The ability to carry loads far, and to recover quickly between running bouts, are two of the most underrated (and undertrained) skills in fitness. The ‘Run It Back’ carry challenge will reveal if either of these capacities are a hole in your training – while also filling the gap.
The challenge is deceptively simple, but you’ll quickly find out it’s no walk in the park.
On that note, this is the perfect outdoor challenge – so grab whatever kettlebells or dumbbells you have to hand, and get to work. If you can complete it in under 45 minutes, consider your all-round fitness levels rock solid.
The ‘Run It Back’ Challenge
1-Mile Farmer’s Carry*
Every time you drop the weights, run back to your starting point, then back to your weights, and carry on.
- Carry 0.5 miles out, and 0.5 miles back. On the way out, the total run distance increases with each drop – on the way back, each run decreases in total length.
- The workout ends when you have completed one mile of carries.
*Use whatever weights or style of carry you have access to (sandbag bear hug carry, suitcase carry etc.), but the recommendation is 2 x 24kg kettlebells.
Coach’s Notes
The game is to push the length of each carry as far as possible to limit the total number of runs you have to perform, so both grip and grit are essential for this one. Your grip strength will be the limiting factor, but the further you push each carry, the more you’ll be fatiguing your upper back and shoulders. Expect an unexpected delt burn the next day.
What to read next
Push the pace on each run unless you want this workout to last forever – especially on the back end, as the distances become shorter. As soon as you get back into your carry, control your breathing and attempt to bring your heart rate back down – no easy feat with weights in hand.
This challenge will obviously build some serious grip strength, but it will also teach you a lot about pacing, recovery, strategy, and holding on until the very last minute.
With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.
