The Farmer’s Walk is a great exercise but you need a couple of kettlebells or heavy sandbags to do it. I think it works really well if you combine it with lunges, squats, or clean & press. I had to look up Stir The Pot, and while it’s fine if you really want to put a Swiss ball to use, I think you’ll really get more out of doing something more dynamic like yoga or a primal/animal flow routine where you aren’t just doing mostly static, boring, repetitive work. Not only does the movement make it more interesting but it also develops and maintains balance, proprioception, and articulation. But really, anything that keeps you engaged while working the entire core (including the pelvic floor muscles which are often neglected) is good.
When I was working 60-70 hours per week, my ball “chair” was a god-send. I did have to work up to using it all the time, it was probably three months before I could sit on it all day. But at the end of the day, I was no longer stiff and sore, but actually felt active. I started going for long walks after work because I felt so much better.
YMMV of course, and honestly if you really want to build your core a good yoga class is probably the optimal starting point. But I was a single working Mom, so the ball was my only real option.
I’m a huge fan of sandbags because they’re cheap, easy to transport, and you can stuff them with a bunch of weight without worrying about dropping it on your foot or losing some teeth if you hit yourself in the face with it. The shifting weight is actually an advantage from a functional standpoint, since a lot of real world lifting involves awkward and unstable loads, and if you spend money on a purpose-built bag of good quality you can basically throw or slam the bag and it will still last for many years. If you really want to get some good exercise on the cheap, a sandbag, speed rope, and a decent exercise mat (not just a yoga mat but a heavier ‘treadmill mat’ or some rubber gym flooring) is enough to do a hell of a lot, and some gymnastic rings or a TRX will give a lot of pulling and hanging options. I love kettlebells, clubs, and maces, but they are a bitch to transport more than a couple at a time, whereas you can just throw a sandbag in the trunk or footwell of a vehicle and pull it out whenever you need it.
I’m also a big fan of weighted walking (or ‘rucking’ for those of the tactical inclination) but it does required you to work up to develop lower back strength to carry the weight and it doesn’t have the pulling and balance demands of a farmer’s walk, but it is definitely great conditioning for walking and hiking.
Dumbbells do the job for the farmer’s walk. Key for it being core intensive is maintaining good posture, standing straight shoulders down and back, and preventing the weights from swinging. It’s essentially a moving vertical plank done right.
Stir The Pot is not static or to me boring. And it also engages balance muscles.
That does however raise another suggestion, which I’ve brought up in other threads: a cheap balance disc. Just simple body weight squats on that increases squats’ value as a core exercise significantly. Again the long stabilization muscles are a major portion of core.
It is beyond the original question, but farmers walks are my favourite full body exercise. You can use a lot of weight using specialized bars with handles. You can use one heavy bell as a “suitcase” held in one hand to really work the stabilizing core muscles. You can hold a barbell overhead while walking, which works everything in the body, including the core, to a high degree. You can walk on tiptoes to really work the calves - giving better results than machines. And, as said, equipment to do them can be portable, cheap, unbalanced (as desired) and very functional. They build real strength. But they require space and are not necessarily a beginner exercise.
I love the Turkish Get-Up (TGU) in all forms but it is a complicated maneuver that needs to be taught and coached to master the form correctly. I think it is best to start with a light weight and learn the movements piecemeal first, then put them together and start progressing with weight. Frankly, you can build an entire whole body exercise program around just TGUs, swings, and goblet/Zercher squats (maybe some halos and farmer carry) that can progress for at least a couple of years with just three or four kettlebells, or a sandbag that just gets uploaded.
Turkish get-ups are useful. I did them often when I was doing CrossFit. I can’t say I have done them too often recently. They do require a bit of practice or coaching. It is hard to use very heavy weights, especially at first, so there are perhaps better strength movements, but as always this depends on goals.
TGUs are definitely not a pure strength development exercise. If you just want to build linear strength quickly, then doing squats, cleans, and presses is the way to go. But if you can progress with TGUs with good form up to higher weights, you can master pretty much any practical loaded ground-to-standing maneuver (or vice versa) with good control, which is really the point because a TGU is all about form and control.
A friend who had back problems when working long hours at a desk found that she got better by switching between sitting in a good ergonomic chair and standing at her desk.
This required her to replace her desk with a motorized standing desk so she could easily raise her desk from desk-height to standing-height, and she installed a program that reminded her to change positions (she set it for randomly between 40-140 minutes). And sometimes ignored it if she was deeply concentrating on something.
I would get assessed by a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist. (The latter is a physio with a graduate diploma or Masters degree in one or other therapeutic exercise specialties.)
