The carry test: two heavy bags, two flights

The carry test: two shopping bags loaded to 15–20 kg in total, carried up two flights of stairs without stopping. That is roughly a week of drinking water for one person, at the 2.5 to 3 litres a day GOV.UK Prepare recommends (checked 29 August 2026). Four weeks of practice usually gets you there.

What the carry test is

It is the first of the five Ready Body tests, and the most literal. Two bags, one in each hand, up two flights of stairs. Nothing clever, nothing to buy.

Here is exactly how to do it.

1. Load two bags to 15–20 kg between them. Tins, bottles and bags of rice are easiest, because you can weigh them. Aim for a similar weight in each hand, so 7.5 to 10 kg a side.
2. Weigh them properly. Stand on the bathroom scales holding both bags, then stand on them empty-handed, and take one number off the other. Guessing is how people end up testing 9 kg and calling it 20.
3. Use bags you would actually use. Sturdy handles, the sort that live in the boot of the car. Thin carrier handles cut into your fingers and turn a leg test into a hand test.
4. Wear ordinary shoes and ordinary clothes. The point is to find out how you cope in real life, not in kit.
5. Warm up for five minutes. Easy walking, a few squats holding the back of a chair, some shoulder rolls.
6. Walk up two flights. A flight is one run of steps between landings, so in most houses that is upstairs, back down, and upstairs again. Steady pace, one step at a time, bags close to your sides.

No stairs at home? A station footbridge, a multi-storey car park or a friend’s block all work. Two flights up is the test; walk back down empty-handed or take the bags down slowly, whichever your knees prefer.

The pass standard

You reach the top without putting the bags down and without straining. Your breathing goes up. Your back does not complain, your grip lasts the whole way, and you are recovered within a minute or two of arriving.

Straining counts as a fail even if you make it. That means shoulders hauled up round your ears, a bent-sideways lean, holding your breath, or having to stop on the half-landing to swap hands. Those are all signals to run the four-week plan below and test again.

What it maps to in a real emergency

Water. GOV.UK Prepare says a minimum of 2.5 to 3 litres of drinking water per person per day is recommended by the World Health Organisation for survival, and that around 10 litres per person per day covers basic cooking and hygiene too. Three litres a day for a week is 21 litres, and water weighs about a kilo a litre, so one person’s drinking water for a week is roughly 21 kg.

That is the whole reason for the number. If you can move 15–20 kg up two flights in one go, you can restock a flat from a bowser, a boot or a supermarket without a lift, in about three trips a week. If you cannot, storing water at home matters even more, because you have less capacity to fetch it later.

There is a bonus. The NHS lists carrying heavy shopping bags as an activity that strengthens muscles, and asks adults to do strengthening work covering all the major muscle groups on at least 2 days a week. Practising this test is not extra exercise on top of the guidelines. It is the guidelines.

The four-week progression

Same plan as the one on the tests page. Two carry sessions a week, at least a day apart, roughly 15 minutes each.

Week 5 is the retest. Load the bags to 15–20 kg, warm up, and take the two flights.

A few technique notes that make more difference than the weights. Keep the bags close to your sides rather than swinging. Stand tall, shoulders back and down, and look up the stairs rather than at your feet. Breathe normally throughout. Set the bags down deliberately at the top instead of dropping them.

If week 4 still feels a long way from 15–20 kg, repeat weeks 3 and 4 rather than jumping. Nothing about this is a deadline.

How to make it easier

• One bag at a time. A single 8 kg bag in one hand, swapping hands each flight. Half the load, same movement.
• One flight instead of two, then two flights with a pause on the landing, then two flights unbroken.
• Flat ground only. Carrying 2 × 5 kg the length of a hallway and back is a real session. Stairs come later.
• Use a rucksack for part of the weight. Put 5 kg on your back and 10 kg in your hands, so your grip is not the thing that fails first.
• Split the water instead. Six 2-litre bottles in one trip is heavy. Four trips of three bottles is the same job with a body that is not ready yet, and it still gets done.

How to make it harder

• Add weight. 2 × 12 kg is a stiff test for most people, and 2 × 15 kg is a serious one.
• Add flights. Four flights at 2 × 8 kg. Six flights if you live high up.
• Slow the descent. Carrying down is harder on the legs than carrying up and is worth practising, one hand free for the rail.
• Do it after the climb test. Ten flights, then the carry. That is closer to a real day of fetching than either test alone.
• Carry something awkward. A water container with one handle, or a full backpack held in front. Real loads are rarely balanced.

