As previously discussed in part 1 there are many types of carry events in strongman with some more brutal than others and therefore less suitable to the general gym goer or non-competitive strongmen and Strongwomen. One such exercise is the super yoke. The yoke walk has appeared in many shapes and sizes over the years but a few things remain the same. It is truly an event that separates the men from the boys! Often the weight will exceed 1.5 – 2 x the person’s maximum squat weight, which results in huge spinal compression forces and can be very taxing on the hip and knee joints due to the dynamic nature of the lift. The keys to a good yoke carry are trunk stability, great footwork and patience.
Yoke Walk For Non competitive lifters
While the Yoke can be safely trained at light loads for beginners if you are not currently competing in strongman events then the yoke really is a high risk low reward event. Other than for bragging rights the benefits of doing the yoke lift can easily be achieved by performing similar exercises that are much lower in risk. One such event is the conans wheel/carry.
The conans carry/Zercher carry has the weight placed on the crook of the elbow in front of your body significantly reducing the risk of injury to the spine and hips. It’s a much more forgiving exercise for beginners and has many benefits such as building a stronger mid section, increasing your work capacity and is a great builder of leg strength. You can follow the same program outlined below however I use time limits instead of distances. Instead of using a 30m distance you go for as long as you can in 60 seconds. Another way to incorporate it into your training is while minimizing the associated risks is to alternate the yoke into your event day every 2nd or 3rd week.
Training the Yoke Walk
In training the yoke I put an emphasis on moderate load work done for relatively high volumes. By this I mean lots of work done with around the 80-85% max weight and done for lots of meters. I prefer to accumulate volume in the yoke by doing repeat efforts or intervals rather than longer runs. We will occasionally do a bout of 50m+ yoke runs (which is absolute torture!) but at light loads of 60-70% max weight.
Most yoke events do not exceed 30m in distance so I find it much better on our lifters recovery and better results with doing repeat efforts at comp weight or less to build up the meters. We might do 1 heavy set at 85-90% max or comp weight for a single 15m run followed by 3-5 sets of 30m at 80% of the weight used on the heavy set with only 60-90 seconds rest between sets. I have found that by doing the yoke in this manner results in better recovery and also build event “conditioning” while keeping the risk of injury to a minimum.
