Gamify Your Workout Routine with Farmer Carry

Gamify – verb (transitive) to adapt (a task) so that it takes on the form of a game

Every time I go to Open Gym at my local CrossFit box, I include a Farmer Carry (aka Farmer Walk) once around the building with a pair of 53# Kettlebells. I enjoy the Farmer Carry. It strengthens my grip and it really helps me tighten up my core.

I visit the track several times a week and walk briskly for 2 to 3 miles. But today I wanted to try something that would engage more of my body, in the same amount of time I had for my walk. I wanted something more exciting than my plain old vanilla walk. I found it.

I went to the track with a couple pairs of dumbbells in the trunk. I had a pair of 25’s and a pair of 15’s. That equipped me for a 30# or 50# Farmer Carry. A fifty pound Carry doesn’t sound too difficult. But my goal for this morning was one mile. Why? I really don’t know. I woke up, had a coffee and I knew that was the first thing on my agenda for the day

I began with a pair of 25 pound dumbbells. How difficult can that be? It’s only fifty pounds, that’s less than half my usual kettlebell carry at the gym. Well 200 meters into the lap, I knew there was a big difference. My forearms were throbbing. I determined to hold fast and complete the first lap without setting down the weight.

After Lap One, I left my dented ego at the starting line, rested one minute, sipped some water and then grabbed the pair of 15 pounders. Yes, I submitted to the fact that I would complete the next three laps with only thirty pounds.

I only stopped to rest and re-grip upon completion of the laps. I also wore thin mechanic gloves, because I knew the knurled chrome handles of the dumbbells would be hot and slippery from perspiration.

After a mile, I set the weights down, I walked a few laps empty handed. I ran some hill sprints in the grass and I walked a quarter mile barefoot on the soccer field.

I finished three hours ago, my forearms and my traps are still throbbing. Who knows what tomorrow has in store for this old body?

Note: This is Part One of Three on the Gamification of a daily workout.

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