Having to carry a heavy object, whether that be overhead, by one's side, out in front or to be thrown over one's shoulders, is a task many of us encounter through our everyday life, some us may even be required to do so for our job. So why are such practical and functional movements, left unpractised and untrained in the gym? For the most part, many gym goers, haven’t been exposed to much other machine weights and traditional barbell movements popularised in recent years. The many “sardine’ can” like gyms that populate the gym space nowadays, likely don’t have space nor the utensils to practice such movements as effectively, however, even so, one can make do.
In this blog piece, I hope to bring a series of carries to the forefront of your attention. Firstly I’ll explain why carries are such beneficial exercises, whether that be for one’s aesthetic orientated goals, performance endeavours or for improved functionality, for everyday life. Second of all, I’ll list the available exercises, giving a brief description of the movement, a list of muscles trained and describe the functionality and best application of the exercise. Last, of all, I’ll show one, how to best implement carries into one’s training, whether that be via individual sessions or ways in which one can program carries, into existing workouts.
WHY CARRIES?
Carries are a whole body movement, they load ones entire lower body, the core muscles are engaged to stabilise the movement to varying degrees depending on the exercise and specific variations incorporate upper body strength, whether that be grip strength, upper and lower back strength, shoulder girdle stability and strength and even arm strength.
If improving one's body composition is the primary focus one’s programming, carries can play an unexpected role in doing so. Carries can help build muscle across almost the entire body and in often neglected muscle groups, such as one's forearms, lower back, traps, and calves. The carries performed for a moderate to long duration, under adequate load, place the involved muscles under strenuous duress, causing muscle micro-tearing and the build of metabolites, both large influencing factors in muscle growth. The whole body nature of carries and possible lengthy duration, both have a cardiovascular effect, depending on the duration and weight, the exercise is likely anaerobic. In combination with its hypertrophic ability, carries, are great exercises for improving anaerobic capacity and for weight loss.
The practical application of carrying movements, make them a prime exercises for every gym goer. Carries replicate activities such as carrying groceries, moving furniture, moving heavy boxes, carrying a heavy back-pack, lifting luggage overhead and many jobs such as warehousing, carpentry, furniture moving, labouring, shipping container loaders/unloaders, baggage handlers, landscapers and few others.
If aesthetics and general strength for everyday life, are not key motivating factors in your programming, perhaps improved performance in competition is. The many carry variations have crossover applications to most if not all sports. Single arm and overhead carries, for example, can improve core strength and stability, for athletes such as martial artists, rugby players, rock climbers, crossfitters, Amercian football players and various others. The farmers carry is great for improving lower and upper body strength and in particular is great grip strength builder, a very much neglected aspect of training. Such a movement is great for mixed martial artists, wrestlers, judokas, Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners, rugby players, strongman, crossfitters and rock climbers. These are just a few of many examples of how different carry variations can provide sport-specific benefits, that many other common lifts fail to train as adequately.
UTENSILS
Below is a lost of various different utensils that can be used for various different carry variations. Most tools can be supplemented for one another, with each tool providing a different stimulus in terms of grip and weight distribution.
- Trap bar
- Barbell
- Farmers walk implements
- Dumbbells
- Kettlebells
- Plates
- Fat grips
- Sandbags
- Barrels/drums/kegs
- Medicine balls
- Weighted Vest
- Another person
EXERCISES
| EXERCISE | MUSCLES | ADAPTATION |
|---|---|---|
| Farmers carry | Traps, forearms, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, core | grip strength, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Fat grip farmers carry | Traps, forearms, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, core | grip strength, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Single arm farmers carry | Traps, forearms, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, core | trains anti-lateral flexion, grip strength, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Trap bar carry | Traps, forearms, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, core | grip strength, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Single arm barbell carry | Traps, forearms, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, core | trains anti-lateral flexion, grip strength, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Yoke carries | upper back, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, spinal erectors, calves | anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Overhead carry | core, upper traps, deltoids, triceps, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, spinal erectors, calves | trains anti-flexion, anti-extension, shoulder joint stability, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Single arm overhead carry | core, upper traps, deltoids, triceps, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, spinal erectors, calves | trains anti-lateral flexion, anti-flexion, anti-extension, shoulder joint stability, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Dumbbell or kettlebell carry | Traps, forearms, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, core | grip strength, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Fat grip Dumbbell carry | Traps, forearms, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, core | grip strength, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Single arm Dumbbell carry | Traps, forearms, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, core | trains anti-lateral flexion, grip strength, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Fat grip single arm dumbbell carry | Traps, forearms, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, core | trains anti-lateral flexion, grip strength, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Bear hug medicine ball carry | spinal erectors, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, upper back | trains anti-extension, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Zerchers carries | spinal erectors, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, upper back | trains anti-extension, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Front rack carry | spinal erectors, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, upper back | trains anti-extension, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Goblet carry | spinal erectors, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, upper back | trains anti-extension, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Fireman carry | core, upper traps, deltoids, triceps, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, spinal erectors, calves | trains anti-flexion, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Single arm fireman carry | core, upper traps, deltoids, triceps, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, spinal erectors, calves | trains anti-lateral flexion, anti-flexion, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Sandbag carry | core, upper traps, deltoids, triceps, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, spinal erectors, calves | trains anti-flexion, anaerobic conditioning, core stability, whole body strength and muscular endurance |
| Weighted heel elevated carry | calves, forearms, traps, quariceps | trains calve strength and muscular endurance |
IMPLEMENTING CARRIES INTO PROGRAMMING
As assistance or even primary lift-
Example workout 1
| ORDER | EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | TEMPO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Deadlifts | 3 | 5 | 2:0:1 |
| B | Heavy fat grip dumbbell carry | 3 | 20m | - |
| C | Heavy bearhug medicine ball carry | 3 | 50m | - |
Example workout 2
| ORDER | EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | TEMPO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Yoke carry | 4 | 20m | - |
| B | T-bar row | 4 | 8 | 3:0:1 |
| C | Single arm dumbbell row | 4 | 8 | 3:0:1 |
As a finisher-
Example workout 1
| ORDER | EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | TEMPO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | DB bench press | 3 | 8 | 4:0:2 |
| A2 | Inverted row | 3 | 8 | 4:0:2 |
| B1 | Overhead press | 3 | 8 | 4:0:2 |
| B2 | Wide prone grip pull-ups | 3 | 8 | 4:0:2 |
| C | Farmer’s carry | 1 | 3 minutes | - |
Example workout 2
| ORDER | EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | TEMPO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Front squat | 3 | 8 | 4:0:2 |
| B | Reverse Lunges | 3 | 8 | 4:0:2 |
| C | Romanian deadlift | 3 | 8 | 4:0:2 |
| D1 | Weighted calf raises | 3 | 15 | 3:0:2 |
| D2 | Weighted heel elevated carry | 3 | 1 minute | - |
Carry centric sessions-
Example workout 1
| ORDER | EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | TEMPO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Trap bar carry | 4 | 25m | - |
| B | Zercher carry | 4 | 25m | - |
| C | Overhead DB carry | 4 | 25m | - |
Example workout 2
| ORDER | EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | TEMPO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Single arm farmers carry | 3 | 20m each side | - |
| B | Single arm overhead carry | 3 | 20m each side | - |
| C | Single arm firemen carry | 3 | 20m each side | - |