With over 17 years of experience lifting weights, I have learned that you don’t need fancy exercises or workouts to build strength and improve functionality. Sticking to the fundamentals and focusing on foundational exercises can help unlock your true potential. The rise of strongman competitions has revived an almost forgotten exercise — the farmer’s carry (or farmer’s walk). This exercise is as much a test of grip, shoulder, and leg strength as sheer human grit. For centuries, humans have been lifting and carrying heavy weights to prove their mettle. You’ve probably heard of the legendary Dinnie Stones — the ultimate test of strength, and now it is an event in many strongman contests. The frame carry is another variation of the farmer’s carry in strongman contests, which pushes even the strongest athletes to their limits. A review published in the Sports Medicine journal concluded that athletes who perform well in strongman events like the farmer’s walk have a bigger stride length and rate and reduced ground contact time. This translates to better overall athletic performance. (1) I had been struggling with my grip strength in my own training, and it was proving to be the weak link in lifts like deadlifts, lat pulldowns, and T-bar rows. To combat this and improve my overall strength, I embarked on a 30-day farmer’s carry challenge. In this article, I share the specifics of this four-week quest, including the different farmer’s walk variations and their impact on my grip strength, core stability, and overall muscle development.
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I have stuck to the conventional bodybuilding-style training for most of my lifting career. While I truly enjoy hypertrophy-focused training, I routinely vary my programming to keep my workouts fresh and avoid strength and muscle plateaus. I have always admired the farmer’s carry. This is one of those exercises that looks super easy but can leave you running on fumes after just one set. It’s no surprise that many top-tier strongman athletes despise it. To put it simply, farmer’s carry involves picking up heavy weights (dumbbells, kettlebells, or trap bars) and walking for a set distance or time. This exercise improves core stability, grip, shoulder and leg strength, and the cardiovascular system. Peter Attia, MD and a longevity specialist, is a huge proponent of the farmer’s carry. He carries his own bodyweight loaded on a trap bar and does 20 sets of 30 seconds of this exercise, resting 30 seconds in between. Attia believes that the ability to carry one’s body weight signifies that one has the functional ability to move and control one’s body well in space.
“It’s an exceptional grip exercise (obviously), but also a huge test of core strength and stability as the weight increases,” Attia says.
