Exercise “Farmer's Walk”: description, technique. Exercises for all muscle groups. Farmer's Walk: What is this exercise and should you include it in your program Key points to pay attention to

One of the universal exercises that can be done even with weights,
even with dumbbells, even with a sandbag or anything else, it’s called farmer's walk. Its fundamental difference from other exercises with weights is the constant movement.

It is believed that movement under load (and the farmer's walk is one of
options) develops useful, applied strength of the whole body and improves
general physical condition.

Squats,
Presses and deadlifts make you stronger, but at the same time that’s not all that
needed to achieve athleticism. In addition to strength, there is also coordination and,
so to speak, “awareness of your body.” Farmer's Walk
helps to develop not only strength, but also these qualities.

I'll tell you
Honestly, I haven’t fully tried this exercise yet. I turn it on
periodically in training, but in order to fully penetrate
program, I don’t have enough free space (I study at home) –
so that you can just go forward, and not make a turn in a circle through
step. 50 meters of straight path.

So, before moving on to the practical part, we list the advantages of the exercise:

Endurance

Work on the core muscles

Strengthening joints

Strengthening your grip

The ability to use a larger weight kettlebell in training (which you cannot yet use in other exercises)

Features of a farmer's walk with weights

Unlike other implements with which the farmer's walk is performed,
weights are more variable in their position in space. Basic option
Farmer's walks are performed with kettlebells (or one) in lowered hands.

Farmer's walk - the main option

Take 2 weights that are heavy enough for you. You should be in
able to maintain correct body position with them. Perform a suitcase row,
chest raised - and start walking forward (or in circles, if the room
small). As you move, your breathing quickens and your heart pumps.
more intense, and the grip weakens. In the end there will be 2 thoughts left: “If only
I can’t unclench my fingers” and “I just need to take a couple more steps.” It's not just anymore
training the body, but also mental concentration.

The Farmer's Walk with a Single Kettlebell, although it seems easier, requires more
turning on the muscles so that your posture remains correct and you walk along
straight.

How to properly include a farmer's walk in your training and 2 sets of exercises - in the next article

In bodybuilding, there are a large number of exercises that are aimed at developing certain muscle groups. Basic exercises are a must and will help prepare the body for more complex movements. One of them is the Farmer's Walk exercise.

Target muscle group

This exercise is aimed at developing the muscles of the forearms, since it is these muscles that hold the projectiles. In fact, the farmer's walk is a basic full-body exercise.

During its execution, in addition to the forearms, other muscles also act:

• Buttocks, thigh muscles, and lower legs. Due to the fact that during this exercise the athlete moves with additional weight, the leg muscles experience additional physical stress, and therefore also develop.
• Abs and lower back. These small muscle groups act as stabilizers. And with the Farmer's Walk exercise, walking is carried out with weights, which requires additional stabilization and coordination, which entails the development of the core.
• Traps and shoulders. Holding the projectiles occurs not only due to the forearms, but also due to the muscles of the trapezius and shoulders. The greater the weight of the weight, the better you can pump up your muscles.

Execution Rules

Proper technique for performing the Farmer's Walk exercise will ensure maximum benefits. You need to carefully read the rules so that when you go to the gym, you can pump up your muscles as effectively as possible. Let's look at the technique:

• You should choose the right weight of the equipment with which the exercise will be performed. Weight is calculated as follows: 60% of your own body weight. That is, if an athlete weighs 80 kg, then the optimal weight of the projectiles will be 48 kg.

• Now you need to choose what equipment you will use to perform the Farmer’s Walk exercise. It can be very different: from dumbbells to barbells.

It should be taken into account that when moving with barbells in your hands, your forearms will be pumped more thoroughly, since stabilizer muscles will be used to balance long implements. You can also use weights.

• The selected equipment of the required weight should be placed next to each other at a distance slightly greater than the width of the person’s body.
• You need to stand between the shells and firmly grasp them with your hands. For convenience and greater efficiency, you can use chalk or sports magnesium so that the weight does not slip off your hands.
• Holding the handles, you need to move forward in small steps. You can pre-determine the distance you need to walk. It’s even better to move around until you feel a burning sensation in your muscles.

• After completing the “Farmer's Walk” exercise, you need to put on weights and rest for 2-3 minutes.
• There is another technique of execution. Having taken the shells, you can simply stand still if you do not want to put stress on your legs. Here the load is deliberately placed on the muscles of the arms and core.

Exercise area

This exercise for all muscle groups is suitable for any person who monitors their body shape. As already mentioned, the “Farmer’s Walk” perfectly pumps up almost all the muscles, which means it correctly forms an athletic body.

This movement is very popular in bodybuilding and weightlifting. Athletes separately pump up the muscles of the forearms so that when performing other exercises they can concentrate on the target muscle, and not on holding the apparatus.

For example, the deadlift requires a strong grip because you have to lift heavy weights. However, this exercise is not intended to increase grip strength, but pumps up other muscle groups. And in order to work individual muscles, you need strong forearms to hold the projectile for a long time.

