Fitness: The ab squat could be the best core exercise you’ve never done

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I was recently scrolling through Instagram and came across a video that had its title boldly asking ‘Is this the greatest ab exercise we didn’t know about?’ Now it is very rare for fitness creators and experts to point to something as “the greatest ever" but the large text, along with the visual of an athlete doing an exercise which resembled a front squat, drew me in. Further research suggested that this exercise is called an ‘ab squat’. Soon, more videos of the same exercise started popping up on my feed with some practitioners calling it the “best ever".

What's the inspiration? 

The interesting part about any exercise is its origin story. With every variation, there is usually a parent exercise. Comments about the ab squat on Reddit and other social media platforms took me to the Zercher squat. It was invented by Ed Zercher in the 1930s because he did not have a squat rack. “Eddie Zercher would wedge his elbows into the crook of the bar and deadlift the bar up. From the completed deadlift position, he would then squat down holding the barbell in the crook of his arms, with a wicked flex in his biceps, as he squatted down with the front-loaded barbell," says an article on Garage Strength, which convinces gym-goers that they don’t necessarily need to go through the discomfort of the Zercher squat. That said, the Zercher squat does work the abs. 

When you load the bar on your elbows, one of the first things you’ll notice is that your entire body wants to topple forward. Your abs are forced to contract and stabilize your spine. Unlike front and back squats, the load is very close to your core in a Zercher squat. This proximity increases the force required from the core to maintain stability," says a bachperformance.com article, titled Zercher Squat: The Best Damn Lower Body Exercise You’ve Never Done.

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Steps to do an ab squat 

To do an ab squat, you’d need an Olympic bar. A smaller one is fine if you are just starting out, but ideally you’d need one weighing 10 kg to be able to feel the downward force of the barbell. First, pick up the bar and do a barbell curl with a slightly high flex. Next, do squats, while letting the bar fall slightly forward. The first video I watched suggested that this routine only works the abs. That’s not entirely true. The legs are equally engaged and the biceps get a good workout too when you hold the bar up. “The barbell makes you want to fall forward but keeping your core/abs tight prevents that from happening. Killing two birds with one stone on this workout variation for sure," writes popular American fitness instructor Alexander Siquig on his Instagram page (@alexsiquig) along with an accompanying video. 

What this movement does is quite unique but the crux of it can be summed up in one statement: This is an isometric hold of the upper body combined with a dynamic movement of the lower, and all of it held together by the core The laws of physics come well into play in the ab squat. Many ab exercises, like the hanging leg raise, make the body work against gravity by pulling the lower body up. The ab squat, on the other hand, lets gravity take the force down on the lower body, and makes it work against it with feet firmly on the ground. Which is why the front loading becomes necessary. 

I tried this exercise over the past week and I could feel its impact on my core instantly. While practising it, one, make sure to find the right angle of the bicep flexion; two, stack it properly so that you’re not working the biceps as the primary muscles of the movement; three, lean forward slightly to make sure the core is engaged to keep your body in the right position. Soon you’ll know why the ab squat is a variation you want to add to your routine.  

Pulasta Dhar is a football commentator, podcaster and writer.

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