THE FARMER’S WALK: A GREAT WAY TO GET AROUND TOWN!

THE FARMER’S WALK: A GREAT WAY TO GET AROUND TOWN!

by Bob Whelan

It was a steamy, 100-degrec July day in Washington, D.C. Big Melvin Tuten (6’7", 330 pounds) had just finished his last set on the Hammer leg press and was wiped out. He got his second set of 20 reps with 620 pounds without bouncing the plates. He had done more than one hour of high intensity training. Melvin played two years with the Cincinnati Bengals and had one more workout before heading to his third training camp. We worked everything, including neck, abs, and grip work and just completely hammered his whole body. But this was only the “main meal" and we were not done yet. I let Melvin take a few extra minutes to rest and drink some water and told him what was on the dessert menu.

The dessert menu included “fried traps”, “smoked delts”, “roasted lats״, and “diced hands.” This was all included in the special of the day called “The Farmer’s Walk. ” Melvin thought that I was joking when I loaded the Big Boy dumbbells to 120 pounds each and told him he was going for a walk around the block with these! He soon found out it was no joke! We each carried a 120-pound dumbbell up the stairs and out to the sidewalk. It was about 2:00 p.m. in the heart of downtown Washington. There were business men walking by us, homeless bums begging for money, construction workers digging up the sidewalk, cars double parked, etc., all around us. It was great! They were just staring at us and did not know what to make of it, but were too afraid to ask.

Melvin picked up the bells and started to walk. He made it about half way down the block before his grip gave out. He was breathing like a freight train. Sweat was pouring out of him but evaporating
just as quick, getting sucked up the scorching D.C. sun. He took about a minute’s rest, then heaved the bells up and started to walk FAST. He figured he should just cover as much ground with his legs as his grip would permit. He made it to the corner and collapsed. He got into the shade and stood leaning against the corner of a building. He left the dumbbells where he collapsed. NO ONE was going to STEAL them! (I could hear people on the sidewalk mumbling, “What are those crazy Mother F__ers DOING!”)

Melvin learned to cut corners and walk close to the building to make the distance shorter. After a short rest, he walked the second part of the block and by now his shoulders were smoking big time
and hurt more than his hands! The weights were digging into his sides by now, too, and that made him try to hold them off his hips, but doing this KILLED his shoulders even more. There was no easy
way out of this. It was HELL any way you sliced it.

He finally finished the second part of the block and rounded the corner. There was construction ahead and there were guys with jackhammers blocking the sidewalk. Melvin had to go on the edge of
the road, which lengthened the course. I guided him through traffic without getting hit. Melvin’s shoulders were killing him and his grip was giving out, but there was no where to rest until we got past the construction. Melvin’s face was grimaced in pain and the sweat was raining off of him, and he finally made it to the third corner past the construction. He screamed a loud sigh of relief as he could finally release the dumbbells to the ground. His shoulders were just throbbing!

He could now see the finish and there was nothing blocking the sidewalk! After a short rest, Melvin decided he wanted to get out of this hot sun so he picked up the dumbbells for a last time and began
the homestretch. His shoulders were now numb and his hands almost to the point of bleeding. I was losing my voice from screaming encouragement for him to finish. He made it to the end, dropped the
bells and collapsed. After a few minutes rest, we each carried a dumbbell back inside and went downstairs. Melvin drank a half gallon of water and didn’t know which was worse: the sandbag or the farmer’s walk! I told him that ala grande sandbag was on the dessert menu for our next meeting!