For bodyweight exercises, the Farmer's Walk exercise is also great. For example, when doing pull-ups on a bar, the forearms play a major role, as they hold the entire body in a hanging position. When training the back and biceps, a strong grip is required to keep the body on the bar the entire time the target muscle groups are working.

The essence of the name

When you pronounce the name of the exercise, you immediately imagine a person involved in agriculture. And this is no coincidence, because even an ordinary person living in a village can perform this exercise. Housework is known to require a lot of effort, such as carrying buckets of water. This activity is similar in description to the Farmer’s Walk exercise. If you hold buckets of water in your hands, the muscles of your forearms work no less than when holding weights or dumbbells of the same weight. This is why a farmer can train his hands simply by doing housework.

Pros of classes

Based on the above information, we can deduce the main advantages of performing the exercise:

1. The Farmer's Walk is a basic exercise that will tone your forearms and make other movements easier.
2. You can use weights, dumbbells, and barbells in the gym as weights. At home, buckets of water or other weights are perfect. Ordinary bottles filled with water with handles can also be an alternative.
3. Exercise for all muscle groups. When holding projectiles, the forearms act. When walking, the main work is done by the leg muscles. The abdominal and lower back muscles stabilize the body. This way you can improve your overall body strength.
4. Stimulates muscle growth and fat burning. When lifting extra weight, testosterone is produced, which has an anabolic effect on muscles and also helps burn fat. The Farmer's Walk is no exception, so this exercise can be safely used to gain muscle mass.
5. Increased endurance. This activity helps not only to increase the strength of the forearms, but also to pump up the ligaments, which entails an increase in overall endurance.

Contraindications

Although this exercise brings invaluable benefits, there are a number of contraindications in which this exercise should be avoided:

1. Damage to the shoulder girdle. This item can include sprains, shoulder injuries and other problems. As already mentioned, the Farmer's Walk exercise involves the shoulders, so if this part of the body is damaged, it is not recommended to perform this exercise.
2. Problems with the vestibular system. Although weight bearing is a static exercise, walking is a dynamic exercise, so Farmer's Walk is not recommended for people with poor coordination.
3. Heart problems. In principle, it is not recommended to engage in sports for people with cardiovascular diseases. Physical activity primarily affects the heart muscle, so it should be excluded so as not to harm the main organ.

Complex classes

To achieve the best results, you can use this exercise in combination with other movements aimed at working other muscle groups. This will help improve the body's endurance, as well as provide additional stress to the body. An example of a leg workout might look like this:

1. Barbell squats - 3 sets of 10 reps.
2. Deadlift - 2 sets of 8 reps.
3. Leg press - 3 sets of 12 reps.
4. Farmer's Walk - 2 sets of 60 seconds.

Conclusion

The article discussed the main execution techniques, advantages, and contraindications. It turned out that the “Farmer's Walk” exercise develops.

In conclusion, it should be said that training should be carried out without fanaticism. It is necessary to select the right load so as not to harm your health, because it is the most important thing!

Let’s look at an undeservedly forgotten, but no less effective, complex exercise called the “farmer’s walk.”

What muscles work

The core muscles receive the main load:

• press;
• small of the back;
• buttocks.

The quadriceps are directly involved in the movement. Indirectly involved:

• deltoids;
• trapezoid;
• muscles of the forearms and hands.

Benefits and contraindications

The farmer's walk exercise involves moving heavy implements from one place to another.

Due to its strength nature, the main advantage of the element is stimulation of the production of testosterone - the hormone responsible for muscle growth throughout the body, increasing strength and reducing body fat.

Therefore, the farmer's walk is used by strongmen - athletes participating in extreme power sports. The exercise also has other advantages that bodybuilders and crossfitters will appreciate:

• Strengthening your grip. The Farmer's Walk has a positive effect on forearm muscle development and hand strength, which is useful in other strength elements, such as the deadlift.
• Working out the central part of the body. The core muscles are involved in all movements of the athlete, helping him overcome heavy weights. If you want to progress in basic exercises, do the farmer's walk.
• Muscle growth. Long-term force exposure during “farmer” walking promotes hypertrophy of muscle fibers. Increased hormonal levels help restore muscles, add mass and volume.
• Improved body balance. When performing the exercise, the small muscles responsible for stabilization and coordination work. This develops the athlete's mobility and sense of balance.
• Increased endurance. Exercise helps strengthen not only the muscles, but also the ligaments of the legs, arms, and back. The athlete becomes less susceptible to force loads.

The farmer's walk involves holding and moving heavy implements at the same time. This means that the exercise has a negative effect on the lumbar spine and knees. Therefore, the element is contraindicated for athletes with pathologies of the musculoskeletal system.

You should also be careful about “farmer walking” when:

• shoulder sprain;
• disruption of the vestibular apparatus;
• serious diseases of the cardiovascular system.

Technique

The exercise uses various equipment:

• special beams with handles;
• weights;
• unusual options: bags, buckets and even live pigs (yes, just like on a farm).

The farmer's walk is not performed with a loaded bar on the shoulders, as this creates a dangerous compressive load on the spine and can lead to a fall.

Trained athletes sometimes do a walk with one dumbbell in their hand. This technique allows you to specifically load the oblique abdominal muscles.

