T Nation

Farmers Walks Help?

Strongman
#1

Do any of you more experienced guys have any knowledge on how to improve farmers speed? I can already do contest weight without too much trouble, but I don’t know how to get any faster at it. My contest weight is 200lbs per hand and I can already do 250lbs per hand. Right now I’m planning on doing days of alternating really heavy farmers for a short distance and really light farmers for a near jog. Any other ideas?

Edit
When I wrote jog, I meant that I used really light weights for speed distance, not actually light enough to have both feet in the air.

#2

A lot of time can be gained/lost in the pick up and go. The quicker you are standing and moving, the quicker you can reach your “running” speed.

#3

[quote]musicma1n1 wrote:
really light farmers for a near jog. [/quote]

I strongly recommend against this. The mechanics of a jog are not at all the same of a fast walk (which is what you’ll be doing with the farmers.) Malone brings up a good point. I also think it’s worth while to keep speed/distance records. As in, what is the heaviest weight that you can do for 50’ AND in under 12 seconds? (or 10 secs, or 15, or whatever you feel is appropriate). Not guaranteeing that will help, jsut soemthing I’ve thought about to help my yoke

#4

go heavyish and quick for 40-50yds and go superheavy for 10-15yds. Weight before speed, always.

#5

Thanks for the help guys.

When I said “jog” I meant to say that I was just moving really fast. I wasn’t actually jogging with it, I was just using like 50% of max weight and pounding the pavement.

#6

Farmers is like any other lift. You can use a standard progression. 150lb per hand for distance. Then up it to 160 for distance… work your way up to contest weight and distance. Also, practice your turns. Like the pick, you can make up/lose time in your turns.

#7

No jogging!

It’s called the walk for a reason. Pretty impressed with your motivation to get better tho, seems like a lot of guys use the FW as a “good enough is good enough” approach.

pf… that avatar… I need it for my collection…

#8

Brad, google francoise boufhal but remember i saw her first

#9

Some small things that help:

  • Look ahead at where you are going and not at your feet. Kind of like when you ride a bike or a motorcycle - what you look at you will hit.

  • Tilt the handles slightly forward. You can also grab slightly behind center and accomplish this. Allows for the weight to always be pulling forward and increases footspeed as a result.

  • For the turn, turn your shoulders back into the turn about 3/4 of the way through and it will help you straighten you out as you come out. As you get better at this, you can also bump the inside weight to the outside weight and the transfer of force will help even more to straighten you.

Just my $.02

#10

This is just a random question, but how far do you usually have to walk for a farmers walk event?

#11

[quote]pyrosive wrote:
This is just a random question, but how far do you usually have to walk for a farmers walk event?[/quote]

Most often it will be from 50 to 100 feet, although it’s not uncommon to see up to 150 feet.

I also remember reading about one contest that had farmers for max distance. You just went until you couldn’t hold on any longer. Once the weight hit the ground, your run was over and the distance was measured.

#12

[quote]malonetd wrote:

[quote]pyrosive wrote:
This is just a random question, but how far do you usually have to walk for a farmers walk event?[/quote]

Most often it will be from 50 to 100 feet, although it’s not uncommon to see up to 150 feet.

I also remember reading about one contest that had farmers for max distance. You just went until you couldn’t hold on any longer. Once the weight hit the ground, your run was over and the distance was measured. [/quote]

Plymouth Rock fall strength classic had this, walk around a giant sundial till you lost it. I think the weight was 270 p/h for all classes and the handle diameter changed class to class.

#13

What type of set/rep for a beginner on Farmer’s Walk and when do you up the weight?

Right now I’m doing 3 sets of 30 seconds carrying 60 lb dumbbells. My gym only has up to 75 lb dumbbells but I was even considering doing it with 2 EZ-Curl Bars once I get over the 75 lb mark.

Not sure when I should increase to 65 lb dumbbells and when I should increase time or both.

#14

Use very heavy farmers, more than competition weight! and Gripwork.

#15

Iâ??d never performed the Farmerâ??s Carry (or Farmerâ??s Walk) before; it doesnâ??t look like much, but itâ??s a ton of work. It engages the legs, shoulders, forearms, lower back, the entire core, and a host of stabilizing muscles. I don’t compete in strongman, but definitely will incorporate in my training … and next time, with some real weight.