Zercher squats better for recovery?

[takeahnase]

Edited my post for clarity...

Edit: I'm an idiot.

 

[Bamaispriceless]

^Agreed.

 

[Green Monkey]

I don't see the relation between spine pressure and CNS fatigue. If you squat a lot, your spine takes a beating, hence it makes sense to take the load off your spine once in a while, some exercises like belt squats, sled dragging etc. work similar muscles to the squat and can thus be substituted instead of squats.

In my opinion it is best to take it easy for a week every 6-8 or maybe 10-12 weeks and that should be sufficient if you are not squatting 600lbs. week in and week out in order to let your CNS recover and worrying about your spine should not be an issue, If your back feels weird take it easy.

Tate's statement clearly implied that there was a relationship between spinal loading and CNS, but I'm not sure that he really meant it.

I agree with your assessment of needing breaks - I think that Tate mentioned the exact same thing with different timing (slightly).