to lift heavy objects. You’re having to hold the weight close to the mid part of your body like you would when picking up most objects on a daily basis. One big benefit of the Zercher squat is that it has better carryover to a lot of everyday tasks such as lifting and carrying heavy items. As a result, there’s a different type of recruitment and mental aspect that can help to make us more well-rounded and functional. This alone adds a component that most people are not used to. The Zercher squat is performed by holding the barbell in the crook of your elbows rather than across your front delts. However, it can be a powerful weapon in your training arsenal, especially if you want to improve your functional strength. If you’ve never heard of the Zercher squat then we’d like to introduce you to one of the most unconventional, and sometimes painful, exercises on the planet.

Related: The 12 Best Landmine Exercises for Building Muscle Mass and Strength 7. Stand on the band and wrap the other end over your traps/shoulder area and use the same front squat form to do it. Do the desired number of reps and then switch legs and repeat. Make sure that your palms are facing each other and the bands on your palm side and not over your knuckles.īend your front knee and squat down to the desired depth, then stand back up and lock out your knee. Then, you’ll bring the handles near your front delts similar to a front barbell squat. To do it, you’ll grab both handles and stand on the center of the band with one foot while the back foot is behind you. The best way to achieve this, in our opinion, is to do a split stance or Bulgarian squat. You can replicate front squat form using resistance bands. It’s especially hard to maintain an upright torso due to the bulk of the kettlebell but this adds to the challenge and helps to reinforce that good lifting form. The dumbbell front squat is an awesome exercise though, and many times, especially for those who train at home, it’s the only option.

Well, depending on how heavy the dumbbells are, this may not be possible.īut with the barbell, you can set it up to be at the desired height to where you can easily unrack it while standing. You can also drop the dumbbells if you must, whereas, there’s more potential for accidents using a heavy barbell.īut there is a drawback to using dumbbells and that is, you have to pick them up and clean them to your front delts first. The main advantage of using dumbbells over a barbell is that the former allows for more movement of the wrists and arms and it’s just more comfortable overall. OK, so this may be more of a variation, however, it’s also an alternative that many prefer over the barbell front squat. Here are the 9 best front squat alternatives: 1.