1. Each dumbbell should equal 20% of the athlete's body weight.
2. The athlete takes such equipment that he can hold while walking for 35–40 seconds.

Technique:

1. Squat down and clasp the dumbbell bars with your palms.
2. Keeping your back straight, rise up.
3. Take short steps forward.
4. After walking 30–40 meters, stop, turn around and repeat the passage.

• When you squat behind dumbbells, maintain a bend in the lumbar region. This will protect you from injury when lifting heavy equipment.
• Don't lower your chin to your chest. Otherwise, after some time, the upper back will involuntarily “round out.”
• Do not place your feet wider than your shoulders, otherwise the dumbbells will touch your thighs. This will make it difficult to perform and may cause the projectile to fall.
• Bend your legs slightly as you move. Walking with straight limbs as a farmer puts dangerous stress on the knee joints.
• Keep your back vertical. Do not lean forward when moving - this may cause you to fall.
• Avoid rocking. When moving with a “farmer’s” step, try to minimize the sideways tilt of your body.

If you're working out at home, try doing a farmer's stair walk. To perform this, you will need light dumbbells (6–10 kg) or improvised items (for example, two two-liter bottles of water or two identical backpacks filled with books). Take a load in each hand, go out into the entrance and climb 5 steps up 3-4 floors. This way you can effectively load the muscles of your legs and buttocks.

Training complexes

In CrossFit, the farmer's walk is a basic exercise that can replace other lower-body strength elements: squats, lunges, leg presses. We offer two WOD programs using “farmer” walking. The first is called "Lavier":

• Push the barbell from the chest up - 5 times (43 kg).
• Raising the knees to the elbows in a hanging position on the horizontal bar - 15 times.
• Farmer's walk - 150 m (dumbbells weigh 32.5 kg each).

The program is performed in 5 circles. The goal is to minimize pauses in order to complete the workout as quickly as possible.

The second version of the CrossFit class is “Weston”:

• Rowing machine work - distance 1000 m.
• Farmer's walk - 200 m (dumbbells weigh 20 kg each).
• Walking while holding a dumbbell above your head with your right hand - 50 m (20 kg).
• The same walk, but with the left hand - 50 m (20 kg).

The program involves performing 5 circles. As in the first case, it is necessary to complete the lesson as quickly as possible.

In bodybuilding, you need to regularly change your training plan, as the muscles adapt to monotonous exercises, and results stagnate. We suggest using “farmer’s” walking to create an unusual load for the muscles of the legs and buttocks. The program might look like this:

• Working out the calf muscles in a vertical machine - 4x25.
• Farmer's walk - 4x50 (dumbbell weight - 30 kg each).
• Leg press - 3x12–15.
• Extensions in the quadriceps machine - 3x15.
• Curls in the hamstring machine - 3x15.
• Ab crunches on an incline bench - 4x20.

If the gym is small, do the farmer's walk for a while. Take dumbbells in your hands, take 10 steps, turn around and repeat in the opposite direction. Continue for 40 seconds (4 sets).

Learn how strength athletes develop overall strength and lay the foundation for maximum muscle growth and functionality.

The content of the article:

The topic of this article is the Farmer's Walk exercise. From it you can learn about the technique of performing the movement and get acquainted with various nuances. This exercise with an unusual name is familiar to most women, although they most often do not realize it. It so happens that it is women who most often visit stores, and when they carry two bags of groceries, this is where the similarity with the exercise we are considering today is observed.

Benefits of Farmer's Walk Exercise

Here are the main advantages of this movement:

• Increases endurance.
• Leg muscles develop.
• The strength of the core muscles increases and the muscular corset of the spinal column is strengthened.
• The secretion of somatotropin accelerates.
• The amount of energy consumed increases.
• Coordination is developing.
• Can be done anywhere.

How to perform the Farmer's Walk exercise correctly?

Take short but quick steps and move in a straight line, using proper breathing. The distance for one walk is most often from 25 to 50 meters. Having reached the finish line of this distance, it is necessary to lower the sports equipment to the ground. After that, turn around and do everything again in the opposite direction. In one lesson you should perform from 5 to 10 such walks, without pausing between them.

Tips for athletes when performing the Farmer's Walk exercise

For example, you weigh 80 kilograms, then the weight of each projectile should be 20 kilograms. Do not use long steps, but try to mince at a medium pace. It is also necessary to ensure that your shoulders do not round and your head is always directed forward. Probably, at first the farmer's walk exercise will be quite difficult for you, and in this case you can perform from 2 to 4 “walks” lasting 30 seconds. Gradually you will need to increase the number of sets and increase the weight of the equipment.

When scientists studied this exercise, they found that this is one of the best complex movements that can evenly load a large number of muscles. As a result, you not only improve your physical performance, but also expend more energy. Also note that the farmer's walk exercise is competitive in the Strongmen discipline.

This movement can be called safe. The only exception is if the athlete has scoliosis or weak back muscles. In this case, you first need to focus on strengthening the muscular frame of the spinal column and only then can you begin to perform this movement.

