Farmer's Walks

This is a super easy general conditioner and strength builder for newbies. All that's required is two objects of equal weight. You don't have to know anything about form except how to set your back in order to pull the objects up through and with your legs.

The farmers walk is pretty much walking after doing a deadlift. It works your whole body the best I can tell, and will strengthen your weaknesses and structural imbalances. You just need to pick the objects up correctly, stand tall, and keep a brace with chest out as you walk.

I have a distance of ~150ft that I cover 4-6 times and then to and from about 60ft to get it back into my residence. Every week or two I increase weight by 5lbs. If you look at the picture below, you'll see I'm using olympic handles and olympic plates with quick fasteners. This makes everything easy and compatible. I also have an olympic bar and bumper plates, so can easily transfer and use weights across all of my lifts/exercises.



If someone wants to get in basic shape, you don't need machines, or a gym. You need a pull, push, and squat movement. Pick a weight that's comfortable and walk around with it for the pull, hold it to your chest for some goblet squats, and push it over your head for a press. That alone will build you up basic conditioning for a newbie.

Another great benefit of the farmer's walk is that it tends to balance out structural issues, and can be used as a rehab exercise. I can't deadlift heavy anymore due to injury, and after my last reinjury I was walking funky! I slowly built up weight in the farmers walk, and made an effort to walk tall and straight. Each week this seemed to slightly correct my issue, and a year later now I'm about 90% recovered from the pain, and imbalance.

Give it a try, it's easy!

A video to help people see it in action: