Some Loaded Carries Ideas and Q&A

Training
41

I haver used it a few times in the past (we do have on at Biotest HQ) but it certainly would not be an investment I would personally make.

  1. It doesn’t do anything that farmer’s walk do not do and the later haver a lot of benefits that the yoke doesn’t have.

  2. I don’t like the position on the body to hold the bar (head moved forward a lot more than with a regular bar for example)

  3. I’ve seen people injure their shoulders on it

Sure it looks cool when you do it. But personally it doesn’t provide enough unique benefits (if any compared to other carries) to justify its use.

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42

Thanks for the elaborate answer!
I was thinking of it being a good overload/stability builder for my squat, but probably heavy walkouts/partials.

What do you find the biggest bang-for-your-buck carries? Zerchers at least killed my abs…can’t wait for the rest.

43

I understand that yokes can be interesting for that purpose. And it can create a greater structural overload than farmers walk because grip is not a factor. But I would personally not buy an expensive piece of equipment for that purpose only. Especially if you can do the same with a barbell (we use a barbell to do yoke carries, we have movable individual squat posts and we use a pair of them, one at each end of the “track”).

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44

For me Zerchers and Farmer walks for sure.

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45

what do you think of this split? pretty much all I can handle at the moment is 3 days a week. work, clean, father of two young kids and work out at home but I have a good amount of equipment like a safety squat bar, trap bar, farmer handles, rogue stands, v dip bar’s, pull up bar, and 800 pounds of plates. main priority anymore is to really blast the upper back. I have become addicted to loaded carries. so many benefits. going to go with this split and each session has a big upper back trap lift

W/O 1: Quads/Hams/ZERCHER CARRIES TO END
W/O 2: Chest/Back/FARMER WALKS TO END
W/O 3: Quads/Hams/ZERCHER CARRIES to EIND
W/O 4: Triceps/Shoulders/FARMER WALKS to END

M - w/o 1
W - w/o 2
F - w/o 3
M - w/o 2
W - w/o 1
F - w/o 4
M - w/o 2
W - w/o 3
F - w/o 4

Repeat.

46

@ CT would zercher carrying the slosh pipe be a good activation exercise?

47

Lately, I’ve been stacking some plates on the sleeve from one side of an olympic bar, and carrying it like an atlas stone. I’m guessing it has a similar effect to the log zerchers.

If anybody wants to try this, here’s two things I learned the hard way:

  1. Use your best collar on the sleeve, so the plates can’t separate.
  2. If you have then, use bumper plates. With regular plates, I was letter the plates angle down, so the center of mass was much closer to my body. The additional thickness keeps me from cheating. Plus, its a little easier on the arms.
48

very interesting idea. Do you have pics?, not sure if I’m visualizing it right. Great idea though

49

CT so many rings around you in that gym, aren’t you tempted to do some levers, bodyweight holds after carries (:

50

After forcing myself to prime recovery i arrived to a program inspired by “4 paths to strength”

Monday:Volume work big 3 - 20-30 minutes ading VERY SLOWLY some time working AMSAP with 80% minimum and cycling the RM eack week 4-3-2-1-1(deload->half volume same weight) ( could be done 2x a day if and only IF feeling fresh)

Tuesday: Deadlift max effort+ isometric overload or sticking point isometric and acessories ( would not need so much for legs because they are already hit a lot )

Wednesday:OFF

Thursday:Upper body (bench) max effort+ isometric overload or sticking point isomtetric for bench and accesories (always do smart with auto-regulation but could you help with rep range?)

Friday:Squat max effort+ iso overload and accesories

Saturday: Same as monday ( except training only 1x a day with 80% all the time for 3RM even if feel vert light ) adding Failure on isolation or and volume work on accesories and eccentric work what i judge holding me back for the big 3

Sunday:off

I was thinking of doing this during my off-season until my meet ( trying to mixed the period of article ) what do you think about that?

And can i perform my accesories of max effort to failure just to remove the second part of saturday training, or is it good?

Maybe switching monday and tuesday?

