The 6 Laws of Carrying Weight

Don't die: carry weight.

Yesterday, I announced the release of my new field guide, Walk With Weight: The Definitive Guide to Rucking.

The book explains why humans evolved to carry heavy things, what happened when we stopped, and how putting weight back on your body might be one of the simplest ways to rebuild strength, fitness, and resilience.

Most of the book focuses on weighted packs and vests.

But that’s only one slice of the story.

For nearly all of human history, we didn’t carry neatly balanced backpacks and vests. We carried awkward loads: Rocks, water, meat, children, tools, etc. We carried things however we could. It was necessary for survival.

It turns out that variety matters.

Carrying in different ways unlocks benefits we can’t get from machines and perfectly symmetrical lifts and packs. It opens up a world of physical benefits:

• More strength where you need it most.

• Real-world fitness and endurance that translates beyond the gym (and, by proxy, gives you a better and longer life).

• Armor against the injuries that sideline most people.

Today, we’re diving into the power of carrying weight and 12 ways to carry weight that most people have forgotten.

Trainers call these exercises “loaded carries.” And any good trainer will tell you, if they tell you the truth, that these exercises might be the most underrated movement patterns in modern fitness.

Housekeeping

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From here you’ll learn:

• The 6 laws of carrying weight—rules that separate random effort from full-body stimulus.

• 12 loaded carries (with video demos of each) that expose your weak links and build the kind of strength and endurance that transfers to real life.

• Why each carry works—what it trains, what it fixes, and when to use it.

• Research behind carrying weight—why it’s one of the most powerful yet overlooked tools.

• The surprising link between your grip strength and a 31% reduction in mortality risk.

Let’s roll …