What is rucking?

Rucking, by definition, is the action of walking with a rucksack that has extra weight. If you have ever found yourself on a walk with supplies for the journey in your backpack, then you have been rucking. Usually, the context of rucking is a military training exercise, however we believe it to be so much more. We believe rucking is a great form of cardio that anyone can do. You can ruck while walking your dog, walking to work or even just general lunch walks around your area.

Benefits of rucking

Rucking has a wide range of benefits including an overarching and most important benefit of living longer. How

Fat Burning

It is important to recognise rucking as a mid to low intensity exercise. This level of intensity will often leave your heart rate steady in zone 2. Studies have shown that rucking leads to 25%-50% more calories burned than if you were to walk at the same pace for the same amount of time.

Mental health improvement

Allowing your body to feel mild stress for a prolonged period has been heavily linked with the capabilities of dealing with day-to-day stress. Not only this a study in 2019 showed that aerobic exercises such as rucking not only were an “effective antidepressant” but also was shown to treat anxiety. The dopamine and serotonin released during a ruck allows for your mood to steadily improve throughout your day.

Improve muscle strength and tone

Adding weight to your walk provides your legs with a workout casual walking would not. Your hips, glutes, hamstrings and quads will all work together to stabilise this added weight, strengthening them in the process. not only will your legs gain strength, the force being applied to your shoulders will allow for shoulder and back engagement which will strengthen them too.

Core strength and posture improvement

The perfect rucksack for rucking places the weight between your shoulder blades. Having the weight on your upper back ushers your body into the correct posture at the time in addition to setting a blueprint for correct posture for your body to naturally follow when the rucksack is off. Weight being on your upper back also engages stabiliser muscles in your core strengthening and defining them over time.

Prevention of multiple health related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease

Due to the weight in your rucksack your heat rate will be as elevated as it would be when you are jogging. This will strengthen the muscles in your heart, making your circulatory system much more efficient. On top of this your body will have an improved response to insulin, therefore lowering the risk on insulin resistance and diabetes.

Injury prevention

Unlike running or many other forms of cardio, rucking is very low impact on joints. The low impact allows stability muscles in your ankles to activate and strengthen without the added risk of injuring it. if rolling your ankle is an occurrence that you are too familiar with, considering rucking as a training exercise would be incredibly beneficial for you.

Improved mobility

The nature of rucking is a “functional fitness”. It supports your joints, increases flexibility and allows for everyday movement to become a little easier. Carrying a food shop from your car to your house in one trip will have never felt more possible.

Increased bone density

One of the many problems that come with aging is a loss of bone density. In fact, once you reach the age of 35 your bone density will decrease by 1% per year. An effective way of combatting this is rucking. The force applied to your body activates the cells responsible for bone formation as well as waking up your growth hormone allowing your bone health to steadily improve. Now sadly you can’t stop aging but every ruck you do is sure to fight it.

Get rucking!

Rucking is not only effective at battling problems many people face but accessible to everyone. A rucksack and weight added to walks you would normally do could add years to your life and improve your well being every single day. It does not consume anymore time than a normal walk yet provides a plethora more benefits. Why walk when you can ruck and roam.