Also remember that using heavy weight will pull you forward, causing your back and shoulders to round. This can cause injury and you need to choose the right weight. We have already talked about how to do this above.

This movement engages the muscles of the legs, back and shoulder girdle, which no other exercise can do. All this will lead to a powerful release of the male hormone. If you take long steps, this can cause severe overload on your joints and tendons. This may result in injury.

If you lower your head down, you will reduce the load on the trapezius, but on the contrary, you will increase the load on the spinal column. Look straight ahead and don't lower your head.

Mikhail Koklyaev performs the farmer's walk exercise in the following video:

It has its own characteristics and brings very obvious advantages compared to other sets of exercises:

• The athlete becomes more resilient;
• The leg muscles develop very well and gain strength and mass;
• The muscle corset becomes more developed;
• The deltoid muscles of the shoulder region from the top are perfectly enlarged;
• Grip strength becomes more developed;
• Growth hormone gets stimulated;
• This exercise makes it possible to overcome plateaus in training;
• Calorie consumption becomes very high;
• Coordination is developed to the maximum;
• The training is relevant for doing at home.

INCREASING THE NUMBER OF GRIP EXERCISES

Finally, the advanced grip training program differs from the beginner program in that experienced dinosaurs do two, three, or even four different grip exercises each workout. For beginners who are just starting to train their grip, this volume will be excessive. But an experienced grip master cannot do without such volume. Why? Because you need to use all the muscles in your fingers, palms, wrists and forearms. Advanced lifters should combine specialized grip exercises (such as single- or double-finger deadlifts) with compound exercises (such as thick-bar deadlifts or thick-bar power holds) that develop the forearms as a whole.

In practice, you will do one type of deadlift, one specialized finger or wrist exercise, one type of elbow curl (regular curl, reverse curl, or hammer curl), and one other exercise of your choice. You can do different exercises at each workout. The idea is to develop maximum strength in every finger, including the thumbs, wrists and the entire length of the forearms, so that you are strong in all movements that use the hand - elbow curls, power holds, lever exercises and every other exercise you'll ever need to do for your forearms, wrists, and grip.

Imagine how many different movements you can make with your fingers - up, down, left, right, clockwise, counterclockwise. Now try moving your wrists in the same way - left, right, up, down, clockwise, counterclockwise. What about your thumbs? See how they move - up, down, left, right, clockwise, counterclockwise. What about the forearms? See what different positions you can hold them in when doing biceps curls - supinated, pronated, you can do crow's feet, or you can hold them with your thumbs up. To train your grip, you can use handles with a variety of diameters. You can use a pinch grip to lift weights attached to a coin or a handle with a diameter of 3 inches or less. For any grip exercise, you can do singles, reps, or timed holds. Exercises for the forearms, wrists, hands and fingers are truly endless. Even if you include three or four exercises in each workout, you will NOT overtrain.

Arthur Jones once remarked (I'm paraphrasing here a little, but the point is this) that "we cannot imagine how strong our hands and fingers can be if the muscles of the hands, fingers and forearms are developed to the limit." These words are worth remembering for every dinosaur. Your goal, like a dinosaur, is very simple: over the course of several years, diligently train your hands, forearms, wrists, increase the strength of all muscle groups to the limit - and you will become the owner of a grip that will awe everyone you know. Turn your hands into steel pincers. Let your grip be like a vice. Let the strength of your hands, forearms, wrists and fingers challenge all notions of human capabilities.

I don't invent anything new. I discover the forgotten.
~August Rodin

When there is nothing to do, why live?
~Sir Winston Churchill

ATHLETE.RU 1999-2019

How to do the Crazy Walk exercise

In principle, the “Crazy Walk” exercise can be performed even while sitting. No need to stress too much, do what works for you!

For some people

• hands are always icy,
• others have constipation,
• or regular dizziness,
• weakness in legs
• some don't sleep soundly,
• or experience a feeling of tightness in the chest, lack of air...

There are a lot of symptoms that can be described... Now we will learn a simple way to get rid of these troubles at once. The method is quite unusual, but interesting.

Here's what we'll do: first, we'll pretend to be completely powerless, tired, as if we got up in the middle of the night. We haven’t fully woken up yet, we are half asleep, we haven’t eaten anything for two days, and our legs are tied in a bag.

If you manage to imagine and depict this, consider that you have already mastered the exercise by 80%.

Now we start running in the bag. (Just don't actually tie your legs, just imagine that there is a bag on your legs.) It is very difficult to move your legs, they are heavy and do not obey us. We raise our leg a little, and again lower it heavily to the ground.

You want to stop and take a breath, but others are pushing you from behind, forcing you to drag yourself forward. The whole body shakes with every heavy step, trembles involuntarily. The arms dangle limply along the body, or you can join them behind the back, but the palms are absolutely powerless.

Focus all your attention on the front of your feet. You need to imagine how hard it is for you to move your legs, as if you have to pull them out of concrete

Remember the main thing, the key point of the exercise: you don’t need to actually strain your muscles, you only need to strain your imagination.

Imagine that iron weights are dragging along the ground, behind your legs, weights, and not your legs, like a hammer breaking through the ground. The most appropriate comparison is for the legs - they are in a state of freely falling body.

