The Sweatt Shop

• Front Squats
• Rack Deadlifts with Louie Simmons Zercher Harness

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.