The Sweatt Shop
Tuesday Trifecta at The Sweatt Shop with Laura and Amy again! I’ve heard about Louie’s Zercher Harness but never seen or tried one. I’m a huge Zercher fan and think they are one of the exercises that healed my lower back when I was told I wouldn’t walk again unless I got an extremely aggressive multi-level fusion surgery. I remember driving to Kenny Patterson’s pro bench meet in 2007 to talk to Louie about my back because I knew he’d been through it all. I told him about my neurosurgeon saying I wouldn’t be able to walk if I didn’t get this surgery. No joke, this was Lou’s response:
“I saw you walk in here just fine. Zercher, sled, reverse hyper. No surgery.”
And I did just that…all summer, along with overhead squats. I didn’t use a harness and just Zercher squatted with the bar in the crook of my elbows like Craig does. Craig is all about Zerchers and also feels they’re a huge contributor to his keeping his lower back in check (his spine is in shambles as well) and his core ultra strong. Knock on wood, but I now have zero lower back pain and it’s been 3 years! There are other factors that I think contributed too like losing a significant amount of excess body weight, getting a better mattress, and the addition of glucosamine/chondroitin/msm.
So obviously I’m a huge advocate of all forms of Zercher lifts and think they can be extremely beneficial to all strength athletes. If you don’t have a harness and are doing them old school, using volleyball knee pads really helps with the pressure in the crook of your elbows. I use these Under Armour ones but any thick, sturdy ones will do.
…coming soon
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