HYROX Farmers Carry Technique: Grip, Stride and Weight

By Threshold·Published Oct 2026

Good HYROX farmers carry technique starts before the bells leave the floor: grip hard, pack the shoulders, then stride with quick, flat steps rather than jogging. Slow for one step at each corner and do everything you can to avoid a set-down, because each one costs a re-grip and a restart. Loads run from 16 kg to 32 kg per hand by division.

Where the farmers carry sits in HYROX

The farmers carry is station 6 of eight: 200 m with a kettlebell in each hand. It taxes grip, traps and trunk stability under load, with the lungs still paying for the row just before it. It is short, and that is the trap: people treat it as a rest and then lose a minute to a dropped bell.

The carry has its own section in the stations guide, and every station is covered in race order in our guide to the eight HYROX stations. The row that comes right before it has its own guide too: our guide to HYROX rowing strategy.

Grip before you lift

Grip the handles hard before you lift. A loose grip at the bottom becomes a slipping grip halfway down the lane, and by then it is too late to fix without putting the bells down. Set your hands in the middle of the handles, squeeze, then stand up with the bells close to your sides.

1. Hands centered on the handles, squeeze before the bells move.
2. Stand up tall with the bells at your sides.
3. Shoulders packed down and back, chest up.
4. Brace the trunk, then take the first short step.

Grip is a theme across the whole race, not just this station. The sled pull earlier asks for it too, which is why our HYROX grip strength guide treats the two stations together.

Stride, do not jog

Stand tall with the shoulders packed down and back, and stride: a quick, flat walk with short steps, not a jog that bounces the bells. Bouncing loads the grip on every step and makes the bells swing, which makes them harder to hold. The opposite leak is walking it: 200 m at a stroll is a minute you did not need to spend.

Breathe out through pursed lips. The trunk has to stay braced against the load, which makes breathing shallow if you let it. Short, controlled breaths keep the brace without starving you of air, which matters because you are still recovering from the row.

Corners

Corners are where bells get dropped: slow for one step, not five. A turn shifts the load and pulls the bells away from your body, so the grip has to work harder for a moment. Shorten the step into the turn, keep the bells close, and accelerate back to your stride as soon as you are straight again.

Set-downs

Set-downs are the big leak. Each one costs the re-grip, the lift, and ten meters of getting back up to speed, and the second set-down comes sooner than the first. If you must put the bells down, do it on purpose rather than waiting for the grip to fail: set them down under control, shake out the hands briefly, and pick them up with a fresh, hard grip.

The best way to avoid set-downs is to arrive with grip left. That means not burning it on the sled pull and not tensing on the row. The pacing for the runs either side is covered in our guide to running on tired legs in HYROX.

A simple race rule helps: decide before you start that the bells only go down if the grip is about to open, never because the legs or lungs want a break. Most athletes can keep walking far longer than they can keep holding, so the hands set the pace, and protecting them is the job. Treat every step without a set-down as time banked for the lunges and wall balls still to come.

Farmers carry weight by division

The weight is per hand. Women Pro carries the Men Open bells. Full numbers for every station are in our guide to HYROX farmers carry weights.

No kettlebells: the bear-hug substitute

With no kettlebells, the engine's closest match is a sandbag bear-hug carry, which keeps the trunk demand if not the grip. The ranking below is the engine's own.

Because the bear-hug carry does not train the hands, add grip work elsewhere in the week if it is your swap. Our guide to HYROX training without kettlebells lists the same swaps with the kit each one needs.

How the app trains it

Loaded carries at race load per hand sit inside the station circuits, at half distance in normal rounds and the full 200 m on the final round, plus grip work riding along with the sled pull and the deadlift pattern on strength days. Threshold builds one adaptive plan from your race date, division, goal time, lifts and kit; the week it fits into is laid out in our free HYROX training plan, week by week.

Treat the carry as part of the race rather than a rest between harder stations. A calm, steady carry sets up the run that follows and the lunges after it.