When performing the farmer walk is there a way one should hold the weight or is it pretty much and all out effort to hold the weight in your hands while walking forward?
Idk what everyone does, and i have not ever tried heavy farmers walks, but i know that Magnus Samuelson uses a hook grip and grabs them just slightly back from the center, to give it some forward lean. I read the forward lean advice from Kevin Nee as well.
Hold them tight and walk fast.
And lean back once you get some speed up!! Trust me, try to walk normally with them and that’ll make sense!
my experience has been if you really want to make your forearms work hard, its best to NOT wrap your thumb around the bar, basically hold the bar in the cusp of your 2-5 phalanges. it makes your really have to squeeze your forearms to hold the weight. i noticed a big difference in my forearm size doing this. BUT if youre concerned about going after bigger weights, i imagine youd want to do the hook grip. i get some weird ass looks at the gym when i do these. i go until i cant open or close my fists after dropping the weights.
Here is my experience: I have some farmers walk handles, and I do them in my yard. My personal best is 245lbs per hand carried 10 yards. When I do them, my focus is how much weight I can move for 10 yards(that’s how wide my lawn is) so if you’re goal is similar, use my advice. When I grab the handles, I do not use a hook grip. I grab the handles so that my index finger is at the center point of the handles. This makes the handles lean forward a bit which makes them easier to hold on to. Once I have lifted them off the ground, I lean forward slightly and take short steps trying to accelerate as much as possible, kind of like sprinting except obviosly not being able to move as fast. Think kind of like a sprinter at the start of a race. Well, that’s what works for me. Hope it helps you.
[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
When performing the farmer walk is there a way one should hold the weight or is it pretty much and all out effort to hold the weight in your hands while walking forward?[/quote]
Assuming you’re doing this to be good at farmers and not as some type of accessory work, yes, you hold the bar with whatever grip will let you hold it the longest and walk the fastest and farthest you can.
[quote]malonetd wrote:
Assuming you’re doing this to be good at farmers and not as some type of accessory work, yes, you hold the bar with whatever grip will let you hold it the longest and walk the fastest and farthest you can.[/quote]
Exactly. Some of the best farmers walk guys I know hold far forward on the handle so that the implement leans back. It is really just what works for you. I’ve never felt right trying to use a thumbless grip, but I’ve seen a lot of guys do that too. Play around with different styles until you find one that you can live with.
Grip hard, walk fast…slow down on turns…then once the weights stop swivelling, speed up again…
[quote]rock27 wrote:
Grip hard, walk fast…slow down on turns…then once the weights stop swivelling, speed up again…
[/quote]
Sick Dog.
How much distance should I shoot for?
[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
rock27 wrote:
Grip hard, walk fast…slow down on turns…then once the weights stop swivelling, speed up again…
Sick Dog.
How much distance should I shoot for?[/quote]
As far as u can!
As for aims or wat u should shoot for…skys the limit…just try to keep improving.
Also why are u doing farmers walks? U involved in grapple sports and wanta improve grip for that? improve grip for strongman…???
[quote]rock27 wrote:
ronaldo7 wrote:
rock27 wrote:
Grip hard, walk fast…slow down on turns…then once the weights stop swivelling, speed up again…
Sick Dog.
How much distance should I shoot for?
As far as u can!
As for aims or wat u should shoot for…skys the limit…just try to keep improving.
Also why are u doing farmers walks? U involved in grapple sports and wanta improve grip for that? improve grip for strongman…???[/quote]
Just overall athleticism. I recently got a tractor tire and put some weight in a garbage can for “sled” work so I want to add the farmer walk to create sort of a strongman event for my-self.
[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
Just overall athleticism. I recently got a tractor tire and put some weight in a garbage can for “sled” work so I want to add the farmer walk to create sort of a strongman event for my-self.
[/quote]
If this is the case, I would just pick a personal goal and work towards it. Maybe start with a weight you can only carry for 40-50 feet and work with that until you can consistently hit 100 feet.
Or use a weight that you can only do 10-15 feet with and work up to 30-50 feet.
Just set a goal, achieve it, and then set a new goal. If you don’t know where to start, just find a random strongman contest and it’s farmers walk weight and distance as a guideline.
[quote]malonetd wrote:
ronaldo7 wrote:
Just overall athleticism. I recently got a tractor tire and put some weight in a garbage can for “sled” work so I want to add the farmer walk to create sort of a strongman event for my-self.
If this is the case, I would just pick a personal goal and work towards it. Maybe start with a weight you can only carry for 40-50 feet and work with that until you can consistently hit 100 feet.
Or use a weight that you can only do 10-15 feet with and work up to 30-50 feet.
Just set a goal, achieve it, and then set a new goal. If you don’t know where to start, just find a random strongman contest and it’s farmers walk weight and distance as a guideline.[/quote]
Will do. Thanks.
A strongman I trained with told me to grip the handle as high on the hand as possible and then wrap my fingers around, then roll so as to compress as much skin as possible to make a kind of shelf for the weight. Its not all that comfortable and probably will result in wicked calluses, I guess you could go hook grip but that might rip your fingers off if the weights start moving on you or you need to turn.
Also don’t lock your knees as you walk, it feels wierd but it will help to minimize any “bounce” in your step
If it is just for general athleticism, I would say to shoot for longer walks with less weight. Overall this should put less stress on your knees, less chance for injury, increased cardio training and increased grip stamina.
Walks of 300+ feet with 100lbs (per hand) would be a good target. Lots of turns will challenge your core as well.
[quote]Andrew.Cook wrote:
If it is just for general athleticism, I would say to shoot for longer walks with less weight. Overall this should put less stress on your knees, less chance for injury, increased cardio training and increased grip stamina.
Walks of 300+ feet with 100lbs (per hand) would be a good target. Lots of turns will challenge your core as well. [/quote]
This is probably a good idea. I think figure-8’s would be good too.
It’s probably a little bit of overkill for all these people giving specific grip advice if he has no intention of competing. I mean, it’s really as simple as picking them up and walking.
Figure 8’s would work. I was talking to Steve Slater about having a slalom in one of his upcoming comps. No 180 turns, but a series of 90 degree turns in alternating directions. I think that would expose some weaknesses.
I don’t know, giving specific advice for strongman is… well, how would you even go about that? It is pretty easy to disect a squat or a deadlift, but disecting a stone lift? The implement is never the same, the height, the rules, the distance from the platform… man, the only thing you can count on is that it won’t be exactly like you have been practicing!
So the best advice is to try lots of stuff and stick with the technique that works best for you.