51

Not in the slightest, no

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52

They actually sell “stone trainers” with is essentially just the sleeve aspect of a bar and you load it with plates like you mentionned

53

What is a slosh pipe? I find that for zercher what works best is using a strongman log because of the girth. Any other type of bar (even fat 2" bars) are too thin since they can rest in the crook of the elbows and the upper body doesn’t to do much work to hold it there.

54

Yes, I would do that. Better to do max effort in a more rested state.

BUT I’ll ask this… with using a program based on max effort we can use Westside Barbell training as a starting point. They are “only” doing 2 max effort sessions per week. And you are using 3. What makes you think that you are more genetically gifted for recovery from heavy lifting than the freaks at Westside?

From experience, and ask most elite powerlifters, you do not need to max out on deadlifts to make it go up. If you train your squat hard and strengthen the appropriate muscles you only need to train the deadlift with moderate weights (80-85%) most of the time. Maxing out on deadlift and squat in a week is doable IF you are not doing a lot of work, which is not what you are doing.

55

NO! Why don’t you give RESTING and RECIOVERING an honest try.

You should be looking into adding more sessions/volume only when it is the only possible way left for getting stronger. Super high frequency should be left for the specific phase where you only train on the competitive lifts with the aim of improving neural efficiency.

During the off-season or BUILDING season the goal is to build muscle in the right places as an investment to get stronger. This is not done by doing a super high frequency because you need harder sessions with more volume and more assistance work. And this requires more recovery because you need to build the muscle tissue. Not resting enough will kill your hormonal profile (increase cortisol and decrease testosterone which will make it hard to build muscle).

Understand the goal of each phase and design the training to accomplish that goal… do not try to do everything as once and do not design a program beased on your psychological need to do more.

I don\t know how many weeks lefts til your competition you have. But a periodized plan should look like this:

PHASE 1 - BUILDING PHASE (general physical preparation 1)

  • The primary goal is to develop the muscles you need to perform well in your sport, especially correcting weaknesses.
  • More volume per session (more assistance exercises, higher reps)
  • Less emphasis on the actual competition lifts
  • More need for recovery time because of the higher volume and need to build muscle tissue

For example:

MONDAY: Upper back / muscle building

  • 1 heavy row exercise (sets of 4-6)
  • 1 vertical pull exercise (sets of 6-8)
  • 1 traps exercise (sets of 10-12)
  • 1 straight-arm pull down variation (sets of 10-12)
  • Optional biceps work

TUESDAY: Squat

  • Back squat (in the 75-85% range, sets of 4-6 reps)
  • 1 multi-joint quads exercise (sets of 6-8)
  • Farmer’s walk (sets of 50-60m)
  • Core work

WEDNESDAY : Bench press

  • Bench press (in the 75-85% range, sets of 4-6 reps)
  • Horizontal press assistance exercise (sets of 6-8)
  • Vertical press assistance exercice (sets of 6-8)
  • Bdybuilding work for chest. triceps, delts (no need to train them all, pick your weakness, sets of 8-12)

THURSDAY: OFF

FRIDAY: Pull heavy

  • Deadlift variation (in the 75-85% range, sets of 4-6 reps)
  • Multi-joint hamstring exercise (6-8 reps)
  • Farmer’s walk (sets of 30-40m)
  • Lower back work (sets of 10-12)
  • Core work

SATURDAY: Bench press

  • Bench press overload variation (pin press, board press, press with chains, etc,) (sets of 4-6)
  • Overhead carries (sets of 40-60m)
  • Isolation work for delts, chest, triceps

SUNDAY: OFF

PHASE 2 - DEVELOPMENT PHASE (general physical preparation 2)

  • Here the goal is to continue building muscle but via more work on the actual lifts
  • Getting used to handling heavier weights
  • Slighly less volume per session but higher intensity
  • Frequency stays the same

For example:

MONDAY: Upper back / muscle building

  • 1 deadlift variation focusing on back (pin pull from various heights), sets of 2-4
  • 1 heavy row exercise (sets of 4-6)
  • 1 traps exercise (sets of 6-8)

