Muscle Gain Forum

Been seeing a lot of guys in my gym messing with yoke walks and farmer’s carries lately. I’m mostly focused on SBD, but thinking of throwing some of that in on off days.
Anyone here actually see it help their squat or pull, or is it just extra fatigue with no real carryover? Trying to get stronger without messing up recovery going into comp prep.

I added farmer carries for a few months and my grip on deadlifts got way better. Didn’t magically boost my numbers, but I stopped losing the bar on heavy pulls.

Yoke smoked my core like nothing else. I swear it helped me stay tighter in the hole on squats. Just gotta keep volume in check or it wrecks your lower back.

Honestly depends how close you are to a meet. Off-season? Yeah it’s fun and useful. Prep phase? I’d keep it minimal.

Farmers = underrated conditioning. My work capacity went up and I recover faster between sets now.

I tried going heavy on yoke and it beat me up more than it helped. If you’re already pushing big weights on squat/dead, it can be too much.

Carryover is mostly indirect. Better bracing, grip and overall stability. Don’t expect a 50lb PR just from doing carries.

I throw in light farmers at the end of upper days. Keeps my shoulders feeling solid and helps with lockout stability on bench.

If you enjoy it, run it. That alone helps consistency. Just don’t replace your main lifts with strongman stuff.

If you're a competitive powerlifter, I wouldn't prioritize strongman events too much, especially during meet prep. Your recovery resources are limited, and your main focus should be getting stronger and more efficient in the squat, bench, and deadlift.

In the off-season, though, things like farmer's walks and yoke carries can be useful for general conditioning, bracing, grip strength, and work capacity. Just don't let them interfere with your main lifts.

I'd actually argue the carryover is greater in the opposite direction: strongman competitors benefit a lot from powerlifting because building a bigger squat, bench, and deadlift increases general strength that carries over to many strongman events.