Why I Love Carries

by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS

I love carries. Seriously, I love to have my people carry things around. I have my injured patients carry things. My personal training clients carry objects. My athletes carry a lot of things. Carries are simple, versatile, effective, and can be done with just about anyone anywhere with any implement.

When I think about carries, my mind always goes back to the farmer’s carries that I watched being performed on ESPN2 as part of the old school “world’s strongest man” competitions. Freakishly strong men would pick up very, very heavy items and carry them a long distance for time. At the time, I wasn’t that impressed with the exercise, mostly because it isn’t really that cool or sexy when you’re watching it on TV. It wasn’t until after I started working with them personally that I began to appreciate all that they can be.

I literally use them with just about everyone that I work with. Here are a few reasons that I love carries:

They are a moving plank. Everyone that I work with can use some improved trunk stability. Many people revert to planks as their trunk stability exercise of choice. I’m not here to say whether that is good or bad, but what I will say is that I view carries as a simple moving plank. The law of irradiation tells us that when we put a load in the hands, we see an increase in proximal stability. Thus, by loading a carry, we see an increase in trunk stabilization. When I started to view carries as a moving plank, it changed how I viewed them and their use.
Carries can be a regression of the plank. Lots of people love the plank, but they don’t feel like their elderly or injured patients/clients will be able to get down to perform a plank or maybe they are concerned that their shoulders won’t be able to support their bodyweight. Carries solve a lot of these issues. They keep people upright and don’t require them to get up and down off of the floor. Carries allow us to vary loads easily. So, we can load them as much or as little as we want. They allow us to take a plank and make them manageable for everyone.
A variety of different implements can be utilized. Carries can be performed with simple things like kettlebells, dumbbells, barbells, medicine balls and sandbags. But they can also be utilized with just about any load that you can find around the house such as milk jugs, suitcases, tools, and whatever your mind can come up with. Some people prefer to utilize odd shapes like rocks, tires, and other things that are purposely hard to deal with. I personally don’t go that far with my carries, but those are a few options. I typically stick with more traditional implements for my population, but don’t be afraid to be creative to fit the needs of your clients.
Carries offer a lot of variability. My 2 favorite ways to vary my carries are by changing load and by changing the position of that load. A sandbag offers a different stimulus than a kettlebell, even if they are held in the same position, because the load of the sandbag is likely to shift while being carried. I like to train with different loads in each hand to offer an offset load. Carrying more weight in one hand the other challenges the frontal plane. Also consider holding the load in a front loaded, overhead, and alternating one side and not the other. Be creative with how you load and mix it up.
Carries can be used for metabolic conditioning. I love using carries as a finisher for conditioning. Putting the body under load and stress for longer periods of time is a great way to improve work capacity. And, I like it because the nervous system load is minimal so the risk of injury is also minimal. Once they fatigue to the point of possible injury, they drop the weight. It is self limiting.
They can be used for competitions. We integrate a lot of competitions into our training. Teaching athletes to compete in the offseason is great for building team unity, confidence, and the overall mental approach to athletics. Carries offer a lot of opportunity to train people on how to compete. Have them race, carry further distances, or handle odd shapes efficiently. It helps them solve problems and have fun.