TUESDAY: Squat

  • Back squat (in the 80-90% range, sets of 2-4 reps)
  • 1 partial squat exercise (sets of 4-6)
  • Farmer’s walk (sets of 30-40m)
  • Core work

WEDNESDAY : Bench press

  • Bench press (in the 80-90% range, sets of 2-4 reps)
  • Horizontal press assistance exercise (sets of 4-6)
  • Bench press variation (just a slight difference in grip from 1st exercise) 6-8 sets of 3 with about 75% with short rest

THURSDAY: OFF

FRIDAY: Pull heavy

  • Deadlift variation ((in the 80-90% range, for singles only… 6-8 singles with short rest)
  • Multi-joint hamstring exercise (4-6 reps)
    l- Farmer’s walk (sets of 20-30m)
  • Lower back work (sets of 10-12)
  • Core work

SATURDAY: Bench press

  • Bench press overload variation (pin press, board press, press with chains, etc,) (sets of 2-4)
  • Overhead carries (sets of 40-60m)
  • Bench press 65-70%, 6-8 sets of 5 with short rest

SUNDAY: OFF

PHASE 3 - TRANSFER PHASE (specific physical preparation)

  • Here the goal is to focus on the development of neural factors
  • Less variation, higher intensity, lower volume
  • Overall frequency is DECREASED but each lift is trained more often

MONDAY

  • Squat heavy (85-90% 5-6 sets of 2 but do not get to a point where it goes up slowly)
  • Bench moderate (75-80% sets of 3 with short rest intervals)
  • Deadlift light (75-80% sets of 1 with short rest intervals)

TUESDAY
Squat light (75-80% sets of 1 with short rest intervals)
Bench moderate (75-80% sets of 3 with short rest intervals)
Deadlift heavy (85-90% 5-6 sets of 2 but do not get to a point where it goes up slowly)

WEDNESDAY OFF

THURSDAY
Squat moderate (75-80% sets of 3 with short rest intervals)
Bench heavy (85-90% 5-6 sets of 2 but do not get to a point where it goes up slowly)
Deadlift light (75-80% sets of 1 with short rest intervals)

FRIDAY OFF

SATURDAY
Squat heavy (90-95% 4-5 sets of 1, not maximal but challenging)
Bench heavy (90-95% 4-5 sets of 1, not maximal but challenging)
Deadlift heavy (90-95% 4-5 sets of 1, not maximal but challenging)

SUNDAY OFF

PHASE 4 - REALIZATION (specific physical preparation 2)

  • To peak your capacity to showcase strength in a maximal effort
  • High intensity
  • Higher frequency
  • Can only be done for 2 weeks followed by a 1 week taper/peak)

MONDAY
Squat work up to solid training max
Bench press work up to solid training max
Deadlift work up to solid training max

TUESDAY
4 sets of 1 with 80% on all 3 lifts

WEDNESDAY
4 sets of 3 with 85% on all 3 lifts

THURSDAY
3 sets of 3 with 70% on all 3 lifts

FRIDAY
5 sets of 1 with 80%

SATURDAY
Work up to a real max on squat and bench, no deadlift

PHASE 1; 6 weeks
PHASE 2: 4 weeks
PHASE 3: 3 weeks
PHASE 4: 2 weeks + 1 week taper

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56

Actually, it’s REALLY nice to give me this!

Ok, i’ve someting like 10 months before my meet, because i prefer to take my time and arrived with the better i can give!

So which phase should i extend to make the 10 months?

57

Do the whole plan twice in a row with 2 weeks of rest (lower intensity training between both cycles). This will teach you how your body responds and you will be able to make adjustements in the 2nd time around

58

Really appreciate this!

I’ve just 1 problem… my gym doesn’t have some farmer walk handles, could i subsitute this by zercher of other…?

And how would you go for the taper week?

If i feel my glutes need work, i could remplace some volume to work ok or simply adding?

I assume that i have to follow the “fatigue based model” schema that you’ve put on you fb page?

59

You don’t need farmers walk handles just use heavy dumbbells. I do not have access to farmers handles at my gym either and just use dumbbells and still get all the same benefits.

60

I know but my gym does not have more than 50kg…