Strength Weight Training: Anything and Everything II

[demondavey]

I started as a way of helping deadlifts (and it has) but I actually find it useful for other lifts - feel more stable in the grip with bench & military press plus it is one of the more practical exercises too - carry s**t out of the car and into a campsite becomes easier as an example.

Agreed.

 

[Gralin]

Love farmers walks

 

[JG22]

when do people do farmers walks? after back day or back/bis or arms

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

when do people do farmers walks? after back day or back/bis or arms

Everyday!

 

[demondavey]

Big fan of farmers' walks but there's no room to do them at my current gym. It's a small space with quality equipment, maybe 20m in length from wall to wall. Add in other equipment/machines + patrons and farmer's walks become farmer's agility drills.

My previous gym had a big cricket pitch length of carpet specifically for sleds and farmers' walks, but the standard of equipment wasn't as good.

That sucks. Could you do them outside?

 

[demondavey]

when do people do farmers walks? after back day or back/bis or arms

Do them at the end of your workouts or even before certain exercises. That’s when I do them. 2-3 days a week.

 

[atlas1]

That sucks. Could you do them outside?

Unfortunately not, the gym is part of a leisure centre with a pool and doesn't have easy access to outside. Not doing farmers walks hasn't slowed any progress but I did enjoy doing them and noticed the benefits.

 

[demondavey]

Unfortunately not, the gym is part of a leisure centre with a pool and doesn't have easy access to outside. Not doing farmers walks hasn't slowed any progress but I did enjoy doing them and noticed the benefits.

Could you even just do them by holding some dumbbells and finding a small space and walking backwards and forwards? Or even use a rec room when it’s not being used for a class?

 

[WalterBlaknWhte]

Farmers walks are probably not done enough by people, it's an elite exercise in my opinion. The work i get across my traps as well is huge, and i view it as being a completely practical exercise. Some serious strength gains can be achieved through the farmers.

Great exercise - I do them on back day after chin-ups / seated rows but before shrugs / bicep curls

Find they help real life things like moving heavy garden pots

(good thread, just noticed it)

 

[showdownhero]

how heavy and how far do you do your farmers walks

 

[WalterBlaknWhte]

how heavy and how far do you do your farmers walks

Not so heavy - 70kg (2 x 35kg). Walk for 25 to 40 seconds until left hand gives out. Usually 3 walks.

(I am 188cm, 74kg, 50 years-old)

 

[Aeglos]

My set up at home for farmers is terrible, but last time I did them at my friends gym it was for a 10 metre max. Got to 95kg per hand.
If I was to do them more regularly just as a general exercise I’d probably what I normally do and pick 4 weights to wave over a month for 3-4 sets eg 50, 60, 70, 80kg and repeat or add 5kg to each week.
If I was doing them to train for a strongman comp (and knew what the comp entailed exactly) I’d stick to within 10% of what the comp required eg if we were using 100kg I’d use from 90-110kg for my training

 

[showdownhero]

Incorporated some farmers walks today which went well. Overall had an awesome workout which was a bit of a surprise as I haven't been in a good routine for the past month.

Even though it's been nearly a month since my last Bench session I really felt like I smashed it. Tried powerlifting bench press for the first time ever and felt great. Definitely going to continue with it.

Here's what the whole workout looked like

17th February Upper Body Workout

Barbell Bench Press (powerlifting style)

20kg 10,5
60kg 3
80kg 2
90kg 3,5,4,4,4
80kg 5

Barbell Overhead Press 35kg 9,9,9 (Day 2 Linear Progression 9x3 @ 65% 1RM)
Neutral Grip Chinups 6,6,6
Incline Barbell Bench Press 60kg 6,6,5
Dumbbell Row 50kg each 4,4,4
Dumbbell Farmers Walk (17 metres) 50kg each 4

 

[Aeglos]

Unless you’re a super duper technical lifter (which I’d suggest no one who has ever posted on this forum is lol) you should be able to do similar lifts to bench without actually benching then come back stronger in the bench press provided they address a particular movement/strength deficiency
Eg if you normally miss bench near the top then DB bench or overheads may not help as much as say close grip bench

 

[Andre]

Another Farmers walk fan. I do twice a week. One is for endurance - currently 35kg each hand, at working up to 2x60 seconds with a minute between (when I hit a goal I go up 2.5kg). The other 3x20 seconds, at 50kg a hand, 90 second rest for grip stength. Left hand always gives out first.

I’ve small hands (and feet) for my height (6 foot 1), so grip stuff is a challenge at times, but also as I have a ‘naturally’ weaker grip, something I now work on regularly between Farmers Walks, Captains of crush and bar hangs as part of my workouts.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

For those doing a farmers with weights in both hands, is there anything stopping you from doing it with a trap-dead bar instead?

 

[Drumroe]

For those doing a farmers with weights in both hands, is there anything stopping you from doing it with a trap-dead bar instead?

Yeah I used a trap bar for mine, much more comfortable.

Will use it for suitcase carries aswell

 

[Aeglos]

For those doing a farmers with weights in both hands, is there anything stopping you from doing it with a trap-dead bar instead?

It’s too wide for my footpath with trees, fences etc lol

 

[Andre]

For those doing a farmers with weights in both hands, is there anything stopping you from doing it with a trap-dead bar instead?

Room to move around the gym with dumbbells easily, not with the trap bar. Also just the one trap bar, so not always available.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

Fair calls - I find (funily enough) that the trap bar helps lock in my back posture a bit better.

 

[Aeglos]

Fair calls - I find (funily enough) that the trap bar helps lock in my back posture a bit better.

Without being able to go into detail about the exact mechanisms it would be to do with the angle of the arms.

 

[Mofra]

how heavy and how far do you do your farmers walks

I must be the odd one out - I walk to a distance rather than a time, pathway next to the pool(s) and back to the outdoor area. ~45m
Using kettlebells due to the grip being fatter than dumbells.

 

[atlas1]

What exercises are best for increasing a vertical jump?

I'm currently doing low bar back squats, front squats, trap bar deadlifts and box squats. Usually these are with relatively heavy weight and for 3 sets of 4 or 5 reps. On other days I've been doing some plyo work as well.

Should I be lowering the weight and try to do them more explosively? Is the plyo work more important than the strength work?

My goal is to dunk and currently I can grab the rim. Just looking for those last few inches.

 

[cptkirk]

1 - Jumping

2 - Plyo's

3 - Strength

in that order

but also findong where you sit on the force-velocity spectrum would be handy too so you can tailor your training accordingly

And if you're doing all those exercises at the same time then your not really training for jumping, more so weight lifting

 

[Aeglos]

Definitely jumping and plyos otherwise you’ll be strong but slow.
If you’re doing weighted jumps I’d only be using 5-10% of your bodyweight otherwise the velocities get stuffed up (my made up rule is if your hip height drops by 10% due to weight you’re using too much weight).
Another jump variation that is under-utilised is band assisted jumps. Again, you’d only want to be going 100-110% of your real vertical.

As far as the strength training aspect goes, any squatting you do should be done to the same depth as you squat down in your vertical in order to get the best carryover.
Ie if you bend your knees 45degrees to jump then a lot of your squatting should be done with a 45degree knee bend

The variation of squat/deadlift that will get the best carryover will be the one that gets you in a position most like your vertical jump eg I crouch down a long way and am a bit hunched over when I jump so a trap bar dead with the plates elevated a bit would be the barbell movement that would have the most carryover to my jump