Is it safe?

Speak to your GP first if you have not exercised for some time, or if you have medical conditions or concerns. That is the NHS’s own line, and it applies to this test and to every week of the plan above. We would add pregnancy and recent surgery to the list.

Then the practical safety, which is mostly about how you pick the bags up and when you stop.

• Lift from the floor with your knees bent and your back straight, the bags close to your body, and stand up with your legs rather than your lower back.
• Stop for sharp pain, in the back, knees or shoulders. Effort is fine. Sharp is not.
• Stop for chest pain or tightness, dizziness or feeling faint. The NHS says to call 999 if “you get sudden pain or discomfort in your chest that does not go away”, if “you get pain that spreads to your left or right arm, or your neck, jaw, stomach or back”, or if “you have chest pain and you feel sweaty, sick, light headed or short of breath” (NHS, checked 30 August 2026). If you are unsure what a symptom means, call NHS 111.
• Do not test on stairs you are unsteady on. If your balance is a worry, do the carry on flat ground, keep one hand free for the rail on stairs, and read strength after sixty first.
• Have someone in the house the first time you try it loaded.

The carry test and its 15–20 kg standard are Prep Not Panic’s own, not clinically validated tests. They exist because they match what a bad week actually asks of a body, not because a laboratory set them.

Frequently asked questions

What does 15–20 kg of shopping look like?

Roughly nine 2-litre bottles of water, or a mix of tins, rice and bottles. Check the labels and add up the grams. Most people are surprised how much volume 20 kg is, and how ordinary it feels once it is in two bags.

Is this the same as a farmer’s carry?

Effectively, yes. A farmer’s carry is any walk with a weight in each hand, and gyms do it with dumbbells or purpose-made handles. We use shopping bags because everyone owns them and because bags are what a real week hands you.

Does carrying the shopping count as exercise?

The NHS lists carrying heavy shopping bags as a muscle-strengthening activity, and asks for strengthening work on at least 2 days a week. So a walk home from the shops with two full bags is not a substitute for the plan above, but it does count towards the guideline.

I have a bad back. Should I skip it?

Ask your GP or a physiotherapist before loading it, then adapt rather than skip. Lighter bags, one in each hand for balance, flat ground, and a rucksack for part of the weight. Pain that gets worse as you go is the signal to stop.

How often should I retest?

Every three months if you passed, or at the end of any four-week block if you did not. Put it in the diary next to checking torch batteries and rotating stored water.

Can I use a rucksack instead of bags?

For carrying water home, yes, and it is easier on your grip. For the test, no. The hands-loaded version is what tells you whether you can manage a real load, and grip is the thing most often missing. The hang test covers that side of it.

My hands give out before my legs do. What now?

That is a common result and a useful one. Run this plan and the hang test plan together, since both build grip. Thicker bag handles, a towel wrapped round thin ones, and holding for time rather than distance all help.

Sources & review

• UK Government, Get prepared for emergencies: a minimum of 2.5 to 3 litres of drinking water per person per day recommended by the World Health Organisation for survival, and 10 litres per person per day for basic cooking and hygiene. Checked 29 August 2026.
• NHS, Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64: at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week; strengthening activities working all the major muscle groups on at least 2 days a week; carrying heavy shopping bags given as an example; speak to your GP first if you have not exercised for some time, or if you have medical conditions or concerns. Checked 29 August 2026.
• NHS, Physical activity guidelines for older adults: the same weekly targets for adults 65 and over, plus strength, balance and flexibility activities on at least 2 days a week, with carrying heavy shopping bags again given as an example. Checked 29 August 2026.
• NHS, Strength exercises: its own list of home strength exercises to do at least twice a week, with the advice to build up slowly and increase repetitions gradually. Checked 29 August 2026.
• NHS, Chest pain: call 999 if you get sudden pain or discomfort in your chest that does not go away, if pain spreads to your left or right arm, or your neck, jaw, stomach or back, or if you have chest pain and you feel sweaty, sick, light headed or short of breath. Checked 30 August 2026.

The carry test, its 15–20 kg standard and the four-week progression are Prep Not Panic’s own self-check standards. They are not medical tests and have not been clinically validated. Professional review: TBC. Review date: 29 August 2026.