Hey all,

I have in my head to do a 1.5 mile Farmer's Walk with bodyweight in each hand (currently 195) for a local fundraiser in April or May. Am I overestimating my potential? Or is there a chance of achieving this? Currently, my best FW is 110 pounds each, for about 100 feet.

-Thanks.

P.S. - Would anyone happen to know the record for longest or heaviest FW?

1 mile=5280 feet. 195 lbs. in each hand=390 lbs. There is no way in hell you can complete this farmer's walk in 3 months. Actually, is there a time limit? Because if there is and you start walkin' right now, you just may achieve your goal.

Holy shit.

How long can you hold that weight (195 per) in your hands right now? The endurance required to walk 1.5 miles with that would be very very impressive.

Regards,

Sensless

Well I'll do the math for you. Lets just say that you don't do bodyweight in each hand, and you keep it at 110lbs.

5280ft/mile x 1.5 mile = 7920 feet

your best effort is 100 feet, so we're talking 80 sets of your current best effort. I think it's somewhere next to impossible that you would complete that.

I really do admire your optimism though.

I think that Pudzianowski would have a very very difficult time farmer's walking with 195/hand for 1.5 miles.

Yeah there is no way in hell you will meet your goal! Not to rain on your parade but that is one insane farmers walk. you got some big balls to even consider that kind of challange.

I'm no expert (I don't know if there is for this sort of goal) but I peronally would be doing a mix of training for maximal strength and endurance. So shorter walks with bigger weight and longer walks with lighter weight.

You have a long road ahead hope to hear about any progress, if you get close to meeting the challange post pictures! I would imagine your forearms/shoulders/traps would have to get huge to handle this.

minotaur, you will inevitably have to rest during your journey. Your body won't let you walk 1.5 miles w/ 195 #s in each hand. You will have to drop the weights many, many times. It will still be a great challenge.

Although i do not think it is possible, i have to admire your optimism. go for it and report back. You might find some excellent insight into farmers walks from this.

1.5 miles with 100 lb.'s in each hand would be an incredible feat. Train hard and see what happens.
I'd like to see more events that are a combination of stongman and long-distance. How about, say, 3 miles over a hilly course carrying a 100 lb. backpack?
I think I remember reading that Jack Lalanne would walk with a 315 pound barbell on his back up a steep hill which is extraordinarily impressive, especially considering his relatively small stature.

You could try the Inman Mile. It's an old time strength feat where you load a barbell with 1.5 x your body weight, load it across you back like a squat and then take a mile long walk. It doesn't sound crazy hard but not easy. If you do it you could be one of the few.

You're a very mean person. And I appreciate that. I've always "enjoyed" training Farmer's walks, but the Inman sounds like a special kind of evil.

Well I guess I should have been a little more specific when I said "crazy hard". It is close to impossible for most people but I guess crazy hard is attempting something that may kill you. Now that I think of it, the Inman mile probably is "crazy hard"!

The Inman Mile sounds like it would be a good exercise to add to your routine. Would really prepeare your lower body/core/upper back as well as help your cardiovascular system handle the heavy load for distance.

something like a Manta Ray or cambared bar would help keep the weight on your back without killing your rear delts

Well, I don't know if this helps at all but I "farmers walked" 2 gallons of milk in each hand (in bags) about 1.5 miles a month or so ago. I know this doesn't come anywhere near 195 lbs. just saying with that light a weight my traps were pretty strained at the end, and my hands were pretty beat up. It was not difficult to carry at all but seriously 1.5 miles is a LONG long way to carry something.

You all are probably a lot stronger then me in the farmer's walk, but 4 gallons was a bit of a pain. 195 lbs., I can't even really think of words to describe what that would be like.

The reason you can't think of words to describe what the "walk" would be like is because there will be no glorious walk to describe. Minotaur expresses great optimism in completing his goal, which is great. Unfortunately, I don't care how great his strength-endurance is, he will fail. Besides, at your current level of strength, 195 lbs. in each hand would be a maximum strength event, and 2-3 months of training won't change this. It just ain't happenin'.

The trouble with the Inman walk with a barbell is what happens if you have to put the barbell down? Do you clean it and then get it onto your shoulders again? Cleaning 300 plus pounds is something few can do, especially after having walked with it on their back for a while. One thing to consider would be a "super yoke" type apparatus. This would be easy to set down and pick up again.
As far as the farmer's walk just start light and keep going. So, the first time go 1.5 miles with 20 lb.s in each hand. If this is easy do it with 30 and so on until you see what a realistic goal is.

That's the thing about the Inman mile; you can't set the weight down. You can stop and rest and you may even be offered "refreshments" but the weight stays on you back the whole time.
"Crazy Hard"!

Go to
http://www.usawa.com/
for a better description and for a complete listing of the crazy lifts we do.