You know what is fun for a lot of us? Loading up a barbell and doing heavy weight and seeing PRs. The more complex the lift (cleans, snatches) the better.
Or so we think.
You know what isn’t glamorous? Picking up a weight and then walking with it. It’s not fast. It’s not explosive. It’s hard. For some reason I can’t even hold weight without having to put it down for at least 30 seconds before I can seemingly hold the weight for just 10 more steps.
Do these carries actually have any value though? The answer is loads of value. Grip strength, core strength, core stability, conditioning and body awareness to name a few. Sounds like all things necessary for a…heavy barbell lift.
But one of the biggest pieces for most of us is that we can load this up pretty heavy without needing a whole lot of technical prowess. A clean we are limited most of the time by our technique. A carry – can you pick it up and stay upright and walk? I’ll let you answer that question.
Like with everything it’s not just one magic pill. But the simplicity of carries and development of so many necessary aspects from a work capacity standpoint in much of what we do – it’s a pretty solid bang for your buck.
Probably worth adding farmer’s, sandbag, suitcase, waiter’s, offsetting…any sort of carry into your training. And then watch the benefits in your overall training.