I say this because none of us is identical, and not everyone can benefit from all exercises. I had ankylosing spondylitis in my twenties, and consequently my sacro-iliac joint is completely fused. Therefore squats are pretty well impossible for me to perform correctly. The angled leg press works pretty much the same muscle groups, however. You just need the equipment to do it – found at most gyms! I can do bridges just fine, though. A physio can draw up a program for you to do at home. You may need to buy simple equipment like dumbells or bands. (No disrespect to the poster, but I am alarmed at the idea of walking along while holding a dumbell over your head! To me this opens the possibility of a head injury.)
I seem to remember that you are pretty tall. IMHO tall people have a higher probability of having musculo-skeletal problems like arthritis. If I have this wrong, a physio can set you right! Pilates concentrates on core strength. So pilates classes, preferably with a qualified instructor, are another possibility, and not expensive. I wouldn’t bother seeing a GP – unless they are “woke” to exercise, they will just want to write you a prescription for anti-inflammatories. They are also less likely to exercise than the general population. Sorry if any of the above offends anyone.
I definitely support the recommendation for a good multi-adjustable office chair. For the record, I am not a physiotherapist, an exercise physiologist, or a chair salesman. I am 6’ tall and arthritic.
No personal experience but, one strange alternative that I’ve seen that’s a bit more relaxing than weight training, is Diamond Dallas Page Yoga (DDP Yoga).
Purportedly, he was having back issues and started hunting through all the yoga movements and variations, to find stuff that helped his back. Through that, he has created a variant of yoga and light weight training specialized to the issue.
I gotta say I would not have pegged you for a Cross Fitter!
Which was the point of bringing them up here. What they require is lots of varied core stabilization in service of a very functional movement, getting up off the ground. Light weights fer sure.
FWIW I strongly suspect our OP’s posture is somewhat lordotic, just from the fact that it hurts if he walks too much. Core strength is necessary but insufficient for good posture.
I don’t know if the following stretch has a name but I love it and think it helps improve posture significantly.
Back against a wall. Use belly muscles to make the small of your back disappear keeping back of legs and head still touching the wall. Then, maintaining that, raise arms over head. Hold a second then down.
Thanks for all the advice everyone. For the Farmers walk, I do have some 10 or 12 lb dumb bells. I’m sure I can improvise though.
Part of the reason I am doing this, is that my Wife and I are spending a 3 week vacation to the British Isles in 2025 (It’s a Viking Cruise with lot’s of days on shore). My wife and I love history, so much walking will be involved. If nothing else, from pub to pub
Yeah, the TGU is predominately a core stabilization exercise that recruits a bunch of muscles you don’t normally use in just standing or sitting posture. You can lift pretty heavy with a TGU if you work up to it but I usually stick to 24 kg max which is plenty stressing if you do it slow and controlled.
Someone mentioned doing a walk with a weight overhead; I don’t recommend that just from a safety standpoint, and it is also a good way to exacerbate a shoulder injury. In general you want to work up to any overhead weight exercises in a static stance (again, the TGU is great for that provided you work on each element of the movement with good form) and also practice safety moves (throwing the weight to the side, or for a barbell in front) without hyperextending the elbow or over-rotation of the shoulder to avoid injury if you lose control of the weight. The normal farmer’s walk, on the other hand, is easy to learn and really pretty safe as long as you practice good straight-backed lifting technique and keep your feet lively if your grip is failing.
To condition for walking, nothing is better than just walking. Loaded walking/rucking helps to maximize benefit for miles travelled but just get a decent backpack, throw in some sandbags or wrapped bricks (or if you want to be fancy, get a rucking pack and steel plate) and put on some miles.
No, it would just make you more comfortable in your weakness. The key to any kind of “strength”, core or otherwise, is exercise. I suggest a brisk walk for 30 minutes a day and abdominal crunches. You have to start modestly and build up your endurance.
You need to be strong to do Turkish Get-ups. But they are too demanding and low volume to make you strong by themselves. Like Olympic lifts, they are challenging to master. They are great for flexibility and a good measure of strength.
It is true lifting overhead requires good shoulder mobility. One should know how to assess this and how to stretch appropriately. This is not a beginning exercise nor is it suitable for everyone. But if you can do presses and cleans than you can likely do walks safely as well, starting with very light weights and increasing when successful.
Well, that’s why you start with light weight. TGUs are really more of a stability and proprioception development that recruits muscles that you should be using but probably aren’t if you are in a normal occupation and live a typical sedentary lifestyle. I think they’re a good exercise after a warm-up (or as a warm-up if you are starting light) and before strength or endurance conditioning like clean & press or kettlebell/club swings.
Without trying to start a debate on the topic, I’m not really seeing the benefit of an overhead weighted walk. It isn’t something you [del]would[/del]should normally do from a functional or occupational standpoint and it just seems like a real safety issue that isn’t actually giving you any conditioning you aren’t getting from a static overhead press or inverted pushups/handstands. One of the most common issues that people have in kettlebell and club training with overhead exercises like snatches or gama casts is poor stance (trying to use footwork to compensate for poor core stability), and that would seem to be exacerbated by intentionally moving.