This exercise will help relax the whole body, blood and energy will flow freely to the feet. The Kidney channel on the feet is reached, which will help quickly replenish the energy level in the kidneys.

The channels of the Liver and Spleen run along the front of the feet; in addition, there are reflex zones of almost all internal organs. So the exercise stimulates all internal organs.

Positive effect of exercise

The exercise works almost the same as the “Golden Rooster standing on one leg” exercise, but it also helps get rid of swelling. This exercise combines movement and relaxation and is beneficial for both body and spirit. “In movement there is peace, as if the wind shakes the willows, in peace there is movement, as if the moon illuminates the floating clouds.”

Coordination of the imagination and all movements of the body is an effective way to nourish the heart and treat the root of the disease. Walk 500 meters in the morning with such a gait that it will take no more than 10 minutes, but your mood and well-being will change for the better, and your feet will stop freezing, isn’t this an incentive to try?

I offer only a sketch; when you start doing the exercise, you yourself will feel what the essence of the method is, feel its effect on yourself. The more we believe in ourselves, the more creative impulses and insights we have. I am sure that every person has the ability to have intuitive insights, but we often think that this is from the realm of fantasy.

But when others give us an example, they seem to light the way for us, we begin to appreciate these insights and try to follow them. In fact, this exercise can be done even while sitting. Or lying down... You shouldn’t strain yourself too much, the main thing is to imagine everything in your head.

Zheng Fuzhui “The best doctor is yourself”

Benefits of the Farmer's Walk exercise

In its structure, this fitness element is basic, multi-joint, since in the process of execution it involves several joints and muscle groups at once. The load falls on the muscles and joints of the legs, lower back, back and chest of the athlete, and the shoulder blades and collarbones are also included in the work. Due to the large coverage of muscle groups, the exercise helps:

• develop endurance;
• strengthen and increase muscle volume;
• increase the athlete’s strength indicators;
• form a strong muscle corset;
• stimulate the production of somatotropic hormone (growth hormone);
• consume more energy (speeds up metabolism);
• improve coordination of movements and the vestibular apparatus.

The main advantage of the exercise is its accessibility: it can be performed in any conditions. In the gym they use special dumbbells and barbells; at home, you can use improvised objects as weights.

Grab and drag What is a farmer's walk and why everyone needs it

Farmer's walk, also known as the “hell walk”, or “take it and drag it.” This exercise can develop the muscles of the whole body and make a person devilishly strong.

"KV" has compiled a guide to the "farmer's walk" - a forgotten movement that today has triumphantly returned to fitness.

What is a Farmer's Walk?

A “farmer’s walk” is an exercise in which an athlete walks with weights in his hands for a time or distance. Strongmen and CrossFitters perform farmer's walks with bars that have special handles. Often athletes do it with a trap reef, a car tire, or using a special platform that you can stand inside. But the value of the “farmer’s walk” is that you can use any weights as a load. Weights, dumbbells, barbells will do, and if you don’t have those, then buckets, canisters or large containers with sand or water may be a good option. Anything that is heavy and can be carried in your hands is suitable for a “farmer’s walk”.

What effect will the “farmer's walk” have?

Brooks Kubik, a US bench press champion and strength training specialist, called the "farmer's walk" one of the most effective exercises invented by man. “Its regular implementation makes a person massive and devilishly strong,” wrote Kubik.

Carrying weights in your hands develops the muscles of the upper and lower body at the same time. A large load falls on the muscles of the shoulder girdle, the muscles of the core (torso), lower legs, buttocks and thighs.

“Farmer's Walk” provokes increased production of testosterone in the body - this provides a stimulus for muscle growth. It increases grip strength, which is why it is often included in the training program of armlifters and functional training specialists. It gives you strong lower back muscles that can help you lift weights in squats and deadlifts. “In other words, if you want to look like a real animal, then the farmer's walk is the exercise for you,” sums up Brooks Kubik.

If the “farmer's walk” is so effective, why was it forgotten for a long time?

The end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries is called the “era of isolation” in strength training. At this time, training programs came into fashion that emphasized working the muscles with isolated exercises with medium weights and a high number of repetitions. These techniques became popular thanks to professional bodybuilders who “punched” muscles with supersets and targeted loads, almost without using basic exercises.

However, there is an opinion that this style of training is ineffective for natural athletes. To grow muscles, they need weight progression and compound exercises that work multiple muscle groups at once. The Farmer's Walk is one of them. At first, strongmen began to use it in their training. And later, crossfitters adopted it: they included the “farmer’s walk” as part of circuit training. So this exercise became popular again.

How to do the Farmer's Walk correctly

The key point of the exercise is picking up the apparatus from the floor. In terms of technique, it resembles a deadlift: you need to tense your back, make a slight bend in the lower back. When taking the projectile, move your pelvis back. Rise with the apparatus like this: until the apparatus is at knee level, the legs are extended, then (but not before!!!) the torso is straightened. Don't round your back, don't slouch your shoulders, don't lower your head. When walking, try to squeeze your shoulder blades together as much as possible.

