How to Get Through the HYROX Farmers Carry

The Farmers Carry is the sixth station: 200m carrying a heavy kettlebell in each hand. It’s short, it’s fast, and it’s one of the few stations in HYROX where you can genuinely make up time on your competitors without suffering more.

It’s also the station that punishes under-preparation most obviously. An athlete whose grip fails at 100m doesn’t just slow down. They stop, shake out their hands, pick the bells back up, and do that two or three more times while watching their race time drift.

What this station actually tests

The Farmers Carry tests two things in combination: grip endurance and postural strength under load. The movement itself isn’t technically complex. Walking fast with heavy kettlebells looks simple. What makes it hard after 5km of running and five stations is that your grip has already been working, your shoulders are tired, and your posture is the first thing to break down when you’re fatigued.

The 200m distance is short enough that you should be aiming for unbroken. Putting the bells down twice costs more than most athletes expect, because every time you set them down, you spend time and energy picking them back up, and grip endurance degrades with each re-grip.

Technique: what to actually do

Walk fast. This is not a slow, grinding movement. The Farmers Carry rewards pace. Think march rather than stroll. Short, quick steps keep momentum and actually reduce the time your grip is under load.

Shoulders back and down, chest up, core braced. The weight will pull your shoulders forward and round your upper back if you let it. Don’t let it. A rounded carry position puts pressure on your lower back, reduces your walking speed, and makes the bells feel heavier than they are. Stay tall.

Arms long and straight, hanging naturally. Don’t shrug the bells up or bend your elbows. Both positions add unnecessary tension to the shoulders and forearms and accelerate grip failure. Let the bells hang. Your hands are hooks. Your job is to hold on, not to assist.

Eye line forward, not down. Athletes who look at the floor round their backs. Look at where you’re going.

Grip strategy

Grip is the variable that determines whether this station is fast or slow. By Station 6, your grip has already been tested twice: the Ski Erg taxes the lats and hands, and the Sled Pull is directly demanding on grip endurance. The Farmers Carry asks your hands to hold significant static load at the point when they’re most fatigued.

Go unbroken if you can. The mental calculation many athletes get wrong is thinking that a short rest will help. It doesn’t, not in the way you hope. Putting the bells down and shaking out takes 10 to 15 seconds minimum. Picking them back up recruits the same fatigued grip structures you were trying to rest. And every set-down adds friction to the next decision: do I put them down again?

If your grip is truly failing and you can’t hold on, put the bells down deliberately and briefly. Don’t drift into a long rest. Three deep breaths maximum, then pick them back up. Commit to that before you set them down.

Train grip endurance specifically in the weeks before your race. Dead hangs, heavy kettlebell holds for time, loaded carries for distance. The grip adaptation is real and it comes quickly with consistent work. Four to six weeks of grip-specific training makes a material difference to this station.

Where the time is

The Farmers Carry is one of the faster stations in HYROX relative to the distance covered. An athlete who moves well can cover 200m in under 90 seconds. An athlete who stops three times might take four minutes.

Because the movement is walkable and the distance is short, the time is almost entirely in how you manage the grip and how fast you move. There’s no complex pacing decision here. Walk as fast as your grip allows. Don’t stop unless you have to.

How fatigue changes the movement

The shoulder rounding is the first thing to go. When you’re tired, your upper back loses tension and the bells start pulling you forward. This makes the bells feel heavier, slows your walk, and increases the load on your forearms.

The cue when you feel it: brace hard and pull your shoulder blades together. It takes a second. It costs nothing. It stops the spiral.

The second thing is gait. Tired athletes take longer, slower steps to reduce effort. This actually keeps you under load for longer. Counter-intuitively, picking up your step rate when you’re struggling makes the carry feel more manageable because you’re covering ground faster and the time under load shortens.

What comes before and after

The Row Erg comes before the Farmers Carry. Row well and you arrive with more grip endurance than if you arrived from a sprint. After the Farmers Carry comes Run 7 and then Sandbag Lunges: two stations that don’t test grip directly, which means the Farmers Carry is the last chance to spend grip freely in the race. Use it.

Build carry intervals into your training with the app and set your target time with PaceMe.

See all 8 HYROX stations · Sled Pull guide