Building Real Ab Strength-The Zercher Carry

Ed Zercher was a well known strongman in the 30's who imparted one of the great exercises of all time upon the world. The Zercher squat was invented, they say, because Zercher did not have a squat rack in his gym. This version of the squat begins with a dead-lift and then a squat while moving the bar onto the legs. From there you slide your arms underneath so that the bar is positioned in the crook of your arms and then squat the weight. This is a fantastic lift that builds strength throughout the body. Today however I would like to focus on the Zercher carry. You still position the weight in the crook of the arms, but instead of squatting it you are walking for a prescribed distance and/or time. This lift/carry combination is phenomenal for building strength not only in the anterior, but posterior chain all at the same time. What this means is a rock solid mid-line, and real strength in the abdominal musculature. Using a sandbag is my preferred method, as this form of weight is also metabolically demanding. The reasoning behind this is the fact that the weight is being held on the chest and putting a force on your lungs. This is great as it will illicit diaphragmatic breathing and better engages the stabilizer muscles throughout the mid-line. My recommendation is a distance like 60 meters coupled with something very demanding on the lungs like burpee's or a front squat & push press combination. Getting the heart rate and respiration up high and then putting weight on the chest forces proper engagement of the abdominal musculature and forces diaphragmatic breathing which is great in protecting your spine, which is the sole reason for these muscles in the first place. Normally I will do about 5 rounds of this with 10 burpee's followed by a 60 meter carry and repeat. I will also use a timed carry as a warm up. Using a 60# bag and just walking for about a minute is great to get muscles firing and blood pumping, especially if your workout that day involves movements where the mid-line will be engaged. Another reason that I love this movement is because it's so applicable to everyday life. In a real world setting people can't carry things in a perfect way like they would in a gym. I put the picture to show how it should look, but also think about how often you find yourself carry things in this manner. I would venture a guess that most people out there have done something similar many times, and quite recently even. Try to remember that all this is to really prepare us for the way we move and act in our everyday life.If you use the Zercher carry in your programming I'd love to hear your thoughts.