BENEFITS OF INCORPORATING HEAVY CARRIES INTO YOUR STRENGTH TRAINING
You’ve likely seen the Level TEN coaching staff talking about and performing heavy carries of different varieties - and for good reason! Not only do they provide a benefit to other aspects of your training, they can improve many aspects of your daily life.
Many times, we talk about wanting lifting to be something that actually translates into your everyday life; picking up your children, carrying groceries inside, being able to take the stairs or make your way through an airport on a timeline.
Heavy carries or Farmer’s carries as they're often called, are a great way to do this!
WHAT CONSTITUTES A “HEAVY CARRY?”
A “heavy carry” typically refers to utilizing dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, or anything you’ve got, really (bucket carries, anyone?), to walk some distance while moving/holding said weight. The weight should be heavy relative to YOU, meaning this varies greatly from person to person, and can be progressed by increasing load, increasing time, or changing where you carry the load. Here’s a few great reasons to include heavy carries!
A Farmer’s Carry or Heavy Carry is usually used to promote two main aspects of training: core strength and grip strength.
Core Strength
Learning how to move a heavy load from one place to another while keeping what we call “midline stabilization” strong, can be something that allows you to lift heavy in other movements pain free and with great form. Think--improving your squats and deadlifts, your overhead presses, etc. Your midline--think your trunk, has to be stable in order for you to perform movements without compromising your form. Without a strong midline, you will likely be limited in your ability to move more weight, and progress your training.
Grip Strength
Have you ever gone to lift a heavier weight on a movement and been limited due to your grip strength? Heavy carries can help improve your grip strength with essentially increasing endurance on your grip work, and under more load (again, this is why we want to progress this by both distance and by load!). This can help out with your pull focused movements; think deadlifts, pull-ups, RDLs. You will see a massive translation with this if you keep carries in your programming regularly!
HOW DO WE PERFORM THESE IN TRAINING?
Traditional Farmer’s Carry: Holding two dumbbells or kettlebells, at your sides, and walk with shoulders back, glutes and core nice and tight. Think proper posture, and keeping your body from swaying back and forth with the weight.
Single Arm Farmer’s Carry: Like a Traditional Farmer’s Carry, but the weight is only on one side. This can be more challenging, just like a unilateral (single-sided) exercise, so start with a little lower weight than your traditional, and again, focus on not wavering due to the weight on one side. Think anti-rotation.
Overhead Carry (also called Waiter’s Carry), Single Arm or Dual: This is a tougher carry so again, start even lighter! Similar to your traditional carries, but in the overhead position. This can help improve shoulder stability along with that grip and midline stabilization. It is important with this type of carry to make sure your spine stays neutral versus arching due to load.
Goblet Carry: This variation has you holding a dumbbell or kettlebell in the goblet position at your chest. This helps improve that midline stability even more, and is helpful if you have issues with your chest falling during your squat patterns! It can also help improve your shoulder and arm endurance.
Front Rack Carry: Using two dumbbells or kettlebells (preferred), you will stand tall and walk with the weight in the front rack. This can help improve front rack stability and endurance, and build your shoulder stability in a lesser strained way than overhead carries.
Waiter’s/Farmer’s Carry or Crosswalk Carry: With one arm overhead and one arm at your side, you can work on a more advanced carry. Learning to do differing movements on alternating sides is not only great for the things discussed above, but it’s great for the mind, too!
There are of course other variations of carries out here, but these will give you a great place to start and progress! If you look to include these in your programming, remember to think about their use and how to pair them with other exercises!
For example, due to the major grip strain, you shouldn’t necessarily pair them with something like a deadlift or pull-up. You also may want to avoid pairing with too much rotator cuff heavy movements and shoulder work, due to the demand they can have here too.
These movements work well with other core work, posterior work, or movements that don’t demand a large pull. Ending the workout with a circuit including some heavier carries can be a great way to finish off a day of lifting.
Now that you have a briefing on heavy carries, start implementing and happy lifting!
WITH GOOD VIBES - COACH SHELBY