The second important point is maintaining balance. When walking with weights, avoid swaying and distorting your body. This is fraught with injury. Keep your torso muscles tense. The step is medium.

The Farmer's Walk can be done by walking in a straight line. Or you can go around obstacles with weights, make turns and zigzags. When turning, avoid tilting your body to the sides.

How to include a “farmer's walk” in your training

A variation on using the Farmer's Walk in circuit training might look like this: Do 5 rounds of 10 dumbbell presses, 12 jumping jacks (or standing knee raises), 12 leg raises, and dumbbell farmer's walks 15 meters to 15 meters. back. You can also combine the Farmer's Walk with any other exercise.

If you're a bodybuilder doing standard sets, do a farmer's walk at the end of your leg, back, or shoulder workout—after squats, deadlifts, or shrugs. At each workout, increase the weight of the dumbbells or the distance you need to walk with them - this will make the “farmer's walk”, an exercise of strongmen of the past, more effective.

Attention! Before starting training, consult your doctor!

Based on materials from: www.sovsport.ru

Farmer's walk – FixBody sports, bodybuilding, fitness, workout, crossfit, motivation

From the point of view of biomechanics, we have a cyclic movement. Strongmen call it locomotor. It is worth noting that this load evenly develops all the muscles involved in walking, namely: gluteal muscles, quadriceps, hamstrings, core muscles, abs, back extensors, latissimus, trapezius, abductor muscles, serratus posterior, and of course – forearms. So it turns out that the “farmer” is one of the best basic exercises, which can be compared in effectiveness to squats or deadlifts.

We, bodybuilders, are not particularly interested in the “strong” standards; we only want to get real benefits from such a seemingly simple exercise. In bodybuilding, ordinary dumbbells are used instead of standard equipment. As a result, we get the simplest movement - a farmer's walk with two dumbbells.

Execution technique

Stand straight with your feet hip-width apart. Give your back a natural curve. Hold the dumbbells with your arms down. Try to grip the handles as tightly as possible so that your forearms receive the load from the first seconds of movement. Straighten your shoulders and lift your chest up. Direct your gaze straight ahead. Slightly squeeze your shoulder blades together and begin to take small, even steps with powerful, dynamic efforts. Try to add pace as you cover the distance.

Pre-select the longest trajectory that your gym will allow. Breathing plays one of the key roles. If the weight of the dumbbells is large, which it should be, then breathing will be quite difficult. Here it is necessary to borrow the technique from strongman. They are taught to “walk” with weights, small inhalations and exhalations, which are performed every two steps.

Many athletes do not take this exercise into account. They feel like a farmer's walk doesn't give the same results. It's safe to say that this thinking is wrong. Performing a movement correctly with a really heavy weight will force your body to engage all the muscles in your body. It is worth noting that in nature there are no similar movements that can equally load the shoulder girdle, back muscles and legs. Such a wide range of work groups causes the body to spend and produce record amounts of testosterone, which means a farmer's walk can give you muscle mass throughout your body.

Separately, I would like to mention the step technique. Never use a wide stride, as this will significantly overload the tendons and joints of the legs. After all, in fact, during a long step, you transfer all the weight to one limb, and this is quite traumatic. This is why it is recommended to take many small but quick steps.

In addition to all of the above, it is necessary to specify the position of the head. During the exercise, you will probably want to lower your chin to your chest. The fact is that this is how the body tries to relieve the trapezius muscles from the load. In addition, as soon as you touch your chest with your chin, your back will immediately round, and all the incoming load will become unnatural. This type of exercise will eventually cause either osteochondrosis or spondyloarthrosis. We recommend that you master the movement with light weights. Observe your reflection in the mirror. Make sure your back doesn't round or lean forward when walking before moving on to heavier weights.

A little trick is to grip the dumbbells. For heavy sets, grab them from the back edge so that the implements lean forward. This will facilitate the technique using inertial force.

Farmers walk

Today we will tell you about the CrossFit exercise Farmer’s walk.

The benefits and harms of exercise

What can be said about the benefits of the farmer's walk exercise? The muscles of the legs and abs work in a balanced manner, the load is evenly distributed between the muscles of the abs, thighs, legs and feet. At the same time, all of the listed muscle groups work in a single “bundle”, mutually complementing and reinforcing each other. After a farmer's walk, an ordinary walk will seem something indescribably light to you - the weight of your own body will cease to be felt by at least half.

But where there are pros, there are also cons. The downside is the risk of injury in the lumbar spine. During walking, the articulation between the pelvis and the spine actively works, and rotational movement occurs in the vertebrae of the lumbar spine. This type of mutual movement of the vertebrae is not very useful and is limited by the powerful ligamentous apparatus of the spine. By picking up weights, we repeatedly increase the load on this ligamentous apparatus and increase the risk of injury. The solution is to avoid the farmer's walk during the first years of active CrossFit training until you acquire a strong core, or use a weightlifting belt. The first option is preferable, since the belt will in any case remove some of the load from the abdominal muscles, especially the obliques, and the extensor spinae.

Exercise technique

There are several variations of the farmer's walk exercise, namely with dumbbells, kettlebells or other weight options.

