The Zercher carry is a fabulous strength and control, and balance developing exercise that can work your whole body. We want to walk at least a specific distance or time while keeping good form and posture when moving. The Zercher carry, named after 1930s strongman and weightlifter Ed Zercher, puts you in a position to hold a barbell or other heavy object on the inside of your elbows where you can walk or perform other kinds of movements.
The Zercher carry is rarely the ‘bread and butter’ exercise with the majority preferring the standard movements, but there’s so much value to capturing and it can add serious functional strength, athletic performance and mental edge. In this article, I’ll show you the top 10 reasons why you should include Zercher carries in your workout routine and explain some example exercises to get you started.
What Are 10 Benefits of the Zercher Carry?
1. It will also help to increase your core stability.
One of the biggest benefits of the Zercher carry is that it dramatically increases core stability. Zercher works out your core uniquely due to its weight placement, keeping your form straight and not letting you flex your spine. Proper posture from keeping your back straight to engaging your torso, and not over-bending or stooping. Not only does this strengthen your abdominals, but your deeper supporting muscles to the lower back and hips.
Why you should care: Almost every movement you make, from overhead pressing to touching your toes, demands the strength of a solid core. Zercher carry can strengthen your core, improve your balance, reduce injury risk and improve your performance in other exercises.
2. Improved posture
Zercher carriers help to keep your spinal alignment properly and strengthen the muscles that help to keep you upright. When you are carrying the weight, your chest should be up, not slouching, your shoulders back, not round, and your spine in a neutral position. Keeping good posture reinforces good posture habits, helps maximise the benefits of exercise (improving posture, preventing injury) and in turn, decreases the risk of injury that impacts your ability to take part in daily tasks.
It’s important to know why: Good posture can prevent unnecessary chronic pain and discomfort in the neck, shoulders and lower back. With the Zercher Carry incorporated into your workout, it will help correct imbalances, improve your posture, and do it all before the damage of excessive sitting or terrible posture takes its toll.
3. More upper back and shoulder strength
Benefits: The Zercher, upper back and shoulder muscles are especially challenged, including the trapezius, rhomboids and deltoids. When you set and lift dumbbells, it’s important to stand on your feet with a shoulder-width distance and keep your posture and balance. When carrying weights, these muscles must work to help stabilise the shoulder girdle and upper spine, so they become stronger and more able to work the long haul.
Why it matters: Having strong chest muscles is important to good posture, and it will reduce the chance of shoulder injury, giving your upper body exercise performance a boost in lifts like presses, rows, deadlifts and more.
4. There was also Improved Lower Body Strength and Stability.
The benefit, by way of working the upper and core, the Zercher carry also gives strength and stability to the lower body. Your glutes, hamstrings and your quadriceps muscles do a lot of work to keep you balanced and under control when you walk or do other moves that require a weight-bearing stance. Another complementary lower body exercise is the Zercher squat, which engages multiple muscles and is suitable for those with lower back issues because your back is supported by your body during the exercise: frontal load. You can’t do a jump squat in a zercher position.
Why it matters: It’s important: Lower body strength is crucial to athletic performance and aids in movements such as running, jumping and squatting. In addition, better balance in the lower body can help protect against injury, in particular to the knees and hips.
5. Stronger grip strength
Benefit: A Zercher carry with a heavy weight held on the inside of your elbows is quite the grip workout and works real hardcore forearm stuff. But the important thing is to start with lighter weights to ensure form is good and that injury is not likely. Particularly when using barbells (or, for that matter, the bar in most machines or the bottom end of a dumbbell handle) because your forearms must do a lot of work to keep the barbell in place.
Knowing your grip strength matters because it will help you get the most out of so many other exercises like deadlifts, pull ups, Farmer’s walk with heavy kettlebells or bars, …. Zercher carries will improve your grip strength which is going to carry over to these types of exercises, you’ll lift heavier weights and more positive reps.
6. Growing functional strength
One of the great benefits of the Zercher carry is that it is a great exercise in developing functional strength that can be transferred into your everyday movements and activities. Being a beginner-friendly exercise, the goblet squat not only works on functional strength. It replicates your real-life activities like carrying heavy objects in front of your body, lifting and carrying a bag from the grocery store, moving furniture, etc. or supporting the heavy machinery.
