Performing heavy loaded carries is one of the most underrated ways to build raw strength, muscular endurance and the type of mental grit you need to keep pushing on when every muscle in your body is screaming.

This triple-threat carry workout doesn’t just stick to the tried-and-tested default of the farmer’s carry, but tests your full body through a mechanical dropset of movements. You’ll start with the hardest carry – mechanically – and push on, dropping to progressively easier moves as you go, until you’re completely spent and have to drop the bells.

This protocol is the perfect finisher for building strength, stamina and grit once all of the more ‘fun’ bodybuilding and strength work is done, but you can also bump it up to 5 rounds as a standalone workout that’s guaranteed to deliver.

Rest for 2 to 3 minutes and repeat for 3 total rounds. Use dumbbells or kettlebells, picking the heaviest bells you can press overhead to get maximum effect from all three carries.

A. Overhead Carry x max distance

B. Front Rack Carry x max distance

• Begin with an overhead carry.
• Once you can no longer keep the weights locked out overhead, drop into the front rack position and continue.
• When you can’t keep the dumbbells secured in the front rack drop to a farmer’s carry and go until your grip gives out.
• Measure the total distance each round and aim to progressively add more before upping the weight.

With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.    

As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.   

Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.   

 You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.