With dumbbells

We take weights from the floor.

• The lower back is arched and fixed;
• The shoulder blades are retracted;
• Hands at your sides.

Without bending your lower back, bend your knees and hip joints and take dumbbells in your hands. When using dumbbells of significant weight, you can use bands - this will allow you to cover a greater distance, but will take the load off the finger flexor muscles. Another option for “lightening” the hand is a closed “overlapping” grip, when the thumb rests on the bar of the dumbbell, the rest covers it and firmly fixes it to the apparatus.

And so, the weight is in the hands, the shoulder blades are brought together, the back is straight. Knees slightly bent, feet shoulder-width apart. We take the first step; the heel is placed on an imaginary line running from the toe. This way the steps are short. You are unlikely to cover even a short distance too quickly, thereby ensuring sufficient time for the muscles to be under load. A short step is also taken to reduce the range of motion in the lumbar vertebrae and hip joint, the most vulnerable to compression loads. Throughout the farmer’s walk, the body is kept level, the shoulders are moved slightly forward, the trapezius muscle seems to be spread across the upper shoulder girdle.

With weights

Initial position:

• Feet shoulder width apart;
• The back is straight;
• There is a deflection in the lower back;
• The arms are bent at the elbows, the wrists are tucked under the arms of the weights;
• The weights themselves rest on the elbow bends;
• The elbows are pressed to the chest, brought forward.

A more difficult modification of the farmer’s walk is this option: the starting position is the same, but the weights are on the shoulders, held by the fingers of the hands, the arms are bent at the elbows, the elbows are spread to the sides.

Farmer's walk up the stairs

To increase the overall intensity of the exercise, as well as increase the load on the leg and abdominal muscles, the farmer's walk can be performed on stairs. The weight is held in straightened arms, arms along the body, elbows straightened. The back is straight, the shoulders are slightly rolled forward, the upper portion of the trapezius is tense. We take a step up one step, transfer the body weight to the supporting leg, place the working leg on the upper step, and with the combined force of the quadriceps and femoral biceps, we extend the leg at the knee and hip joint. We place both legs on one step, and take the next step with the supporting leg.

You can take each step to the next step, but this will limit the time the muscles are under load and create greater mobility in the lumbosacral joint.

Complexes

This is interesting: Dumbbell swings to the sides: an exercise for developing the shoulder girdle, technique and recommendations for performing dumbbell swings to the sides

Execution technique

The exercise is quite simple to perform, but despite this, there are some features when performing it that must be fully followed in order to achieve positive results.

Most often, when performing this training, it is recommended to use a special barbell that has a handle.

But this is not so important, so dumbbells and kettlebells are suitable in this case. The shells are placed at a short distance from each other and located between them

The back should be straight.
Tighten your abdominal muscles and take a sitting position in order to take the equipment in your hands.
Then rise to a standing position as if you were pushing yourself out. Fix this position. You have to look straight ahead. This will be the starting position.
You must move forward very quickly and in short steps, while the projectiles must be on straight arms. The trajectory of movement must be in a clear straight line. Breathing during movement should be correct and even. After walking about fifty meters, the shells are placed on the floor or the ground, you turn around and come back. You need to go there back about ten times without being distracted by breaks.

As mentioned earlier, you can use various types of weights when performing this exercise.

These include:

1. Kettlebells;
2. Dumbbells;
3. Barrels;
4. Bags with groceries;
5. Fittings;
6. Logs and all other weights that are at hand in the amount of two pieces.

Benefits and contraindications

The farmer's walk exercise involves moving heavy implements from one place to another.

Therefore, the farmer's walk is used by strongmen - athletes participating in extreme power sports. The exercise also has other advantages that bodybuilders and crossfitters will appreciate:

• Strengthening your grip. The Farmer's Walk has a positive effect on forearm muscle development and hand strength, which is useful in other strength elements, such as the deadlift.
• Working out the central part of the body. The core muscles are involved in all movements of the athlete, helping him overcome heavy weights. If you want to progress in basic exercises, do the farmer's walk.
• Muscle growth. Long-term force exposure during “farmer” walking promotes hypertrophy of muscle fibers. Increased hormonal levels help restore muscles, add mass and volume.
• Improved body balance. When performing the exercise, the small muscles responsible for stabilization and coordination work. This develops the athlete's mobility and sense of balance.
• Increased endurance. Exercise helps strengthen not only the muscles, but also the ligaments of the legs, arms, and back. The athlete becomes less susceptible to force loads.

You should also be careful about “farmer walking” when:

• shoulder sprain;
• disruption of the vestibular apparatus;
• serious diseases of the cardiovascular system.

CONTINUE TO USE BASIC EXERCISES

Let's go over the previous points again. Let's start with my urgent request to continue to include basic grip exercises in your training - even if you are already an experienced athlete. You will ask why? Because with the help of basic exercises you build real strength and power, and various specialized exercises (for example, lifting weights with your fingers, working with a lever, etc.) help to finally shape your forearms and hands. If you stop doing the basic exercises altogether, you will have trouble further increasing the strength and size of your forearms, fingers, and wrists. Therefore, continue to do the "base" in your workouts, but once you feel sufficiently experienced, begin to supplement your program with more specialized exercises.

