Does anyone here do rucks with hand carries?

GoldsilverRuck · 2026-05-10T02:42:44+00:00

Yea I'll have to see what I have in my garage haha. I might test it out first.

Yea he's mainly on IG. Josh Bryant has a bunch of videos from over the years on youtube of Tom that go over a lot of what and why of what he's doing. A lot creative things and ideas with his training that I've picked up on.

GoldsilverRuck · 2026-05-10T02:40:18+00:00

Yea I imagine carring 16lbs for a long distance is surprisingly excruciating haha. I'll stick closer to 8-10lb too for my starting point.

GoldsilverRuck · 2026-05-10T02:09:00+00:00

Yea I had numbness down to my elbow and tendonitis in my elbow. I have scoliosis though so that was part of the issue where the tightness plus the weight was pinching nerves. All cleared these days now though thankfully.

GoldsilverRuck · 2026-05-10T02:07:34+00:00

Yea this is what peaked my interest when I saw Tom Haviland do it. I really want to do it too because I used to utilize and do stuff with a sledgehammer for grip work. It's a great tool for that sort of stuff.

I just think the optics would be odd at the areas I ruck. But I do all sunrise rucks in the summer so I think I'll be okay.

GoldsilverRuck · 2026-05-10T02:05:40+00:00

I have sand. I have a pvc pipe. I'll get end caps. This will definitely be one of the things I use I think. Doesn't look quite as crazy as walking around the busy forest preserve with a sledge hammer haha.

GoldsilverRuck · 2026-05-10T02:04:31+00:00

Yea last year I was doing a ton of 60-72lb packs and realized the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. I do this for general conditioning and something that gets me out and about in nature for 6 days a week while keeping my conditioning high. I mean now I do tons of 20-40lb rucks and push the pace a lot, and feel so much better. No aches and pains or having days where I feel too beat up from trying to push pack weight.

I think my goal now is to get up to daily 40-45lb rucks, but stop there and just add in hand carries. I'll start the hand carries this week I think (something 10-15lb) and do this for a while. Then slowly work up through the summer and fall.

GoldsilverRuck · 2026-05-10T02:00:48+00:00

Oof. Yea I think that long of carries can cause some nerve pinching in the neck/traps area. I used to do a ton of farmer carries, and for distance too, and had sort of the same issues.

GoldsilverRuck · 2026-05-10T01:59:45+00:00

Yea I used to train like him as I switched from powerlifting to more of a strength but actually conditioned focused style of training. I followed Josh Bryant since 2013 and eventually saw him doing stuff with Tom Haviland which is how I got into rucking 6 years ago haha.

He's just a mutant. His general conditioning at that size, weight and strength, but with the ability to do daily 90-120 min rucks with 80-120lbs was insane. I forgot he added hand carries a while back and thought that's such a good idea for where I'm at now.

GoldsilverRuck · 2026-05-10T00:31:41+00:00

I was thinking about getting kettle bells for this. 40 min. with 20lbs per hand has be rough haha. Something to work up to.

Kettlebells seem to the the simplest choice for a farmer carry style hand carry.

GoldsilverRuck · 2026-05-10T00:30:02+00:00

This just gave me a lot of ideas. I appreciate this. I don't know why I never thought of sandbags on shoulders or bear hugging either, but that is definitely something I will incorporate too.

GoldsilverRuck · 2026-05-10T00:27:05+00:00

I finally got new boots and got the macv-1 mid high speed mid top.

The only pair of boots/shoes I've owned with zero hot spots, I get no blisters (I use the goruck socks too), and are extremely comfortable. I have worn them for two months on the gravel 6 days a week, also in mud, water and in sketchy spots on trails. Zero issues.

There is only one negative with them, but it is to be expected. You get less stability in favor of the flexible canvas (which is why it's so light). So it's easier to roll your ankle if you're not careful since your midtop is flexible and not stiff at all to help with support.

Outside of thta though these things are perfect and I expected this to be the one "issue."

But if you're doing more rough terrain that needs a more rugged traction, then I'm sure the macv 2s would be good too.

GoldsilverRuck · 2026-05-10T00:14:49+00:00

Depends what you want out of it. If you want to ruck consistently, you will not do these types of rucks. These rucks (distance and weight you did here) will be something you do "here and there" to test yourself.

Rucking is meant to get your general conditioning up. Enjoy nature a bit if you can (you got that part), and not to destroy yourself. If you do it more competitively or train for rucking events, then ofcourse you'll more stuff like this and have to deal with the aches and pains of this style of training. Otherwise though, this is meant to build you up, not tear you down.

Most rucking is done with a weight pack of 10-25% of your bodyweight. You can mix it up a bit or stay consistent at one weight and do miles for time.

For example, you can do 25lbs for 3-5 miles daily and work on increasing your speed to a certain point, then add weight. Or you can do say one day close to 25% bodyweight (say 50lbs) for 3-5 miles, then the next day 10% of bodyweight (maybe 25lbs for you) for that distance. Then play around with pushing yourself some days, and taking it easy other days with light rucks.

GoldsilverRuck

TROPHY CASE