How to The 16 most effective exercises for your core that you can do carrying and dragging loads

Human beings have been transporting loads from one place to another for thousands of years. In the gym we usually lift loads, but it is less common to see people, especially because of the space available, who push, pull, or move carrying a load. The core is the area that is responsible for giving us stability while everything else moves, so carrying loads is a fundamental movement that must be in our training programs. In addition to the core, we also test grip strength and shoulder stability in some cases. In this article, we are going to look at some load-carrying exercises that you can include a couple of days a week. Load-carrying exercises When carrying a load with your arms, good body preparation is essential. Your body must remain as upright as possible as if you were not carrying a load since when we pick it up we tend to compensate the weight to the opposite side, that is, if we carry the weight in front, we lean back, if we carry it to the left we lean the body to the right, etc. farmer's walk How many times have you been loaded with shopping bags and had to climb the stairs to your house? Carrying loads from one place to another has been done since the beginning of humanity, so there is no more basic exercise than the farmer's walk. The load can be two kettle bells as in the video, or heavier loads. Hex Bar Farmer's Walk, The hexagonal bar is perfect for this walk as it allows us to add more weight than with dumbbells or kettle bells. This exercise challenges the entire stability of the body, since in each step we will be on one foot. That means we will constantly challenge the balance. Global transport The weight can be held in the form of a cup in front of the chest in such a way that the stability of the trunk is further challenged, as well as muscles such as the biceps that must support the weight throughout the entire journey. Don't lean back and stand tall as if you weren't carrying that extra load. Transport of suitcase or briefcase It may seem easier since we have less weight, but when you try it, if you haven't tried it yet, you will notice how the entire side of your trunk tightens. The oblique musculature, both internal and external, will prevent the load from beating us to that side and will allow us to stand upright as if we were not carrying any load. Cross carry Our body is full of crossed chains that go from the neck to the feet. For this reason, carrying the load crosswise challenges those chains and makes our core work intensely. Walk out one way, and change hand positions on the way back. Carrying with a bar above your head and instability If you want to take care of the health of your shoulders, try this exercise. The instability provided by the mixture of elastic bands makes it ideal for our body to stabilize all those vibrations. If we want to give it more intensity, we can make small shakes and then control them. Upside Down Kettle bell Transport Another exercise that takes care of the health of the shoulders, in addition to challenging our core stability, is the backward kettle bell carry. By holding the load in reverse we will have to prevent it from turning, since having the load concentrated we will notice how it will become difficult to grasp the load and not move. Carrying a ball or sandbag, over one shoulder Other materials that we can use our sandbags or heavy balls. These easily adapt to our body, and we can carry them on our shoulders, being a different way of training, but achieving the same results. Medicine ball transport In this exercise, we can see another example of how to carry a load from one side of the gym to the other. Instead of a dumbbell or a kettle bell, we will do it with a sandbag or a ball attached to the chest. This load will tend to bring our trunk forward, which we will have to counteract by making force so that it does not happen. In this exercise, we can see another example of how to carry a load from one side of the gym to the other. Instead of a dumbbell or a kettle bell, we will do it with a sandbag or a ball attached to the chest. This load will tend to bring our trunk forward, which we will have to counteract by making force so that it does not happen. Push and pull load exercises Training sleds are one of the basic materials of CrossFit centers. They allow us to load them with more or less weight and make different variants with which we can drag them around the training room. Below we can see some examples. Sled push The sled push is one of the basic movements that we can do with this material. Try placing your hands higher or lower to challenge your body in different ways. The only drawback is that if you train at home or in a common gym, a sled is usually not available. Sled Leg Extension Instead of pushing the sled in the position of the previous exercise, we can do it backward. This position will activate your quads to the point where your legs can fail from their intensity. Again, we need a sled to do it. Forward sled drag In this exercise and in the following ones, we can use a much more homemade sled since we will use some ropes to drag it. If you have space, you can build yourself a basic sled with one tire. In this case, we pull it forward, as we see in the video. Backward sled drag When dragging the sled backward, you fundamentally work the back of your legs. That is the difference between forward and backward drag exercises. Grab the rope, which can be a TRX, and pull the sled from side to side. Side Sled Drag In addition to forwards and backward, we can pull the sled laterally, involving other muscles such as the adductors. Take a good look at how to cross your legs in the video to do it correctly. Try not to hit jerks and that the movement is fluid. Notation with sled The sled also helps us to do basic exercises such as explosive pushes or pulls. If you have a TRX, it will be perfect for this type of movement. On this occasion, we work the rotation of the trunk in an explosive way. Prepare the body and throw explosively. Don't rush between reps and take your time preparing. Rowing with sled Explosive sled rows are one of my favorite exercises with this equipment. In sports like rugby, and many others, that require explosive pulls to tackle, we can face this preparation with this material and this exercise.