Exercise physiologist and women's nutrition coach, Dr. Stacy Sims, recently joined Sarah Grynberg for A Life of Greatness. If there's one thing that instantly catches the eye, it's Sims' muscular shoulders. The secret behind it is simple: farmer's carries.

"In order to get shoulders like this, heavy farmer's carries," Dr. Sims suggested. Even while actively travelling, the physiologist skipped push presses and Olympic lifts, but farmer's carries remained firmly on her workout routine.

The benefits of the exercise are many: "Grip strength, walking, learning how to walk properly, core strength, and shoulders."

However, as popular an exercise it is, the rumors surrounding it are also creatively embellished. Dr. Sims was sure to bust the long-standing myth that you should be able to carry 75% of your body weight for a minute.

While she acknowledged that the standard was a good measure, it served more as a gatekeeping metric dressed up as science. "That is made up from bro science."

She believes farmer's carry doesn't need to be more complicated than walking with two "very heavy" dumbbells. The key is to increase the intensity as you progress, instead of pushing to the brink on the first session.

However, while farmer's carry is a good entry point, Dr. Sims continues to emphasize the need for strength training for women.

Dr. Sims explains why Pilates is not enough

Dr. Stacy Sims joined Dr. Sandi for a conversation about women's fitness and why resistance training is mandatory for women.

She has dedicated her life to revolutionizing and busting myths surrounding exercise and nutrition. Her popular TED Talk, 'Women Are Not Small Men,' attempted to establish the information gap within the industry.

In the podcast, Sims explained that resistance training, especially for aging women, helps with bone density, muscle preservation, and brain health. However, whether reformer Pilates or yoga counted as strength training, Dr. Sims found it a hard pill to swallow.

"We're not getting the same neural stimulus. It's more of a metabolic challenge," Sims began. "It really is not challenging enough for the central nervous system to create those brain adaptations that we want or to have a stimulus to develop lean muscle."

While it had its own set of benefits, it's a hard pass to become a training staple, Dr. Sims explained. Clearly, the myths surrounding women's health are many. And Dr. Stacy Sims is actively fighting the misconceptions.

Are you adding farmer's carry to your workouts?

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Written by

Proma Chatterjee

Edited by

Ashvinkumar Patil