Exercise library
Suitcase Carry
Carrying weight in one hand forces your trunk to resist side-bending. Setup, how far to walk, and why it beats most named core exercises.
How to do the suitcase carry
- 01Set a single heavy dumbbell or kettlebell on the floor beside one foot.
- 02Hinge down and pick it up with a flat back — treat it as a one-sided deadlift, because it is.
- 03Stand tall: shoulders level, ribs down, weight hanging straight at your side.
- 04Walk in a straight line with short controlled steps, resisting the pull toward the loaded side.
- 05Set it down under control, then repeat carrying it in the other hand for the same distance.
Coaching cues
- Shoulders stay level. The loaded side wants to drop — do not let it.
- Do not lean away to counterbalance. Stay stacked and let your trunk do the work.
- Short steps. A long stride makes you sway into the load.
Common mistakes
FaultLeaning away from the weight
FixThat side-bends your spine to counterbalance instead of bracing against the load. Reduce the weight until you can stay upright.
FaultThe loaded shoulder dropping
FixPull the shoulder blade down and back and keep the shoulders level. A hanging shoulder means the trap has given up.
FaultCarrying the same weight both sides for the same time
FixThat is correct and worth stating — always match sides, and let the weaker side set the load.
FaultRounding the back to set it down
FixHinge to lower it. The pick-up and put-down are part of the exercise.
If the farmer’s carry is a moving plank, the suitcase carry is a moving side plank — and it is the more useful of the two for most people, because the demand is asymmetric.
Why one side changes everything
With a weight in each hand the load is balanced. Your trunk holds you upright, your grip works hard, and that is a good exercise.
Take one weight away and the picture changes completely. Gravity is now trying to bend you sideways toward the loaded hand, and the only thing stopping it is the obliques and deep trunk muscles on the other side, working isometrically for the whole walk.
That is anti-lateral-flexion. It is one of the three things a trunk actually does, and almost nothing else in a typical programme trains it.
Stay stacked
The instinct is to lean away from the weight to counterbalance. It feels like effort and it removes the exercise.
Leaning side-bends your spine so your skeleton carries the load instead of your muscles. Stay stacked — shoulders level, ribs over hips — and let the weight try to pull you over while you refuse.
If you cannot do that, the weight is too heavy. Expect to carry much less on one side than half your farmer’s carry weight.
Match the sides
Always carry the same weight for the same time on both sides, and let the weaker side decide the load.
Asymmetry is the point of the exercise and also the thing you are trying to reduce. Loading the strong side harder because it feels easier defeats it.
Where it fits
Alongside dead bugs for anti-extension and the Pallof press for anti-rotation, the suitcase carry completes the set. Those three cover every direction a trunk has to resist, and between them they do more than any amount of crunching.
Common questions
What does a suitcase carry work?
The obliques and deep trunk muscles on the opposite side to the weight, working to stop you side-bending, plus the grip, the trap on the loaded side, and the glutes stabilising each step. It trains anti-lateral-flexion, which almost nothing else in a normal programme does.
How is a suitcase carry different from a farmer's carry?
A farmer's carry is balanced — a weight in each hand — so the challenge is grip and posture. A suitcase carry loads one side only, so your trunk has to resist being pulled sideways. Same walk, completely different demand.
How heavy should a suitcase carry be?
Heavy enough that staying upright takes real effort for 30 to 45 seconds, but light enough that your shoulders stay level and you do not lean. Most people can carry considerably less on one side than half of what they carry on two.
How far should I walk?
Think in time — 30 to 45 seconds per side. Distance depends on the space you have; the trunk does not know how many metres it covered, only how long it resisted.
Do suitcase carries help lower back pain?
They are frequently used in rehabilitation because they build trunk stability under load without loading the spine in flexion. That said, if you have current back pain, get the cause assessed before adding loaded carries.
Swap it out
Same training effect, different demand on the joints.