Join date: Apr 2009
Location: New York, USA
Posts: 37
I do ricksaw walks weekly (mainly because I think they are much harder than traditional farmer walks) I load the thing with a ton of weight and walk 20 yards down and 20 back. The walks are brutally hard increase grip, give you that yoked up look and make your heart pound out of your chest. I love the look I get in the gym when everyone is doing bicep curls and I am doing these.
Join date: Jan 2009
Location: Armed Forces - Europe
Posts: 79
Most of the time I am forced to do short farmers walks in the gym since I have to put the Bench far from the DB rack. The set may have taken alot outta me but walking the weight back to the rack get heavier DB and walking back and suddenly my heart is pumping. Feels kick ass.
PederLustzo wrote:
DEFCON 5 is actually the LOWEST Defcon - I think you meant DEFCON 1 ;-)
Actually, it was a reference to the Canadian version of DEFCON.
At DEFCON 3 we send you a sternly worded letter, at 4 we don't say 'please' or 'thanks eh' to you anymore and won't even hold the door open for you at Starbucks.
At DEFCON 5 we give you a high stick, pull your jersey over your head and pummel you.
Join date: May 2005
Location: Nova scotia, CAN
Posts: 85
In 2009 I was involved in a fitness competition. It was an "obstacle course" that had pushups, chinups, log presses, lunges and sprints. After 10 competitors and 4 to go it was my turn. 17 minutes in I hit the final obstacle, a 400m farmers walk with 40 lbs in each hand. I went into the farmers walk ahead of the best time by 20 secs. I finished 4th and the farmers walk destroyed everything I had left in the tank. It gave me a new respect for the farmers walk.
PederLustzo wrote:
DEFCON 5 is actually the LOWEST Defcon - I think you meant DEFCON 1 ;-)
Actually, it was a reference to the Canadian version of DEFCON.
At DEFCON 3 we send you a sternly worded letter, at 4 we don't say 'please' or 'thanks eh' to you anymore and won't even hold the door open for you at Starbucks.
At DEFCON 5 we give you a high stick, pull your jersey over your head and pummel you.
Join date: Apr 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 660
I'm thinking about these ... but I have a couple of tool boxes that weigh in the vicinity of 90 lbs each. Might just walk around with those and somehow throw in some DB complexes at the end of each lap.
I'm not doubting that these four corner complexes would work well, but I'm a little disappointed to see how little weight is used for the actual farmer carry. (The other exercises seem to be doing the loin's share of the work). When I think of a farmer's carry, I imagine at least a 100lbs in each hand. Can one get a similar sort of effect using only 50 pounds?
More importantly, I'm wondering how effective the simple HEAVY farmer carry is for fat loss? Let's say someone (me) wants to keep it simple and just carry heavy shit for fat loss. Obviously, if I can pick up 200lbs in each hand, but only carry it a couple steps, that would be too heavy. But if I can walk a mile carrying 20lbs, that would be too light.
Do you have any guidelines for the weight, distance, sets... for just using heavy farmer carry for fat loss? Or would you say that the heavy farmer carry, by itself, is not well suited to fat loss?
Join date: Jan 2009
Location: Armed Forces - Europe
Posts: 79
Esoteric Fish wrote:
I'm not doubting that these four corner complexes would work well, but I'm a little disappointed to see how little weight is used for the actual farmer carry. (The other exercises seem to be doing the loin's share of the work). When I think of a farmer's carry, I imagine at least a 100lbs in each hand. Can one get a similar sort of effect using only 50 pounds?
More importantly, I'm wondering how effective the simple HEAVY farmer carry is for fat loss? Let's say someone (me) wants to keep it simple and just carry heavy shit for fat loss. Obviously, if I can pick up 200lbs in each hand, but only carry it a couple steps, that would be too heavy. But if I can walk a mile carrying 20lbs, that would be too light.
Do you have any guidelines for the weight, distance, sets... for just using heavy farmer carry for fat loss? Or would you say that the heavy farmer carry, by itself, is not well suited to fat loss?
I think that is the idea of using the 50lbs-\+ DB. Gets the middle ground.
Join date: May 2007
Location: Texas, USA
Posts: 399
i don't know if this is actually farmers walk, but I hold a barbell racked across the shoulders, like in a front squat setup, and walk with that. Kills my core like no other.
"They're difficult, potentially injurious, and you need a lot of spandex-free space to do them. In other words, they're about DEFCON 5 on the Planet Fitness lunk alarm scale"
My work offers free fitness assessments, including body fat measurement and all that, and I just had mine done this morning for kicks. I found out that I scored pretty low on estimated VO2 max and especially grip strength. My body fat was actually lower than I expected (11.3% on 3-site caliper, 14% on Tanita), but still hardly ideal. So heading down to the farm sounds like a great idea right about now...
Join date: Apr 2008
Location: Maryland, USA
Posts: 173
Esoteric Fish wrote:
I'm not doubting that these four corner complexes would work well, but I'm a little disappointed to see how little weight is used for the actual farmer carry. (The other exercises seem to be doing the loin's share of the work). When I think of a farmer's carry, I imagine at least a 100lbs in each hand. Can one get a similar sort of effect using only 50 pounds?
More importantly, I'm wondering how effective the simple HEAVY farmer carry is for fat loss? Let's say someone (me) wants to keep it simple and just carry heavy shit for fat loss. Obviously, if I can pick up 200lbs in each hand, but only carry it a couple steps, that would be too heavy. But if I can walk a mile carrying 20lbs, that would be too light.
Do you have any guidelines for the weight, distance, sets... for just using heavy farmer carry for fat loss? Or would you say that the heavy farmer carry, by itself, is not well suited to fat loss?
Great questions!
First off, the BEST thing for fat loss is to practice good eating habits.
That said, certain training protocols such as the one featured in this article can help accelerate metabolism and ensure you keep the muscle.
In my experience, these hybrid Framers Walk Complexes are a much more effective form of metabolic training than simply just carrying the weight as in the traditional style. I explain why these farmers walk complexes are more effective for fat loss in the beginning portion of the article. Keep in mind, we are talking about loosing fat - not building strength. For strength gains, traditional farmers walks would be a better option.
I covered my general guidelines in the conclusion of the article.
- Place the cones 25-40yds apart
- Cover the four basic movement patterns
- Use different carrying positions
- Go as heavy as you can and still complete the entire complex w/o putting the weight down.
Join date: Apr 2008
Location: Maryland, USA
Posts: 173
MattyXL wrote:
Sounds great , unfortunately I have to figure out how to do this at a commercial gym
Instead of walking between cones, which needs space some gyms don't have, just march in place between exercises. Pick up your knees to roughly hip level on each march.
You may look a little silly, but who cares!
If you don't like this idea - I would just stick with dumbbell and barbell complexes.
I'd love to work these into my routine as well, but I have a couple of questions.
1) I see that you recommend using these as finishers. Do you think it would be an ok idea to use these as a pre-breakfast cardio activity twice a week? I normally do sprint intervals in a fasted state in the morning 2-3 times a week, and I like to have other intense cardio things for the other days, sometimes complexes or other conditioning activities. Would these farmers walks be good for that, or should I only do them later in the day?
2) I workout at home and don't have any heavy dumbbells, but plenty of weight to put on a bar. I imagine I could easily modify these exercises, particularly the first workout you described, to carry a barbell instead of two dumbbells. Do you think that would work as effectively?
Thanks so much, I always look forward to your articles, they're great!