Functional strength: It’s what allows you to do your day-to-day activities easily and is less likely to lead to injury. It helps improve your performance in sports and other physical activities as well.
7. From versatility to variety, everything
I can’t think of a better feature than versatility, and all the greatest features of the Zercher carry, the versatility come out on top. You can do this exercise with any equipment you like — whether that’s dumbbells, sandbags, kettlebells, or even a partner. Along with different squat variations, you can also make it more varied and target certain muscle groups. That makes it simple to fit the Zercher Carry into your present workout protocol, no matter what your objectives may be.
Why it matters: Bringing variety into your workouts makes sure you don’t stagnate and your workouts aren’t boring. It also forces your muscles to work in a new way and helps continue growing out their strength, as well as prevent overuse injuries.
8. Aided athletic performance
The usefulness: The Zercher carry allows you to gain total body strength and balance, making for improved performance in almost any sport or physical activity. There is a little trick to this; you need to start with a manageable weight and slowly push yourself to gain that weight. The Zercher Carry improved the balance and control it gave you, whether you’re running, jumping or playing contact sports, all increasing the fitness.
The key point: Performance of an athletic task depends on how much power you can generate, how long you can maintain your balance, and how efficiently you can move. Zercher helps build these qualities and makes you a more complete, more competent athlete.
9. An effective total body workout.
Zercher: An exercise that hits up many muscle groups all at once. It’s a fantastic full-body exercise because it works the whole body from the core to the shoulders to the lower body, all the way around. Just like the Zercher squat, it works out the whole body and gives strength and functional movements.
So why is it important: For those short on time, the Zercher is a great way to get a complete workout when you’re short on time. This is effective enough to let you spend your time working out on other aspects of your training or any part of your workout.
10. Mental strength and mental stamina.
Zercher carries aren’t just a physical challenge but also a mental challenge. The problem with that is it can be tedious, you’re holding a heavy weight on the inside of your elbows when you do each set, it hurts, and it takes a lot of mental strength and stamina to get through any rep range of it. Having a power rack with safety bars will make your workouts go smoother and keep you injury-free, particularly when performing more advanced techniques.
Why it’s important: The Zercher carry and other hard exercises are powerful tools for building your mental strength so you’re able to push through and complete a difficult workout or obstacle in front of you as you work toward fitness. This mental strength is just as lucrative as physical strength and will help focus you on your goals.
Final Thoughts
Zercher carries can give you countless benefits to your total fitness, strength, balance and even mind power. Zercher carry can help you improve your core stability and posture, improve your functional strength and athletic performance. This is a unique exercise which also tests your body and mind, plus can give a good boost to your mental strength and endurance, so it is well worth adding to your fitness schedule.
Why not give the Zercher carry a go the next time you’re after something new to spice up your workouts and working on balance and control throughout your entire body? The given exercise examples will help you start to work this great exercise into your workout routine with ease.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What muscles does the Zercher carry when you perform this exercise?
The Zercher carry hits quite the range of muscles from your core to your upper back, shoulders, glutes, hamstrings, quads and forearms. It’s an effective full-body workout because the front-loaded squat activates both the anterior and posterior chain when done correctly.
2. Is the Zercher carry too much of a novice lift?
Certainly, the Zercher carry can be performed by a beginner, although a lighter weight will be necessary, and form work should be a priority. Newcomers may also find it more comfortable to use equipment such as a sandbag or kettlebell, as opposed to a barbell.
3. When should the Zercher carry be in my workouts?
Including the Zercher carry 1 – 2 times per week, depending on your training goals. As a complementary exercise, it’s great to use it to enhance core strength, good posture and functional performance on lower body or full body training day.
4. Besides a barbell, what equipment can I use for Zercher carries?
They are a very versatile carry. If you don’t have sandbags on hand, use kettlebells, dumbbells, medicine balls or even a training partner. They offer a slightly different type of muscle engagement and your challenge, which makes for a great variety to your routine.
