Farmer's Walk Routine?

Hi All,

Anyone have a good farmer’s walk routine that they’ve actually used and gotten results from? I’m stuck on a plateau with my usual wrist/reverse curls. I’m not certain what the best target time is for holding the d’bells…10s? 20? 30? Thanks guys…

We have a small 200m track at my gym. I consider 1 lap to be a set, so I generally go something like 80lbs db’s 1st set, 75lbs 2nd, 70’s 3rd. If I can complete all “sets” I will move up 5lbs each db for each set.

I usually do that at the end of my shoulder routine and it totally finishes off my forearms. I have definitly seen an increase in forearm strength, size and vascularity. Give it a shot if you have a track

You dont really need a track thou… just a long corrider. thats were i carry dumbells up and down. the biggest dumbells in my gym are 50kg. i use them and try to do as many laps of the corrider 3 times.

then repeat the week after trying to go further. most ive done so far is 5 laps… so i think thats 100m. not 100%sure thou… the corrider is 5 squash courts long. hows big is a squash court?

my mate who is a climber keeps telling me to do dead hangs. basically you hang off a pull up bar untill failure with both hands. rest. then left arm then straight onto right arm untill failure, then rest then both arms again till failure. he calls that a set. 2 of them and he cant write for a day, so it must be doing something. his grip is as strong as mine yet hes 7 stone lighter.

Also plate pinchs set my forearms on fire… grab the biggest plates in the gym and hold them for as long as possible between your four fingers and thumb. kinda of like the movement you’d make to impersonate a duck or someone talking too much.

Here’s how I periodize my farmers walks…

approx. months 1-2. wrap a towel around the DB or farmers walk log ( you want A REALY thick diameter to grip on, you won’t be able to ue nearly as much weight ). 2-4 sets of 60 steps a set.

approx. months 3-4. Same as above but, up the weight just a little. 2-4 sets of 40 steps a set

approx. months 5-6. no more towel. 2-4 sets of 60 steps a set

approx. months 7-8. same as above. 2-4 sets of 40 steps a set.

month 9. same as above. 2-4 sets of 20 steps a set.

Simple periodization and prioritization should break any plateaus youre having. Always log your results each training session. Look back @ past training logs and refer to when progress seizes. Thats when you need to change things.

The above is just my routine. And works great for me!!! I feel like a pussy when I am doing farmers walk with a towel wrapped around a 70.lb DB. But lemme tell you. In the coming months when the towel comes off… watch out new personal best!

Here’s what I have done in the past–mind you, this was for shoulder, forearm, and GPP purposes, so you may want to modify this to suit your needs.

I would take 80lbs.DB’s and run as fast as possible up a steep hill–sorry, I can’t tell you the exact grade, maybe 30 degrees–for about 40 yards, then immediately turn around and do a controlled run back down.

When I hit the bottom of the hill I would stop just long enough to adjust my grip and run back up, and then back down the hill. That’s one set. Next set was a single lap up and back down. Final set another single lap. I allowed about 30 seconds rest between sets.

This is a killer for shoulders, back, traps,legs, forearms and especially GPP–your heart feels like it’s going to explode, especially in the summer heat; at least it did for me, but maybe that’s because I’m 46 y.o.

Crowbar

Love farmer’s walks! Can someone tell me though, what is the appropriate position for holding the dumbbells? How high do you guys usually aim to keep them? thanks!

thanks for the input gents. i wonder…does it make a difference whether you actually walk with the db’s or does just standing there while gripping work the same? i can’t see how actually walking can make it anymore effective. i wouldn’t mind walking but i, like many, work out in a crowded commercial gym and there’s just not much room to walk around.

[quote]1morerep wrote:
thanks for the input gents. i wonder…does it make a difference whether you actually walk with the db’s or does just standing there while gripping work the same? i can’t see how actually walking can make it anymore effective. i wouldn’t mind walking but i, like many, work out in a crowded commercial gym and there’s just not much room to walk around. [/quote]

It definetly makes them tougher because the weights are kind of bouncing just a little with each step. Try doing plate pinches while walking…now those are tough

if you are limited by space, static holds train grip just as well imo.

you don’t get the core/leg benefits, but the burden on your forearms and gripping abilities isn’t that much less.