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Barbell Farmers Walk Carry Over

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Waffles03

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Are there any carry overs from doing farmer walks beside improve grip strength?

On the side note, I recently purchased a barbell along with some bumper plates. To my surprise, the deadlift hit my lats pretty hard where as I feel more of my upper back working from doing pull ups.
 
The Farmer's Walk Cure | T Nation

I like that article about them a lot. Long story short just about anyone could benefit from them. It’s a classic time under tension form of training that carries through everything from heavy barbell work to carrying in groceries. I’ve never heard of an athlete or similarly strong person not praising them. Excellent bang for your buck.
 
@Waffles03, the fact that you're moving, and the weights are also therefore moving, makes the whole thing a bit unstable and therein lies some of the benefit. Put another way, even if you just hung a 12 kg kettlebell from each wrist with a strap, you'd get more benefit than wearing 24 kg in a snug-fitting vest.

JMO.

-S-
 
I've been doing heavy farmers roughly 2-4 times a week. I've noticed my grip get stronger, my deadlift muscles get stronger and general "conditioning" improve. on days that i focus on pressing i've been doing waiter walks, haven't done them enough to not what there doing but they seem good.
 
I'm going to add a contrary note.

I've been doing farmers walks with KBs (40 + 32 kg, biggest I have). I honestly haven't noticed much effect from them. That probably means they are not heavy enough (about 60% BW only) or I'm not walking for long enough.
 
the fact that you're moving, and the weights are also therefore moving, makes the whole thing a bit unstable and therein lies some of the benefit. Put another way, even if you just hung a 12 kg kettlebell from each wrist with a strap, you'd get more benefit than wearing 24 kg in a snug-fitting vest.

I've been doing farmers walks with KBs (40 + 32 kg, biggest I have). I honestly haven't noticed much effect from them. That probably means they are not heavy enough (about 60% BW only) or I'm not walking for long enough.

The answer to carrying kettlebells or wearing a weight vest is of course yes! I also don't have very heavy kettlebells, and carrying a 32kg and a 28kg together doesn't do much for me. However, adding a 24kg weight vest makes a huge difference. I will do for example 30m, switch hands with the kettlebells, do another 30m, ... after 5 or 6 switches, I start to feel is all over my body. @krg, maybe you would like to try this if you have a weight vest lying around. The grip will not be worked as well as it would be with heavier kettlebell, but I can assure you that this raises my heart rate. You could also add pulling a sled at the same time instead of or in addition to the weight vest. A home made sled can be very cheap and effective. Now, that is something I must try next time I do carries: sled+kettlebells+weight vest. I'll try it and report back.
 
I like the overhead variety, particularly one arm at a time. Not as good for challenging the grip strength, but seems to be helping me with keeping good, solid wrist position for stuff like TGU, or hitting a heavy bag. Also pretty challenging to shoulder and core stabilizers, without having to use a huge amount of weight.

Plus, you look awesome walking around a track with a weight up as high as you can hold it.
 
I've been doing farmers walks with KBs (40 + 32 kg, biggest I have). I honestly haven't noticed much effect from them. That probably means they are not heavy enough (about 60% BW only) or I'm not walking for long enough.
Try going longer. Personally I'm not a fan of going too heavy.
Dan John says that the "game changer" is bodyweight per hand. I think if you're not a strongman competitor you can stop at around 50-60% BW per hand and from there increase time/distance with that weight.

Like always it comes down to goals.
In my life and my few athletic endevours I have much more carryover from light to medium FCs for longer distances (200+ yards per carry) than going super heavy for reps of 10-20yards.
The heavy ones really work your grip strength, but I don't really feel them in my back or legs, but when I take a medium weight and take it for long carries everything from forearms over traps to legs lights up like crazy. That's where their "magic" lies IMO.
Deadlifts increase max strength in your postural muscles, while FCs increase strength endurance in them.
 
I'm going to add a contrary note.

I've been doing farmers walks with KBs (40 + 32 kg, biggest I have). I honestly haven't noticed much effect from them. That probably means they are not heavy enough (about 60% BW only) or I'm not walking for long enough.

If you have lighter kbs or can purchase some ~15 lb dumbbells on craigslist or something they can easily be attached to the kbs for extra weight.
 
Someone posted a link a while ago to Grey Cook (FMS founder) recommending lighter and longer. It was, if memory serves, 3/4 bw total, divided between your two hands, and carried while walking for two minutes.

For me at 150 lbs., that meant a 24 kg bell in each hand. Again, if memory serves, this was one of those, “you ought to be able to” kinds of things, not a specific training recommendation for weight or time. Because I was able to do it the first time I tried it, I haven’t revisited it since.

-S-
 
A while back when I attended CrossFit 1806 in Smyrna DE, they had about 2 dozen pairs of kettlebell of various sizes. One night during open gym I started with the smallest pair and carried them to one end of the building (around 50') and set then down. Then I went back and got the next pair and continued until all the kettlebell were relocated. Then starting with the largest, I reversed the process and returned them all to where they had been, nice and neatly. To keep moving, picking up and setting down for an around an hour was a nice little workout. I thought it a great excersise for some active relaxation as it was not too heavy.
I suppose one could also so the same with a rack full of dumbbells.
I have also shouldered my 50# sandbag and walked the lane and back , probably a mile or so.
I believe that that the motion produced by walking while carrying weight causes unbalances in the body. Pretty much the whole body must must respond to the unbalanced condition by tensing and relaxing the appropriate muscles. Farmers Carries or Walks are great training for the whole body.

Carl in Dover
 
I have been playing around with one handed farmer carries. Ive never done them before so I started with a 24kg Kettlebell. Walked around my basement for 2 sets of 2 minutes in each arm. I noticed a huge difference with the bell in my right hand. My entire left side oblique area “lit up” and was very difficult for me. After the session I went up and made some golf swings and the amount of rotation I had along with stability was unbelievable. No other exercise gave me that immediate feedback. I plan on becoming consistent with these. I am about 200lbs so this was really only 1/4 of my body weight.
 
Walking around with them in a rack position is probably better training for your core, and it still involves grip strength. The overhead carries are of course better but with the caveat of "if you can do them!" I got a LOT of help from rack carries after @Steve Freides recommended I do them to recover from an injury. I still do them. They are amazing.
 
I've done them with a 32 & 16kg in one hand and 28 & 20kg in the other - not crazy weight but the two handles does tax the grip. Out and back, put bells down, do a well executed about face, pick them up and do it again - so both sides get to carry both combos.
 
Someone posted a link a while ago to Grey Cook (FMS founder) recommending lighter and longer. It was, if memory serves, 3/4 bw total, divided between your two hands, and carried while walking for two minutes.

For me at 150 lbs., that meant a 24 kg bell in each hand. Again, if memory serves, this was one of those, “you ought to be able to” kinds of things, not a specific training recommendation for weight or time. Because I was able to do it the first time I tried it, I haven’t revisited it since.

-S-
Sounds like a nice approach. Stu McGill believes back health is more linked with endurance type strength rather than peak strength/power, which would fit with this type of core training.
 
If you can do sets of rack carries with double 32s, you probably don't have to worry about much.

And trap bar for farmers really allows for big weight if you need it.
 
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