Hey guys, hoping to pick your brains on farmer carry testing. I took delivery of a set of handles over the weekend and at some point this week will need to establish a 50ft “1RM” without drops.
I’ll be training in my basement since winter is approaching (and we get real winter here). I’ve got about 20 feet of runway one direction, but ample room for turning, so I’m thinking of using the figure-8 method to best utilize my space. I figure 2.5 laps will give me close enough to 50’ and 5 laps close enough to 100’.
The program I intend to run has distance and weight % prescriptions for farmers, which is why I want to get somewhat close, but would even be happy with utilizing a training max in that regard.
Any tips on how to approach establishing either the “1RM” or a TM? I’ll probably be doing this tomorrow or Friday this week.
Tricky one, as I would usually use speed instead of weight to establish a farmer’s walk max. (I don’t train for maximal weight on carries but always for speed).
I guess the other option is to pick a weight you know is going to be tough but doable and try. If you have a drop you either substract X amount from you max or try again (although hand fatigue is nasty to recover). If you made it and you csn still hold it at the top for a few seconds you could go the opposite way of adding tp your max.
Don’t make it a screaming and foaming at the mouth as your arms get ripped out of socket 50 ft run. Work up to something that would be replicable for 2-3 sets, and no more. A proper and reliable farmers carry is one that doesn’t require you to perform the abovementioned cinematography (at least not on first set).
Not the above mentioned 3, but I have worked up to a farmer’s walk “TM” before.
The way I gauged it was whether I thought I could make another half-run again. I was using 40 yards as my “max distance”, so if I thought I couldn’t make it another 20 yards without my grip failing, I set whatever weight I just made that run with as my max.
Football bar clean and press: (wide grips)
75x10
75x5
Axle press:
80x8 (cleaned)
80x5 (from rack)
Dips:
6x fail
Lateral raise:
10x6x10
Pull aparts:
6x20
Football bar hammer curl: (medium grips)
45x27-12-9 rest/pause
Aside from tweaking my right trap on the first set of axle clean and press during the supplemental work, this was solid. Finally got a chance to give Pwn’s supplemental approach a real run and it doesn’t disappoint. Looking to the right is going to be a challenge the next few days, tends to happen every time I come back after a brief lay-off.
Love all the different clean & presses here. If I had access to more than a barbell, a workout consisting of all different clean & presses would be awesome.
Are you cleaning the football bar like a log? Lapping it first?
Yeah man it’s a sweet approach. Definitely helps mentally not having to do the same thing each round, keeps spirits up haha.
When the cleans get heavy the football bar gets “log-like”. I do lap it and get some extra air there, but it doesn’t roll like a log so it’s really kind of its own thing. Tonight was pretty much just a power curl haha, too light to really worry about the clean.
High bar squats:
45x10
95x5
135x2
185x2
225x2
275x2
Farmer carry: (per hand)
110x40’ - turn
160x40’ - turn
160x40’ - drop and pick
180x40’ - drop and pick
Schedule got all wonky on me yesterday so squeezing in two workouts today. Just a quick testing workout mostly this morning.
Wish I had a longer run for the farmer carries, but I’ll have to make do with my situation. Turning proved more difficult than I thought, both because I’m not very good at it and the space is pretty tight. I think I’ll just go with drop and pick for now. I struggle with the turn, and also the “getting going” after the pick, so I’ll still be working on a weakness.
Start your pick in a slightly staggered stance. That way once you get up and step, you can easily keep the momentum going. Also, think about rolling from heel to toe, and keep your knees slightly “soft” throughout (don’t lock out on each step).
On the turn, bring your “outside” hand forward slightly to give you a little momentum; if you’re turning to your left, your right hand comes forward slightly, and vice versa on the other side.
Close grip axle bench:
50x10
80x5
130x5
150x5
170x5
Dips:
BWx10
+15x10
+25x10
+35x8
BWx20
Axle skull crusher:
30x50
Another quick workout. I should, conceivably, be mostly done configuring my basement this week. Just need to be able to take a couple steps forward without obstacles presenting themselves. Don’t want to short change any programs by having a half-assed set up, but I’m getting close.
@kdjohn Thanks for the tip man! That makes perfect sense. Appreciate the info on turning as well, I get the mechanics for it, simply just lack the space to execute it well. Pretty much have to start the turn in the first couple steps otherwise the opposite wall comes up quick. Wound up getting the front load handles from Titan. I wanted top load ones but just couldn’t justify the extra cost for them.
Totally missed that piece, haha. Yeah, those handles would be tough to use well in a basement space. For some reason I thought you got the mini handles.
I thought about it and they’d definitely have been a more flexible option down there, but I figure if I ever move to a bigger space or do them outside I’d rather have the real things haha.
Finally got my home gym all organized and ready for use. Only things still on the to-do list are: mount digital timer, mount hangboard, install the heavy bag bracket, and decide where to hang the farmer handles. None of that is dire though.
My friends and I have affectionately referred to my gym as “The Dojo” over the years. It started as a joke but like all good jokes, it wound up sticking. That said, here is The Dojo, v6.0:
Pretty stoked about it. This is my nicest training space yet, and I’ll have to make an effort to keep it pretty clean. The height of the ceilings still makes me smile, I can do overhead walks with DBs pretty safely and I can even press a keg overhead between the floor joists (although the netting doesn’t want me to).
I’ll be taking another stab at @Alpha’s Powerbuilder program. I purchased the “Powerbuilder Perfected” budget program from him and it looks absurd. Gonna need to add a meal to my daily intake for sure.
@T3hPwnisher@Koestrizer Thanks guys! I was pretty elated once I got it all put together, then immediately hit the road for work the next day, plus some familial obligations this weekend that have pulled me away from home. So I haven’t gotten to use it yet haha.
Holy smokes. I haven’t felt like this after a workout in a while, having trouble typing due to the shakes.
Wound up doing an extra round during the initial conditioning because I couldn’t keep up with the clock. Can tell my conditioning is out of whack right now, but that won’t last long doing this program. Session ran just over an hour, with some generous breaks between the different parts of the workout to set up/break down.
Definitely will need to fuel my body as this was one of the more modest workouts in the program. Got a pulled pork chili going and about to pop a meatloaf in the oven. Add that to all the regular dinners this week and it should be a good start.
Went and did some shooting this afternoon before lifting. Fired a Glock 23, small frame Kimber .45, and a 9mm assault rifle (FM9 I believe?). Tons of fun, was a better shot with the Glock which was unfortunate to me because the Kimber was beautiful and felt great in the hand.
Tabata axle Z press:
50x3 rounds
40x2 rounds
30x3 rounds
OPTIONAL CONDITIONING
100’ bear walk x3
100’ gator walk x3
100’ crab walk x3
10 NG chins x3 (mid-wide, mid, mid-narrow)
Lungs weren’t the limiting factor today, tends to be the case on shoulder day cause these puny little guys don’t have much energy to them.
That assistance work was a burner. Three stations for 90s of work, and then 30s rest before starting again. I had to drop weight to make it through the rounds without letting the DBs down, but I did rest them in the rack position for a couple breaths as needed.
Tabata Z press is awful, mostly because my hip flexors were screaming at me to get out of that position. I stacked 5s on the bar so I could slide a pair off during the 10s rest as needed to keep the reps up. Tough on the shoulders but I just couldn’t stay focused due to the hips.
