Loaded Carries - The Most Functional Exercise?

Loaded carries may well be one of the most functional movements you can perform in the gym and one of the best options for increasing stability, work capacity, CNS endurance, balance, gait, posture and more.

The idea is simple: you pick up a heavy object and then carry it for 400 yards or more. You can do this in numerous ways: the farmers' walk involves holding two weights on either side, the zercher carry means carrying weight infront of you in the crook of your elbows, the suitcase carry means holding weight on one side...

Either way, you're going to be using your stabilizing muscles to keep yourself balanced and this can greatly increase your general stability - awesome for wrestling and maintaining your balance. It's hugely taxing on the nervous system and is a great form of resistance cardio, which makes it excellent for increasing work capacity. PLUS it's great grip training and provides isometric holds for the traps and biceps.

What makes this so functional is simple: it's an exercise we actually USE in our daily lives. We often need to move something heavy from one side of a room to another. Whether carrying shopping, moving furniture, or wearing a rucksack.

I've got a bunch of variations for you here too!

Music Credit
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Olivaw - Chasing the Light

[Stranger_In_The_Alps]

I load bodies in and out of trunks for a mafia boss and farmers carries have really helped me to be efficient with such a task

[echobean]

I’m an Animal Control Officer and farmers walks have made me heckin amazing at picking up heavy cat cages and traps. Def recommend!

[mohamedyossef]

I am actually a farmer and farmer’s walk has been surprising beneficial to my performance in the field.

[Shorjok]

I've begun going for walks every day carrying a relatively light dumbbell in each hand - tried 3kgs today and just walking for 40 mins total definitely felt like a workout. My forearms are already noticeably more vascular after only about a week of doing this.

[mrandrade]

Good video old roman gladiator and other ancient military used a lot of loaded carries as part of their training.

[johnaugustin]

I've said for a while that loaded carries are the most "functional" weight training exercise. Very few tomes in life arebyou going to lift a heavy weight and set it right back down where it was. But quite often you will have to lift something and carry it for a distance. Strength coach Dan John said that loaded carries are the single best exercise you can do. If that's all you did you could be strong, muscular and in great shape. It really is a full body exercise. You look huge in the video by the way Mate! 💪

[Raswidr]

Now i can finally train for the grocerys!! I am going to be the best at shopping

[marcramirez]

When you don't have a car. Going to the store and coming back with a lot of groceries is is intense!

I use to walk a mile to the store and came home with a shit load of bags.

[matthewhawke]

Loaded carries are truly the best form of exercise for "chaos scenarios " or SHTF...if things get bad, it's gonna come down to how much you can carry, how you can carry it, how far you can carry it, and how quickly you can carry it.

[thursday]

While I was working at a grocery store, I saw we sold 40 lbs (18kg) bags of water softener that had handle on them, being sold for around $4 (3.13 pounds, I think. I just googled it). I bought them and now I use them for loaded carries in my backyard.

[tacticalchunder]

I don’t understand why I never see anyone in the gym doing loaded carries. They’re probably the most functional single exercise for a regular person. I always do them at the end of my sessions until my grip gives out, and always seem to get funny looks.

[KaninTuzi]

As an electric guitar player in Hong Kong I often carry my guitar in one hand and pedal board in the other for pretty long distances (HK is the city with most walking in the world). It's an amazing workout!

[citizenmattify]

Having dug out loads of earth, stones etc from my back garden a few months ago and moved it all by wheelbarrow to a skip out the front, I can attest that those loaded carries were boss. I was broken, great workout all round 😂

[yjersey]

i appreciate u being natural and real. thanks for being an honest inspiration to the rest of us.... who are on that same path.

-- Sean

[jameswoodall]

Your hint about "short" steps is spot on. Especially when making a turn. The weight keeps the momentum going and it can hurt your knees if done too quickly.

[nickslaughter]

Loaded Carries is definitely a good crossover exercise to real world everyday application!

[redbrick]

...also incredibly good for training shoulder stability. Several muscles are responsible for keeping your shoulder joint intact. They work isometrically. Biceps, triceps, deltoid, coracobrachialis, pectorals, the rotators...

[beck-tngl]

Huge fan of loaded carries. I did my own bodyweight (235) in each hand for 30 yards when I was 57. No straps of course. Zercher carries of over 300 pounds for distance.
I'm also like the Prowler/Sled push/pull and flipping tires. It's all good and it all works to build Beast strength.

[jimmy]

Carrying scaffolding too and from the truck has got me in the best shape of my life

[Simpleburger]

I love loaded carries : so many different variations, so many different pieces of equipment. All of them fab !!!