LIFTING WEIGHTS WITH ONE OR TWO FINGERS

Lifting weights with one or two fingers is an essential tool in developing maximum hand strength. There are two best ways to perform this exercise. The first is a deadlift using a mixed grip - one hand with the palm facing the body, the other with the palm away from the body. Use only your index fingers, only your middle fingers, or both. You can use a standard bar, 5 cm or 6.3 cm. If you have very large hands and powerful fingers, you might want to try a 7.5cm bar - although only people with truly gigantic hands can use such a bar with a lot of weight.

Lifting weights with one or two fingers is a very hard and brutal exercise. Doing it HURTS!!! The entire load is concentrated on two fingers and the pain can be very strong. This is why you need to go through the entire basic exercise program before attempting finger raises. This exercise is so difficult that it should be performed no more than once every ten days or two weeks. If you put too much stress on your fingers, you can be sure that you will get a sprain, and this injury will set you back at least two months.

By regularly incorporating one- or two-finger lifts into your workouts, you will one day realize that you can already hold quite a significant amount of weight this way. I like to do cleanups with a 6.3cm bar using my index and middle fingers, and I have achieved 136kg on this exercise. My training partner, Bruce Bullock, who naturally has huge hands and long, powerful fingers, lifts the same amount.

The one- and two-finger raises are also a very important exercise because they work some tendons and muscle fibers that are largely untouched by most other exercises. You will notice that lifting with one or two fingers will give you a feeling of very deep working of the muscles of the forearms

This happens because it uses muscle fibers that cannot be used by any other exercise.

Earlier I said that there are two ways to do barbell lifts with one or two fingers. I have already described the most common method above, but there is another method that I highly recommend for all dinosaurs. The company "" sells a very useful thing called "" (Eagle Loops). They are heavy-duty belts made from nylon webbing. At one end they are attached to the fingerboard, and at the other end there are four loops - one for each finger, not counting the thumb. You can train four fingers at the same time, three, two or just one - at your discretion. I like to do two-finger deadlifts using “EAGLE LOOPS” using the index and middle fingers on each hand. This is an incredibly painful exercise, but it will turn your fingers into steel pincers in no time. You can use a LOT of weight on this exercise - Bruce Bullock and I do 205kg two finger deadlifts using EAGLE LOOPS. Another useful application of EAGLE LOOPS is in various bar exercises. Try finger pull-ups - this great exercise will turn your hands into steel hooks. Again, you can train all fingers at once, or train them in any combination. EAGLE LOOPS are a GREAT tool for developing barbaric finger strength. It must be present in any basement hall where dinosaurs train.

Instructions for use

There are four variations of farmer's walks in total, and there are about seven basic movements.

1. Weight between legs

Holding a weight between your legs places special emphasis on the gluteal muscles.

Duck walk

Take the weights in your hands, bend over a little and, placing them between your legs with your arms down, stomp forward. Keep your legs slightly bent, do not round your lower back. If you don't have weights, hold a large dumbbell with both hands by the disc, positioning it vertically. The weight should be at knee level, not higher.

Important: don't look down! If you keep your eyes down while doing exercises that develop your balance, you will ruin everything. A downward gaze gives you a false sense of stability and increases stress on your lower back and knees, shifting your center of gravity forward.

So look strictly in front of you at some distant stationary object.

2. Weight on the sides

This way you can carry the heaviest shells. That’s why these exercises give unrealistic strength gains.

Farmer's walk

Pick up dumbbells, kettlebells, or even two barbells and move forward. Keep your abdominal muscles tense and bend your knees slightly. If the dumbbells in your gym are light, use a trap bar with barbell discs.

Walking with a suitcase

Take a heavy dumbbell in one hand and, trying to keep your body upright, walk forward. Walk an equal distance for your right and left hands.

3. Weight in front of you

The advantage of this variation is the additional load on the biceps and the entire posterior chain of muscles.

Zercher Walk

Place the barbell on your elbows and, holding the barbell as close to you as possible, carefully move forward. If you feel uncomfortable holding the barbell, wrap a towel around the bar.

Bear hug

Hug and hold the sandbag to you in an upright position. Instead, you can take a heavy barbell disc or just a stone. As a last resort, hold the dumbbell vertically at your chest under the upper disk - just like when doing squats with a dumbbell.

4. Weight above you

Holding a weight overhead targets the entire core and improves shoulder stability.

Army walk

Take a sandbag or barbell and lift it above the top of your head - as if doing a standing press. Keep your arms straight, legs slightly bent, and your lower back straight. You can also hold two dumbbells above you.

Inverted kettlebell

Take a weight and turn it upside down. Keep your forearm vertical and keep the angle between your shoulder and forearm straight.

How to choose a load?

How many pounds you carry and how far you carry may determine what exactly you develop with this type of training. Theoretically, “walking” can develop both strength and hypertrophy with endurance. Use these simple formulas to vary your own workouts:

Projectile weight*Distance, m

*% of your own weight

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