Farmer's Walk

Muscles worked

The prime movers are the forearm flexors and extensors, which move the wrist and keep the hand closed around whatever you are holding.

Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the abdominals brace the trunk so force can pass between the hips and the shoulders; the glutes finish hip extension; the hamstrings assist hip extension and slow the knee down.

The lower back, quadriceps and traps take a share of the work as well.

Every exercise for:ForearmsAbdominalsGlutesHamstringsLower back

How this movement works

Several joints move together, so effort spreads across a chain rather than concentrating in one place. Coordination is part of the difficulty: the movement is only as good as its weakest link, and improving it often means fixing a position somewhere other than the muscle you meant to train.

It is filed under strongman, where the load is deliberately awkward rather than balanced. Most of the difficulty goes on holding on and staying braced.

What you need

These train the forearms too, using equipment this one does not:

• Finger Curlsbarbell
• Palms-Down Dumbbell Wrist Curl Over A Benchdumbbell
• Seated Two-Arm Palms-Up Low-Pulley Wrist Curlcable
• Wrist Circlesbody only
• Bottoms-Up Clean From The Hang Positionkettlebell

Difficulty

Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.

Of the 25 forearms exercises in this database, 7 are listed at intermediate level.