Farmers Carry · Trunk Lateral Lean

Why this matters

The farmers carry loads both hands, so the temptation is to think of it as symmetrical. It isn't — every step is a single-leg stance, and the trunk has to resist folding toward the swinging side. A trunk that leans side-to-side is bleeding energy sideways instead of driving the carry forward, and it stacks uneven load onto the spine rep after rep.

Good trunk control means good force transfer and low spinal loading. A visible lean is the trunk giving up as the obliques and the stance-side glute fatigue — and it usually drags a hip drop along with it.

What good looks like

From behind, the spine line runs vertically and stays there through the whole carry. The shoulders remain level; the athlete looks "tall and braced" even late in the station when the grip is failing.

Reading the result

• Neutral (near vertical): trunk control is well-maintained for the demands of the carry.
• Moderate lean: appearing under fatigue — worth correcting before it compounds into a hip drop and an inefficient gait.
• Large lean: the trunk is folding to one side; force is escaping laterally and spinal load is uneven.

Coaching cues

• "Tall and braced" — keep cueing it as fatigue rises; it's the whole game here.
• "Ribs down, don't hang on one hip" — biases the trunk back over the centre.

How to mark

1. Use a posterior-view clip and pause on a mid-carry steady stride.
2. First point: the midpoint of the pelvis.
3. Second point: C7 (base of the neck).
4. The tool reports the spine line's angle from vertical.

Related measurements

• Hip Drop (Left Stance) / Hip Drop (Right Stance) — the pelvic half of the same fault; lateral lean and hip drop almost always travel together.