There are tons of articles on overlooked or forgotten muscles and moves, but IMO the King of the Overlooks is the humble, simple, but not easy farmer’s haul. Holding weights in your hands and walking, what muscles do this work, and how does it improve me? Just because this exercise isn’t done in front of a mirror and there’s no muscle pump, doesn’t mean you have to squat.
The farmer’s carry exercise and its variations have arguably the most significant transfer from the gym to your activities of daily living. And if you ever find yourself hanging off a cliff, you’ll thank yourself for all the grip strength work you’ve put in. Because if you haven’t, well, let’s not get into that.
Here, we’ll dive deep into carrying farmers and how you can program them into your training for maximum efficiency.
What is the Farmer’s Carry?
No, it’s not something a farmer does. Well, they do, but it’s a move you should incorporate into your routine as well. The most commonly performed farmer’s carry is the dumbbell farmer’s carry. You pick up a pair of heavy dumbbells from the rack, hold them firmly at arm’s length, stand up straight and walk in a straight line for 20 to 100 yards and try not to drop them.
What muscles does Farmer Carrying work? Glad you asked…
Train muscles with the farmer’s carry exercise
Numerous wear variants train similar muscles, but depending on the variation, you could focus on upper back or shoulder strength. But dumbbells train these upper and lower body muscles most of the time.
Upper body
- Forearm : Every time you use your grip, your forearm works overtime to hold and keep your wrists neutral.
- Upper back: To keep your shoulders down, your chest up, and your spine straight, your upper back is working overtime to make this happen.
- Rotator cuff: The rotator cuff is trained every time you grab something. The rotator cuff works hard to keep your shoulder joint vertical and not pulled out of its socket.
- Shoulders: The shoulders and rotator cuff work together to give your shoulder the stability it needs to carry heavy barbells.
Lower body
- Heart: The anterior and posterior cores work hard to keep the spine neutral while carrying heavy dumbbells.
- Glutes: For every weighted step, the glutes keep you upright and move you forward with this little thing called hip extension.
How to do the farmer’s carry with dumbbells
- Select a weight between 25% and 50% of your body weight in each hand.
- Firmly grasp and hold the dumbbells by your side and at arm’s length.
- Lower your shoulders and pull your chest up for good posture.
- Walk carefully, minding your step for 40 to 100 yards.
- The weight is too heavy if you can’t run 40 meters. If you don’t feel anything, the weight is too light.
- Return the dumbbells to the rack (or carefully to the floor) when you’re done.
Benefits of the Farmer’s Carry Exercise
It doesn’t sound like gaining weights and walking with them would have many benefits, but it does. Here are some of the essential benefits of making carries.
- Better posture: Think of all carry variations as a standing board in motion. Carrying weights in your hands with poor posture will be uncomfortable, look silly, and put you at increased risk of injury.
- Improved Breathing: Breathing into your chest when carrying heavy weights is harder than you think. Deep belly breathing is a better way to breathe, and carrying reinforces this pattern.
- Better shoulder stability: The rotator cuff and your deltoids are working to hold your shoulder in place, with some heavy dumbbells trying to pull them out. Both muscles work isometrically, and when carrying for a long distance, the extra time under tension doesn’t go unnoticed by your shoulders.
- Open pickle jars: Grip strength is essential in and out of the gym. Most pulling exercises require a considerable gripping component. If you can’t grab it, you can’t tear it. Say you want to open a jar of pickles, hang on for dear life, or tear up a phone book; grip strength is your best friend. Plus, a firm grip helps you live longer.
- Improved Mental Toughness: With your grip failing, your muscles burning, and your lungs gasping as you carry, there’s that little voice in your head telling you to stop. Every time you ignore that voice and keep going, it makes you stronger and stronger mentally because you resisted the pain and didn’t give up. And that has a huge impact on everything in life.
Advice for the farmer’s transport form
Just think of transport as a load standing on the board of your two feet. You can do litters with a shitty form, but it’s better and safer for you if you don’t. To get all of the benefits listed above, it’s best to do each lift variation with good posture.
If you are new to the practice of carrying, start with 25% of your body weight in each hand and go at least 40 meters each time. If you can’t do 40 yards or it’s a walk in the park, increase or decrease your weight from there. Try to walk at your usual pace and take your time. Hurrying with the load can cause you to lose weight or lose your balance.
Neither is good.
While increasing your load is still the name of this game, varying your load, dumbbell position (more on that later) and distance is beneficial to vary pleasures or to suit your Goals. If losing fat or improving cardiovascular conditioning is a goal, reducing weight and rest periods between sets and increasing distance works well.
When absolute strength is your goal, increasing the load, decreasing the walking distance, and increasing your rest period are great places to start. Building muscle falls somewhere in between these two. Experiment to see what works best (or worst) for you.
Programming Suggestions
The world is your oyster when it comes to scheduling into your routine. It can be put in your warm-up or core circuit, or you can put it in your strength training routine. Pairing carries with any press variation, or any exercise that doesn’t strain your grip and takes anything away from that exercise works well.
- 1A. Bench Press
- 1B. The farmer carries 40 meters
Or include it in a core circuit before your workout as part of your warm-up or after your workout to improve your core strength when you’re tired
- 1A. Ab rollout 6 reps
- 1B. Dumbbell Farmer’s Carry 40 meters
- 1 C. Side Plank 30 seconds each side
Farmer transport circuit
Save this circuit for the end of your workout when looking for extra bicep work. Do this tri-set twice a week for Steel Guns and Popeye Forearms.
- 1A. Zottman Loop 12-15 reps
- 1B. Barbell wrist curls 15 reps
- 1 C. Dumbbell Farmer’s Carry 40 meters
Repeat this circuit three times with minimal rest between exercises.
Conditioning Finisher
To note: Start with 25% of your body weight in each hand.
Nothing fancy here. Use the two-handed dumbbell carry variant, walk 40 meters and place the weight down. Rest for 30 seconds and repeat. Keep repeating until you can’t walk another 40 yards before you lose your grip. Write down the number of rounds and try to beat it next time.
4 Variations of Farmer’s Carry Exercises with Dumbbells
Two-handed carry is great, but to progress and avoid training boredom, here are four variations of dumbbell carry to increase your awesomeness. Aside from holding dumbbells by your side, there are three other positions for holding a dumbbell. Tumbler, Rack, and Air, and each is progressively more difficult.
Why? Because each position is further from the muscles, it works; your legs and core and the dumbbells are harder to hold in each position, which only adds to your enjoyment.
