First XV Carries Series: Farmer's Carry (or Walk)

Every client that’s walked through the doors here at the facility is probably, absolutely, sick of hearing about carries. There’s definitely some that are loving them, but in any case, everyone does them in some fashion here. Well for those that haven’t made it in here yet, this video series over the following weeks is just for you…OK I suppose everyone else can indulge, why not? The more the merrier.

Today I have Farmer’s Carries, simple but very effective, can’t beat that. They make your whole body work as one, especially your shoulders and core, yes I said core, along with your hips. Wondering how your core comes in to play? When doing a carry, you should be pretty tight all over, you don’t want weight like this swinging about, trust me, and because of this, it takes more than just your shoulders to keep still. Thusly your core and hips HAVE to come in to the picture to keep stable. Farmer’s carry is also one of my favorite things to give new clients. Reason being they haven’t (likely) developed any grip strength, so when they go to start heavierish deadlifts, their hands are up to par. Your weapon of choice could be dumbbells, a trap bar, kettlebells, or if you’re luck, farmer handles.

Loading is a fun topic and a bit of a debated topic, but here’s the basic thing, it’s suppose to be heavy. Shorter distances, let’s load them up HAF, like I am here. For further distances or even timed carries, go for something not quite as zealous as you would in the shorter distances. Ladies won’t get away with anything less than 50% bodyweight with me and I really encourage them to push for more. Men I’m certainly shooting for closer to bodyweight with their farmers carries. Not everyone can hit these points, but one little nudge, week by week, gets them further than they thought possible. You can use

Bringing me to my next point on this, how far? Well that depends on what you’re working with. The distance we’re at here at Core is about 30 yards. From the front door to a nearby street sign we, typically tell clients to walk there and back as 1 set. Some of you will have as little as 10 yards of space, and other will have as much as 50 yards. When it comes to outdoor work it’s dealer’s choice, we can do short and heavy, lighter and longer, or time it and see what happens. The options are endless, the key is to make sure you challenge your grip, but don’t get over zealous.

Cues: Pick it up like a deadlift, super man grip it (try to crush it), under control, walk to the marker and back. This should be an obvious thing that I don’t have to warn people about, but I’m going to. Pick the weight up safely and DO NOT RUN with weights. I mean it does say walk at the top of this right?

Questions? Drop me a comment.