Carries have been described as “the simplest coached movement with equivalent gains.” Not simple as in easy. Simple as in: pick it up, brace, walk. The coaching is minimal. The adaptation is not.
If you’re not programming carries at least once or twice a week, you’re leaving results on the table and probably overcomplicating your athletes’ training in the process.
Would you rather listen to a conversation about this? You can do that here.
The Case for Carries
Think of a carry as a moving plank. That reframe alone should change how you look at them. Every farmers carry, waiters walk, and suitcase carry demands what every other movement in CrossFit demands: midline stability, a braced trunk, and breathing behind the brace. The difference is that carries slow everything down long enough for athletes to actually feel it.
That’s a coaching tool, not a consolation prize.
When you load someone overhead for a waiters walk, you’re teaching active shoulders in a static position — the same active shoulder position you’re chasing in a jerk or an overhead squat. When you load someone asymmetrically, one arm overhead and one in the rack position, you’re exposing instability that a barbell might be hiding. Carries reveal what’s actually going on.
The Technique Stuff That Actually Matters
There isn’t much to say here, which is the point. But a couple of cues make a real difference.
Stay braced and breathe behind it. Ribs down, chest up, short, shallow breaths. This isn’t different from what you’re teaching in a press or a squat, but carries give athletes more time to practice it.
Nudge the weight out. If your athletes are farmer carrying with the weights dragging against their legs, have them move the load out just slightly, about half an inch or maybe less. Everything tightens up. They’ll feel the difference immediately. No contact. That’s the cue.
Programming Carries Without Overthinking It
Carries don’t need to be the centerpiece. In fact, some of their best applications are off to the side:
- As a finisher. Ten minutes left in class? A heavy, loaded carry is a complete stimulus. Done.
- As a warm-up. Overhead carries before overhead work prime the shoulder for what’s coming. Low skill, high value.
- Inside a longer, moderate-intensity piece. Mix in a 100- to 200-meter farmers walk with a row and a skill movement for a challenging workout without being destructive.
- After something breathless. Burpees into a carry. Hard row into a carry. The neuroendocrine response from weighted work following high-intensity output is real. Use it.
Who Benefits Most
Carries are especially valuable for populations where joint range of motion is a limiting factor. Older athletes can build full-body strength without loading their joints through complex ranges of motion. Younger athletes (i.e., kids whose bodies are constantly changing) can still pick up dumbbells and walk them with solid mechanics even when their squat is a work in progress.
And grip strength. Don’t sleep on it. It’s considered a predictor of long-term health outcomes, and carries are one of the most effective ways to develop it.
The Variety Is the Point
Farmers carry. Suitcase carry. Waiters walk. Zercher. Sandbag. Yoke. Single-arm, double-arm, mixed. Heavy for short distance. Light for long distance. The implement changes. The stimulus changes. The demand on your athletes keeps adapting.
Start adding carries into your programming two times a week. Watch your athletes’ midline stability improve. Watch their overhead positions clean up. Watch them finish a set of heavy carries and stand there for a second, recalibrating.
That’s the carry doing its job. Let it.
Eric O’Connor is a Content Developer and Seminar Staff Flowmaster for CrossFit’s Education Department and the co-creator of the former CrossFit Competitor’s Course. He has led over 400 seminars and has over a decade of experience coaching at a CrossFit affiliate. He is a