Walk the Talk: The Farmer’s Walk

Have you ever marvelled at a farmer’s body, his chiselled abs and pumped up arms? The fact that they don’t spend hours inside a gymnasium to achieve makes it even more admirable. The good news is that their workout regime has been decoded and turned into one of the most talked about fitness fads. In simple words, all you need to do is pick up some heavy weights and start walking as far as you can. And repeat.

It is one of the most functional forms of exercise that efficiently works on major group of muscles in the body. While there are numerous variations of how you must hold the weight, principally, you should hold some heavy weights and walk for a particular time or distance.

Read FHM India in the digital libraryEvery issue, every shoot, on TCG Media.

This act of carrying hefty objects for a certain amount of time or expanse facilitates in building strength that makes it almost effortless to perform various day-to-day tasks such as carrying groceries to the house. Moving the body with supplementary weight necessitates you to employ the muscles in your arms, abs, lats, quads, glutes, hamstrings and calves in order to support the weight while upholding an erect position.

This training helps in building muscle incredibly fast, reduces body fat, upsurges strength and performance in the big lifts and leaves you with very less peril of injury. Holding a pair of heavyweight dumbbells, kettlebells or other weights in each hand will mount grip strength.

Another great value of the Famer’s Walk is its positive effects on your posture. If you are using a conventional variation, the heaviness of the implement will assist in breaking up the anxiety levels in the traps and also the upper back, thus getting your shoulders back into a more natural position.

There are different variations that can be incorporated in your daily workout schedule.

Standard Farmers Walk

This variation is effective in case you want to target your abs, lats and glutes. All you need to do is, hold two hefty barbells, dumbbells or kettlebells (that will need more steadiness and will work your muscles even harder) and carry them down at your sides. While you hold the weights, ensure that you are standing in an upright position with your glutes and abs engaged and your lat muscles locked in.

This variation should be performed anywhere from 20 to 70 yards depending on your programming and training. Start with a fixed distance. Learner’s should stop, rest, and replicate. In an advanced level, lifters should turn around and start walking back, this additional effort will pay off exponentially for your grip strength.

Overhead Farmer’s Carry

To To involve your lats and abs more, you can do the overhead Farmer’s Walk. Start by using a pair of dumbbells or kettlebells and get them to the overhead position. The weights need to be fixed directly over your shoulders, and you must lock your lat muscles down and support your stomach muscles. This variation can be worked for a detailed distance or time frame. While you carry weights above your head, it’s vital for you to move gradually, keep your emphasis on one point ahead of you, and involve your core muscles to aid in keeping your stability.

If you ever feel as though the weight is unbalanced, bring down the weight and cut the amount of mass you use till the movement feels more normal to you. Time interval can be one minute of Farmer’s Walk, 30 seconds rest and 30 yards replicating it three times.

Single Arm Side-Loaded Farmer’s Carry

To engage your obliques prominently, try your hands on this variation. It is more or less similar to the Standard Farmer’s Walk, but instead of holding a weight in each hand, you should hold a weight in only one hand. By loading only a single body side, your oblique on the reverse side is required to work harder in order to keep the body in a straight position in spite of the uneven weight distribution. Attempt working this variation on a time interval of one minute per side with 30 seconds of rest in between or for an exact distance for each side.

Staggered Carry

The staggered carry needs two kettlebells. Place one in a strict rack position, while the other should be placed in an old-style farmers walk position. Uphold this position during your whole Farmer’s Walk course. When you reach the end, you need to switch hands and repeat.

Sandbag Suicide

This variation is focused on the aerobic ability than grip asset. This loaded carry includes the placement of a sandbag over your shoulder. Set up a twenty yard course and mark off five yard increments. To begin with, start running towards the first five yard marker, the moment you reach, you must turn around and run backwards to the point you started from. Rest and Repeat.

There are numerous ways you can load the body in a farmer’s carry, and each variation of load placement will undoubtedly help in engaging diverse muscle groups in different ways. Irrespective of the variations you choose, you will get a great workout and will also make daily chores much easier.

From the April 2018 issue of FHM India.