By the healthiergang writer , medical student.
Farmer Walk (Farmer Carry)
Il farmer walk o farmer carry, or more commonly said walking with weights, it is an exercise as simple as it is daily. It consists of walking while holding weights firmly in your hands, always maintaining an upright and slender posture. There are also different variations of the exercise but these will be explored in a subsequent article.
It may seem like a useless exercise, commonplace and almost no difficulty. Is this observation correct if the weights used are light but is the same statement true if you choose high weights? A good standard would be to be able to walk by 100 meters carrying a weight equivalent to that of our body. For many gym-goers this is a far enough milestone.
Postural benefits
Some professionals consider weight walking ones "Must" to be included in training programs. This consideration is due to the numerous benefits that exercise brings. First of all to keep one correct posture a constant and intense work of everything is necessary he core.
I paravertebral muscles they have to work hard to keep the spine straight, the abdominal rectum and of lumbar they have to work synergistically even if the weight is on the same axis as our center of gravity, in fact, at each step, weight shifts are created to which these muscles must respond by maintaining an isometric contraction.
- oblique they must then prevent lateral oscillations. This work is all the more intense the heavier the weight. The benefits are evident in improving posture and strengthening the entire core.
Benefits for the Trapezius and Forearms
I benefits of this exercise they do not end here: i trapezes are heavily recruited, almost exclusively the upper part of these, as their function is to raise the shoulders. The tension generated by the high weight that pulls the arms down forces them muscle bundles to work so that the shoulders do not collapse. This type of mechanical stimulus activates metabolic processes that produce chemical stimuli (mTor) whose effect is to stimulate thelocal anabolism.
It is a similar effect to what you can have when running the deadlift (classic deadlift) but in this case more accentuated because the weight is placed on the sides and the tension on the trapezes is constant. The contribution of the trapezoids in the farmer walk it begins to be noticeable if the time in which the weights are held is prolonged causing a feeling of fatigue and burning. The benefit for the forearms is undisputed: it is perhaps the best exercise that allows you to develop a firm and resistant grip.
On balance there are really many exercises that they plan to do hold the weight in your hands while performing the movement. Often in rowing or pulling movements the weak point is not in the lats or in the muscles that flex the arm but the fragile ring is our grip.
As a result, the target muscle cannot be adequately stimulated due to weakness in the forearms. Finally grab the barbell with a firm and strong grip allows a greater recruitment of muscle fibers by the central nervous system. This results in greater strength in each exercise.
Training program
La walking with weights it has also been shown to be a taxing exercise for metabolism as it causes a energy expenditure relatively high. This makes the farmer carry a very versatile exercise for both strength development and body recomposition exercises.
A practical suggestion could be to include this exercise in both its versions in your training routine. For example if you follow a classic 3-day split which involves pushing, pulling and legs movements, the proposal is as follows.
1. In push day the forearms should not be overworked. It is therefore possible to aim for loads that can be held up to a maximum of 30 seconds taking about a minute of rest between sets (3 to 5). Maybe you could take advantage of the seconds of rest for a burnout of the push muscles by doing the maximum of push-ups that you can do.
2. In legs day, since the session should already have been taxing, you can opt for lighter weights with series duration (from the 3 5) for about 1 minute while resting on 30 seconds (maybe you could use the rest to train the abdominals).
3. in days of tirade your forearms should already have been very tired.
The inclusion of this exercise, provided that the proposed times are maintained, should take little more than 5 minutes.
To discover the variations of this exercise read the second part of the article!
Good workout!
