Farmers Walks

At my current location I only have DB’s that go up to 110lbs. I am trying to get to a goal of 220 per hand. How can I train using these dbs but still work towards my goal? Can I just increase the distance each workout or should I do FW’s last in my grip workout, to make them harder? Any suggestions?
Will42

Going for distance and speed records over a set course can be “fun.” Also walking uphill on some sort of incline.

But you’ll eventually just want more load. Consider buying a set of Olympic dumbbell handles. You can load these up just about as heavy as you want for Farmers Walks using your gym’s O-plates.

I got mine at an Academy Sports and Outdoors store for about $10 each I think. The brand was Caps. Not top quality, but mine have lasted for years since I only use them for the Farmers Walks and the occasional home workout. Ironmind makes some high quality ones if you have the extra dough.

I just noticed you’re in Japan, but maybe you can still find some Olympic handles.

You can always use barbells, it just sucks alot more.

Sorry to break this to you, but doing farmer’s walks with dumbells is not even close to the real thing. Real farmer’s walk implements don’t roll in your hands or bang against your thighs like dumbells do.

The good news is that you can make your own implements pretty cheaply from some pipes acquired from your local hardware store.

Here’s an example of the homemade implements I was talking about: http://jva.ontariostrongman.ca/TITEFW.htm

[quote]skizac wrote:
Here’s an example of the homemade implements I was talking about: http://jva.ontariostrongman.ca/TITEFW.htm
[/quote]

Great idea

Shadow

Use barbells. It sucks, but they work.

Use a trap bar if you have access to it.

[quote]skizac wrote:
Sorry to break this to you, but doing farmer’s walks with dumbells is not even close to the real thing. Real farmer’s walk implements don’t roll in your hands or bang against your thighs like dumbells do.

The good news is that you can make your own implements pretty cheaply from some pipes acquired from your local hardware store.
[/quote]

It may be “not even close to the real thing”, but it can still be an excellent workout for grip and GPP. I have been using dumbells for several years with good success.

Christopher

[quote]monkey_space wrote:
skizac wrote:
Sorry to break this to you, but doing farmer’s walks with dumbells is not even close to the real thing. Real farmer’s walk implements don’t roll in your hands or bang against your thighs like dumbells do.

The good news is that you can make your own implements pretty cheaply from some pipes acquired from your local hardware store.

It may be “not even close to the real thing”, but it can still be an excellent workout for grip and GPP. I have been using dumbells for several years with good success.

Christopher
[/quote]

Sorry, I didn’t meant to sound like grip training with dumbells is useless. Just that if you’re trying to work up to doing 220 lb. farmer’s walks, dumbells will not be as helpful as actual farmer’s implements.


Triceps Bars work great for Farmers walks.

They also work well for dumbbell deadlifts.

If you have a access to a power rack, place the pins so they hang at arms length. Grab two barbells, and stand sideways in the rack. Although you can’t move with these, you sure can work on your holds without worrying about balancing a barbell.

[quote]skizac wrote:
monkey_space wrote:
skizac wrote:
Sorry to break this to you, but doing farmer’s walks with dumbells is not even close to the real thing. Real farmer’s walk implements don’t roll in your hands or bang against your thighs like dumbells do.

The good news is that you can make your own implements pretty cheaply from some pipes acquired from your local hardware store.

It may be “not even close to the real thing”, but it can still be an excellent workout for grip and GPP. I have been using dumbells for several years with good success.

Christopher

Sorry, I didn’t meant to sound like grip training with dumbells is useless. Just that if you’re trying to work up to doing 220 lb. farmer’s walks, dumbells will not be as helpful as actual farmer’s implements.[/quote]

Oh, I totally agree. In his goal of reaching 220 per hand, his current situation is not sufficient. He will eventually need to to move up to more weight. I was just pointing out that using dumbells can still work well for grip and GPP work. :slight_smile:

Christopher

Thanks for all the help; all I have here is DB’s a few BB’s and one curl bar. I tried the curl bar but it rolls …a lot, like rip the skin off your hand roll; one of the sleeves fell off the bar as well. I was thinking about using some rope and tieing the db’s together. I think this will be my best option. I’ll let you guys know how it works out.
Will42