CrossFit Athletic Group

The farmers walk segment of yesterday's 30 minute monstrosity was met with mixed reviews. First and foremost, it provided the lungs a much-needed break after the running and the thrusters. But the energy gained in the cardio/respiratory system seemed to have been taken straight from the arms. The Farmers walk has few rivals in the taxing of the grip.

But there is more to the farmers walk than just grip strength. In fact, respected strength and conditioning coach Dan John has 5 foundational movement patterns and loaded carries are #1 on his list.

As far as real-world application goes, the farmers walk is right up there with the deadlift and burpee as skills that are essential for independent living. You are moving a large load, a long distance, and you are doing it as quickly as possible. And as with all of our other movements, the farmers walk can serve as a major diagnostic tool for coaches to spot inefficiencies and athletes to correct them.

1. Posture

The farmers walk challenges our main anatomical shape by adding load to the shoulders. The added weight pulling down on your shoulders requires more effort from your abs to keep your spinal position from changing.

2. Pulling vs. Pushing

The farmers walk is to pulling what the ring hold is to pushing. The most basic expression of pushing is supporting yourself on a surface, while the most basic expression of pulling is hanging onto one. In both cases the athlete operates from an anatomically neutral position - which would be much easier to maintain if the hands weren't operating independantly of each other. That loss of connection challenges the stability of the pulling/pushing mechanic.

3. Shoulder position

The neutral position for your shoulders (arms by your sides) is highly dictated by internal rotation. If you are missing it, you will look like Marathon Matt in this picture. The mobility drills we did today help a lot with that. When the shoulders roll forward, the neck tends to follow...

...like Matt Morrow is demonstrating. What's interesting about this picture is the shoulders are actually back and in a good position (you can see his elbow pits are turned forward). But in order to achieve that, he has to feed his shoulders some slack from upstream via the neck. Judging by the picture, I would guess Matt's upper shoulder and chest are tight. Letting the head sag down takes some relieves some tension and makes breathing easier. In a perfect world, Morrow would look like his handsome counterpart...

...shoulders pinched back, head neutral, Rogue board shorts. Textbook.

4. Right/left imbalances

In the same way the split jump rope can tell us about how uncoordinated we are, using kettlebells or dumbbells can tell us the same thing about our positions. For a track athlete who always runs in the same direction, we may be able to see a lean to the left and correct it there. In the picture above Jacob looks pretty even, but it would be interesting to see if his right arm was fatiguing faster than his left. I know that was obvious on the thrusters as the workout progressed. Brian has his athletes do more farmers walks than we do so he probably knows more about spotting imbalances in this exercise (especially since a farmers carry is also a major component of country strength - which Brian has in spades).

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In Fundamentals, I begin by putting the athlete into the anatomical stance; feet together, butt and belly squeezed, shoulders back, and chin pulled in. The athlete's goal is to maintain that positional integrity as if their life depended on it. The coach's job is to challenge them to break it. The farmer's walk reinforces that anatomical shape and challenges it from a pulling perspective. It's good to keep in mind for the occasions it pops up on the main site.