stharrison wrote:
thing is, i've asked stupid questions before that one, and i will probably carry on doing, gotta learn somehow.
I didn't say, and I don't think anyone else said that it was a stupid question. I said that it was a surprising question. It stunned me to think that you have probably been doing a number of exercises that fall into these two categories, probably doing them for some time, and are only now asking about their value.
I'm sorry that I commented on this rather than just giving a direct answer to your question.
Carrying is a basic human activity. Everything from hauling your suitcases to check-in at the airport, to bringing in the groceries to moving small children around, we all carry. Most carrying involves a higher proportion of stabilization to primary movement. The two weight-room lifts that come immediately to mind in this category are the farmer's walk (walking with load in the hand(s) at the side(s), and the waiter's carry (walking with a weight overhead, almost always one-handed), but many lifts have elements of the carry (grip, load stabilization, movement with the weight). Deadlift, RDL, lunges all come to mind.
Hinging is the basic movement of the hip. When you allow your knees to break first when descending from standing, they tend to move forward, and the quads tend to assume the lion's share of the work. Think squats. People try to hinge to begin their squats in order to get the posterior chain to take more of the work and create a more balanced exercise, but face it, squats are for quads. When the hip hinges before anything else gets involved, the posterior chain (hams, glutes, back) tends to stay more involved. So hip hinge exercises (I listed them before) strengthen the posterior chain. The PC is critical for all heavy lifting--helping your neighbor move her piano, lifting your bride over the threshold, removing boulders from your garden, etc. Like jlmoss said.
I can't remember if you have ever clearly stated your exercise goals, but mine center around making my life better. My simple, and somewhat tongue-in-cheek statement of my goals is "so that I can tie my own shoes when I'm 92"; that is to stay functional as long as possible. That was really what jlmoss was trying to say. He's in my general age category. He and I don't care any more about impressing the girls (well, maybe a little, but not much). Though the word "functional" has been overused and misused a lot in the strength training world, I can't think of a better word to use in this case.
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