Fitness coach Jeff Cavaliere has one exercise he swears by, especially for those struggling to gain muscle. On March 16, he broke down why the loaded carry is an essential exercise for muscle growth, posture, and core stability.
“It can fix not just your frame and your size, but also your posture,” he shared. “What we’re talking about is a carry, and specifically, how to do it right, the right way to program it, the different variations that are best for you and your body.”
Cavaliere has become one of the most influential fitness trainers in the world. His YouTube channel, ATHLEAN-X, has over 14.2 million subscribers, where he unpacks science-based workout strategies for building muscle and burning fat.
We often think of how to grow the biggest biceps or the tightest waist, while sometimes posture and mobility take a back seat. This prompted Cavaliere to explain how a simple carry exercise can transform physiques with proper setup and execution.
Jeff Cavaliere Shares How to Perform Loaded Carries for Strength, Posture, and Core Stability (For Hardgainers)
In the video, Cavaliere first noted how the carry can improve posture. He believes this exercise can help individuals who lack lean muscle mass.
“You have to have good thoracic extension, you have to have shoulder-back positioning. You have to be able to do that under load because when you pick up a weight, you don’t want all the weights to pull you down. What skinny guys oftentimes do, again, lacking muscle mass, they don’t have postural stability. They are more likely to succumb to the force of gravity.”
Two of the most common mistakes Cavaliere has noticed are performing the carry too fast or with unstable steps.
“Far too often, people want to go for a long distance, and they do choppy steps. They are ugly, unstable steps. Your carry should look really, really smooth and deliberate. Each step should be done with stability. So I want you to take slower, more deliberate steps.
If you do that, you’re requiring more time in single-leg stance, which is applying more benefit to the exercise. As we put one leg up to take the next step, that opposite hip is having to hold your body level. That glute medius is really working hard. If I take short, choppy steps, I’m removing that requirement and one of the major benefits of that exercise.”
Additionally, to avoid drifting while you step, he said to deliberately contract your glutes throughout the exercise.
“If you’re finding yourself drifting a lot or the legs start crossing up, then you want to deliberately contract your glutes. Remember, your posterior chain is not just from the waist up, it’s from the waist down too.
Squeeze your glutes before you initiate the exercise and right after you pick the dumbbells up and maintain that contraction with every step, and you’ll find more stability throughout the entire duration of the exercise.”
He added that 15-30 steps per side or 30 to 60-second sets are an ideal starting point:
“15-30 steps per set is a good place for beginners to start. That’d be somewhere around 15-30 yards, roughly. For time, 30 seconds is a good place to start, work up to 60 seconds, and do this for multiple sets.”
Carry Variations
- Gun Carry
- One-Up, One-Down Carry
- Double Up Carry
Gun Carry
Cavaliere introduced the gun carry, where the lifter holds the dumbbells in a neutral grip.
“You’re shifting the load heavily to the arms, really the forearms and brachialis, as you have to hold them in this isometric 90-degree position. You use a lot less weight.”
One-Up, One-Down Carry
This variation uses one arm in the air to carry the dumbbell, requiring more thoracic extension and mobility.
“The requirements of thoracic extension and mobility go up substantially. If you don’t have good thoracic mobility, you’re going to find this to be very difficult,” he said.
Double Up Carry
For maximum load, Cavaliere shared that carrying both dumbbells overhead can produce results and provide extra stimulus on the core.
“Now, it’s double overhead carry. Again, working the same things we just talked about, but more so, more thoracic stability into extension, more stability into the core.”
Posture often falls under the radar for lifters, but it can make a huge difference in performance. Cavaliere emphasized that the band pull-apart can not only aid posture, but it can also improve front-to-back imbalances and strength.
With careful execution, the carry is a simple, effective exercise for improving posture and strength. Cavaliere believes performing them daily is a great method for building muscle over time.
RELATED: Jeff Cavaliere Breaks Down His Most Effective 30-Day 2-Part Full-Body Workout Routine
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