Pilates Fitness Friday: The Carry Test

Functional strength supports gardening, independence, confidence, and enjoyment of everyday activities.

When most people think about fitness, they often think about exercise classes, gym memberships, step counts, or how much weight they can lift. Yet one of the most practical measures of fitness rarely appears in any assessment. It is something we do almost every day without giving it much thought.

Can you carry what life asks you to carry?

It sounds like a simple question, but it can reveal a great deal about a person's overall strength, balance, endurance, and independence. Whether it is carrying shopping from the car, lifting a suitcase up a flight of stairs, moving a box in the house, carrying gardening equipment, or picking up a grandchild, these everyday activities require the body to work as a coordinated and efficient system.

Many people focus on individual muscles when they think about strength. They may want stronger arms, stronger legs, or a stronger core. Real life, however, rarely challenges muscles in isolation. Carrying requires the entire body to work together. The feet need to provide a stable foundation. The legs need to generate force and support. The centre of the body must respond to changes in balance. The shoulders need to remain organised and stable while the hands and forearms maintain grip.

This is one reason why carrying is often considered one of the most functional forms of movement. It reflects how we actually use our bodies in everyday life.

Think about the last time you arrived at an airport. You may have carried hand luggage, pulled a suitcase, lifted a bag into an overhead locker, walked long distances through terminals, climbed stairs, and stood in queues. None of these activities require athletic performance, but all of them require a level of functional fitness. Many people discover their limitations not in the gym, but during a holiday.

The same can be said for shopping. A person may feel perfectly comfortable performing exercises in a controlled environment, yet struggle when carrying several bags from the supermarket. The challenge is not simply the weight itself. The body must manage the weight while walking, turning, maintaining posture, and responding to changing surfaces and environments.

As we age, carrying ability becomes even more important. Maintaining independence is closely linked to maintaining strength. One of the reasons many older adults lose confidence is not necessarily because they become less mobile, but because they become less capable of managing the physical demands of daily life. Carrying shopping, moving household items, climbing stairs, and handling luggage all become more challenging when strength and stability decline.

For Pilates teachers, this provides an interesting perspective on movement training. Many of the qualities required for effective carrying are developed within a well-designed Pilates programme. Good alignment, postural endurance, centre support, shoulder organisation, balance, and efficient movement patterns all contribute to a person's ability to carry loads safely and comfortably.

The ability to remain upright while carrying weight is particularly important. When the body lacks strength or organisation, compensations begin to appear. One shoulder may elevate. The trunk may lean to one side. The head may move forward. The stride may shorten. These compensations often tell us far more about movement quality than many traditional fitness tests.

Another important component of carrying is grip strength. Research has consistently shown that grip strength is associated with overall health, physical function, and healthy ageing. A decline in grip strength is often linked to reductions in overall muscle function and can be an early indicator of physical decline. While Pilates does not traditionally focus on grip training in the same way as some strength programmes, many apparatus exercises require sustained grip, coordination, and upper body control.

One simple self-assessment is to consider whether you can comfortably carry two moderately heavy shopping bags for five minutes without needing to stop. Could you carry a suitcase up a flight of stairs without struggling? Could you walk a reasonable distance while carrying a load and still maintain good posture? If the answer is no, this may indicate an area of fitness that deserves attention.

The Carry Test is not about proving how strong you are. It is about identifying whether your body is prepared for the demands of everyday life. It is not a competition. It is a reflection of functional capacity.

Joseph Pilates often spoke about developing a body that was uniformly developed and capable of meeting the challenges of daily living. Carrying is one of the clearest examples of that philosophy. Life does not ask us to perform perfect exercises. Life asks us to carry things, move things, lift things, and occasionally rescue awkwardly shaped objects from places they should never have been left in the first place.

The next time you assess your own fitness or that of a client, consider looking beyond traditional measures. Ask a simple question.

Can you carry what life asks you to carry?

The answer may provide one of the most honest assessments of functional fitness available.