Slayer's Den

[01dragonslayer]

This loaded carry beats everything when it comes to metabolic conditioning and fat loss. Here's why, plus two ways to do it.​

Some people love the Prowler or sled to keep fat at bay. But the farmer’s walk or trap-bar carry is better. First, you’re less likely to be limited by metabolic factors. The Prowler or sled causes the greatest oxygen debt in the least amount of time. This is in part due to the high demands of the exercise, but also because it’s hard to breathe when pushing it!

While the farmer’s walk is also metabolically demanding, at least you can breathe properly when you do it. As such, you can carry big weights for longer than you can push big weights and you recover faster between sets. That allows for a greater density of work (doing a lot of work in a short amount of time), which is important when trying to get as lean as possible.

Second, the farmer’s walk involves a greater number of muscles. The Prowler or sled might hit the legs a little harder, but you don’t get the same traps, arms, and abs involvement as the farmer’s walk. You’ll also experience growth in those muscles because of the occluded stretch you create, which makes the farmer’s walk a bigger bang-for-your-buck movement.

• For fat loss: Bouts of 2 minutes with 1 minute of rest.
• To build muscle and lose fat: Go heavier for 1 minute with one minute of rest.
• To build size/strength while keeping the excess fat off: Go very heavy for 20-30 seconds with up to 2 minutes of rest between sets.