Carrying things on your head

Out in southeast asia you'll see people carrying stuff on their head all the time, and not light stuff either.

I've done some carrying on my head to my home, but nothing in excess of maybe 20 kilos or so. My wife's brother hauls stuff around using a tump line as someone else has depicted, and it looks pretty useful. You can definitely carry more weight overall with a tump line.

Shoulder carrying or on the small of your back (where you'd place a barbell) is also good and can usually be used for heavier loads if they're shaped right. On the head is by far the least exerting method though in my experience, even if I can put more weight on my back, I have to bend over and it's more exhausting to carry the same weight the same distance in my opinion.

Anyway, point being this is alive and well in many parts of the world still. I would also say that if you're a younger fit person you can start with a lot more than 5lbs off the bat, at least I did and I've had no issues or pains. I found that walking up awkard and steep terrain i had more difficulty in my arms and in the muscles used to keep balance in my neck (If things tip a little to the side, back, or forth it can be a real neck workout) than with actual compression issues. I'm personally more worried about the load on the spine as far as safety goes, but I also think it's pretty hard to get enough weight do that unless you've got a neck like a bull.

In my opinion, head carrying is awesome when it meets a few criteria:

1) The item is heavy enough, or awkward enough to grip that your forearms would burn out if you carried by hand. Or if both of your hands are just full (I can't balance stuff without at least 1 hand free personally to help steady the item, but some people probably can)
2) The item isn't so heavy that you feel any real strain just standing still with it
3) The item is well-balanced, some things just don't balance well on your head if they're an awkward shape. Usually those awkward shapes are easier to carry by hand or on your shoulder.

If it meets these, it's almost always easier to carry on your head than on your shoulder or back, because you don't shift your center of gravity.

Oh and it's also a great neck workout with heavy enough weights, if you're a guy who wants a thick neck lol.

My son just rolled up looking like this and saying "Look mum, I'm a meat head!"



He'd popped into the supermarket on the way back from work and bought some belly draught for himself, a kilo of chicken liver for me, and a load of free scraps for me to render down. I did well out of the deal too because he didn't want anything for the chicken liver except for me to give him a jar of paté when I next make some.

He says the meat is easy to carry like that because it conforms to the shape of his head.

Edit to add another photo.  He's removed 'my' stuff and put his stuff back on his head to leave his hands free to check something on his phone. He seems quite a convert!



Second edit. He just left, with the meat secured in place with his headphones.

Really not sure what to make of it all...