(Farmer’s)Carry Weight Lose Fat

3 Farmer’s Carry Workouts For Improved Fat Loss

Farmer’s carries have been around since the dawn of time even before gyms were even invented and that’s a long time.  Longer than CrossFit has been around. Please just don’t tell a cross fitter.  

Anyway, you pick up one or two dumbbells/kettlebells and hold on tight and go for a weighted walk. There are lots of variations and methods when it comes to farmer’s carry, but they all have the same benefits. Which are

Improved Posture– trying to carry heavy weights in your hands with poor posture is almost impossible.

Better Breathing – It’s pretty hard to be a chest breather when you’re lugging around heavy weights in your hands.

Stronger Shoulders- your rotator cuffs and shoulder muscles are working like crazy to keep your shoulders in your sockets.  

Grip strength- which is kind of important.

But wait there’s more. When you pair carries with other exercises and then perform these at the end of your training (fat loss finisher) carries offer an extra boost to your fat loss efforts if this is your goal.

The three fat loss finisher trainings below will increase your demand for O2, known as EPOC or Excess Post Oxygen Consumption. This is a fancy term saying you need more oxygen to recover to get back to your normal baseline after a tough training or exercise. Think of it as your body’s way of playing catch up.

For every liter of oxygen, you breathe in, you will burn 5 calories. And by increasing your need for O2  you’ll enhance your fat loss efforts. (1)

And not only will they burn fat, but they will also improve your cardio too. Which is what I call a win-win.  Consider adding one of these three carry finishers to the end of your routine to burn stubborn fat. 

10-Minute Carry Combo

.Walking with an unstable load, unilaterally for 10 minutes is a challenge you’re sure to enjoy. Or not. Either way, you will burn some fat and improve your cardio.

Here Is How To Do The 10 Minute Carry

Start with one 18, 26- or 35-pound kettlebell depending on your strength level.  Then hold the kettlebell bottoms up overhead (watch the video), keep your biceps by or behind your ears, and walk. After you lose your grip, stop, and reset. After you’ve lost your grip for the second time, bring the bell into the rack position, and continue walking. Once you lose neutral wrist position or your upper back is exhausted, hold the bell suitcase style and keep on walking. Do this for a total of five minutes on each side.

Carry and Swing Combo

This combination of the swing and carry under the watchful eye of the clock will have you sucking in air in a good way.  If you don’t know how to do a kettlebell swing, you can substitute any squat exercise for the same amount of reps

How To Do The Farmer’s Carry And Swing Combo

 1A. Two-handed kettlebell swings 8-12 reps

 1B. Suitcase carry 40 yards.  

Do the two-handed kettlebell swing or squats for 8-12 reps. Then the suitcase carry in one hand for 40 yards or steps. Do another set of swings or squats and then carry on the other hand. Do one round (one carry is equal to one round) every minute on the minute.  If one round takes you 40 seconds, rest 20 seconds before you start your next round.  Do six to ten rounds (3-5 on each side) or until you feel you have had enough.

Double Kettlebell Front Squat/ Farmer’s Carry Combo

 This is a watered-down version of Dan John’s(if you don’t know who he is Google him) Eagle workout of eight kettlebell front squats and 40-yard carry for eight rounds. With this version, you’ll start at eight front squats and go down by one squat each round for a total of eight rounds.

How To Do The Double Kettlebell Front Squat/ Farmer’s Carry Combo

 Choose a pair of kettlebells depending on your strength level. Clean the bells into the rack position and then perform eight front squats. These are fun. 😊 Then unrack the bells to your sides and walk 40 yards/steps. Clean the bells up again and do seven front squats and unrack and walk 40 yards. Continue until you’re done, and the kettlebells don’t leave your hands the entire time. Don’t worry, you will thank me when you look at the scale

 Wrapping up

Training to lose fat is not much fun that’s why it pays for it to be effective. And nothing is more effective than including carries into your training.  Because when it comes to fat loss nothing beats the farmer’s carry and its variations. Because sometimes you have to hate life to improve it.