I’ve been doing a lot more loaded carries in my own training lately. I find that they have a profound effect on stability/rigidity which helps my performance on the big lifts.
They also are very effective for body composition, both muscle growth and fat loss.
At the moment my main carries are farmer’s walk and Zercher carries with a strongman log (much more challenging than it looks). The later is probably the most demanding core exercise I’ve done!!!
This morning I also experimented with backward farmer’s walk. Challenging hip stability movement and worked even better than regular farmer’s walk to improve upper back position.
In my next workout I will have overhead carries with the strongman log.
These are the parameters I use with loaded carries
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Hi!
CT haw do you mix loaded carry with lifting exercises? What configurations are available for farmers, overhead and zecher carries?
At the moment I’m using a pull/legs/push split… sometimes 6 days on/1 day off, sometimes 3 days on/1 day off.
I do farmer’s and/or Zercher for strength on my lower body days. I also do overhead walks on my push days as an activation. Sometimes I will do either farmer’s or Zercher on my back day if I emphasize thickness.
Everytime I use carries for strength in my program I see it as a strength lift. I normally do 2 strength lifts per workout, so if I use a carry type I only do one strength lift. I then use 1-3 assistance movements.
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Would you use the front rack carry as well?
Hello CT,
Is it possible to convert these parameters to seconds ? (Except Fat loss of course)
Why? Meters are much simpler. And the fact is that no carries is done at the same speed. People do not ask about converting reps to seconds, do they? “Do 5 reps on squats”… “how many seconds is that?”.
Same thing with strength movements. 5 reps on the bench press will not last the same time as 5 reps on squats or 5 reps on snatches for example.
Yes, it’s on my list. I have about 25 different carries/sled exercises. But just like with lifting I tend to stick with the ones that work best all-around, keeping the more specialized exercises for when they are needed to fix a specific problem.
Because of a right shoulder issue, I use the elitefit safety squat bar for front and back squats. I find it works great for zercher work.
How do you use it for Zerchers?
So if training a 16-year-old baseball pitcher, and needing strength and some endurance, would 4 sets of 45-50m and 2 minutes of rest be about the best guideline for sled/loaded carry work?
Because of the U shaped padding the bar can be held similar to how the log is carried in your video. Without handles attached, the padded arms rest across the traps while hugging the padded part of the bar.
I can send a pic if needed.
It would be easier for me. But I do get your point.
At the risk of making a silly question how did you measure meters on those videos ? Did you measure with a tape, estimated with steps or something else ?
I was thinking about to help my deadlift especially! Do you think that front squat walk and zercher are good for thi purpose? Or there is better? (Knowing that my problem is upper back rounding wich is not really but i think that stregthening this “weakness” could only help me overall!)
Great thank you for your response. Thats a lot of useful info.
I have also question about superseting carry with lifting exercises ? You wrote that this is good option for hypertrophy.
Sorry coach if this has already been covered but can /how would you add carries to “look like a bbuilder, perform like an athlete”
thank you for your time
Zerhcer carries for sure. I would probanly do Farmer’s focusing on keeping the shoulders back. Front rack walks could be an interesting addition from time to time but breathing will likely become the limiting factor
I mean that in addition I have a question about superseting carry with lifting exercises. Sorry English is not my primary language 
