People spend hundreds if not thousands of euro on fitness and gym membership every year, but amazingly, the one exercise that seemed to have been invented for the Irish race doesn't cost a thing. It's probably the simplest and easiest to explain as well. It's called the Farmers Walk. Here's how you do it: you grab something heavy and you walk as long as you can.
The Farmers Walk has long been a preserve of Strongman competitions, but it has a lot of offer anyone looking to build strength (even if you're not looking to go head-to-head with The Mountain in a test of strength)
The Farmers Walk is such a popular exercise around the world because, despite its simplicity, it works such a wide range of muscles. It's massive test of core strength, as you can imagine, not to mention your lats. It tests your shoulder stability, not to mention your grip. And overall it builds huge stamina.
And most interestingly, the Farmers Walk can be fashioned for all kinds of experiences. You can carry 100kg for 50 metres. Alternatively, you can take 8kg for a mile-long walk. Both walks will prove to be massive tests of your strength.
Here's Nick Nilsson attempting to carry 500 pounds for a mile.
But for simple-looking exercise, you can do serious damage to yourself by getting the Farmers Walk wrong. All good Farmers Walk's starts with the grip. Ideal for the Farmers Walk are barbells that can be carried, like these here:
Julian Pineau's explainer on the Farmers Walk is especially relevant for anyone looking for advice on the proper way to lift and hold onto the weights; good grip is a fundamental if you want to avoid doing damage to your body in the Farmers Walk.
Beyond grip, here's some very simple advice for controlling your head taking on a Farmers Walk.
DO: keep your focus on a distant object in front of you
DON'T: look at the floor
This will make a massive difference for how your body responds to the weight.
Tony Gentilcore has some pretty useful tips for avoiding Farmers Walk mistakes: he says it starts with picking up the right weight for you.
Talk of the Farmers Walk will inevitably raise echoes of the Movement from 'Nathan For You', another 'exercise movement' based on people carrying objects for long distances. And that's ok.
Make no mistake - the Farmer's Walk is real and it will give you the fitness test you might not find inside the gym.
