I injured my wrist a few weeks back. Can't hit the gym or ride my mountainbike , so I started brisk walking on my treadmill. Got used to it very fast, so I decided to try Rucking on the treadmill. The results were very astonishing! I weighed 175 lbs and after 2 weeks of rucking (steadily increasing weight, starting from 20 lbs-now I'm rucking with 45 lbs) I noticed my posture improved a lot, now I am naturally standing upright and feel more confident. My stamina and endurance increased as well, I can brisk walk with a lot less effort than before. I saw more muscle definition on my traps, lower back, and mostly calves. I think rucking is the best low-impact cardio exercise for muscle retention along with fat loss. I think rucking is not about how much calories you burnt during a session, but more about training your endurance and strength (also retaining muscles). Yes, I agree that too much weight can cause potential injuries, so be careful in adding weights. From my experience, I'd recommend exercising, at most add 25% of your body weight.

I think of rucking as a form of loaded carry and so combine it with the farmer's walk.Weight on my back, and weight in each hand. The farmer's walk (or farmer's carry) is a powerful exercise working core and all the major muscles of the body.

Just got used to 90-120 min walk with 20 lb weighted vest during the last 6 weeks of my 24 week fat loss phase. Moving into maintenance before a clean bulk and will move the rucking weight to 30 lbs and will do 60-90 min. It has strengthened my back traps and shoulders, no doubt.

Super informative! Thank you.

Incline is where the HR starts to get higher. If you want minimal impact incline treadmill walking is great

Love Archer!

That was absolutely well explained e well researched. Thank you very much!

Great information! Thanks 🙂 I started rucking for health 5 years ago (at 55), mostly going to the 7-18 miles (round trip) for groceries. I went from 205 lb to 170 lb in 3 years. Because it so freak'n hot here 6+ months of the year, I carry 4-5 gallons of water. Thus I can adjust my weight down as needed without throwing away expensive plates. They also help with overheating because for some idiot reason, I find myself walking 1-2 hours alongside roads at mid-day all summer!

I'm going to be a first time father in 5 months. Ive started walking with a 20 pound vest and will increase to 30 soon. For me, its training with a specific purpose as ill be carrying that on my shoulders for walks over the next three years.

Good stuff thank you. I used to run for my conditioning but it got too hard on my joints. One of the hardest parts for me was just getting the heavier packs on my back in the first place. It’s interesting you mentioned having to focus on your posture and it working your abs, some of the information I’ve read on rucking would list those as benefits.

Love the Archer graphics

Good video

60 yo bjj addict recovering from bilateral rotator cuff surgical repairs and currently dealing w lower abd tear. Rucked w 40lbs for 2 miles 4-5 days a week. After 2 months I added 20lb kettlebell farmer walks ( one sided ) I was told 8-10 months before returning to jiujitsu, however, I was Back on mat in 4 months. Rucking and farmer walks are a must !

Very good - reviews research, does own research, reports findings clearly and concisely, no faffing. I subscribed. maybe a weighted vest would reduce injury risk vs a rucksack?

Did lots of rucking while active duty. That kind of training has more to do with stamina and endurance. It does burn calories and fat as a result. I am now 64 but ruck 10k several times a month with a 20lb weight in a day pack. Works for me

I’m 66 & training for the Everest Base Camp Trek, in Sept. Problem is living in Florida there aren’t many mountains. So to compensate I speed march (ex Brit Mil so Tab), as part of my multiple daily training sessions (weights, HIIT and intervals on Stairclimber, plus Tab) . I carry a Bergen with 25lb, tight to my body. I’m out doing 3 miles at 13:30 per mile. So around 4.30mph. My VO2max has increased and legs feel strong. So although there is no substitute for actual hills/mountains (hikes in Sedona Utah and South Africa planned). I find what is termed rucking beneficial.

30kg that's beast mode! Just upped to 35lbs yesterday

10% may not sound like much but it is. Just try to run you km a few seconds faster than normal pace. It requires massive effort. I had knee issues from just running naked. Got some knee compression and no prob at all. When running with weights I usually wear knee compression even if I have no pain. As a person who has too few hours in my day running w weights is a great way to add muscle workout with running. Highly recommended but start light and gradually increase.

Good information. In better weather I often walk the roughly 3 mile round trip to the local shops. The journey there is with an empty rucksack. However, on the way home, I'm usually carrying anything from 10 to 15 kg. There are a couple of inclines, and at a reasonable pace, the heart rate is around 110. I thought about rucking, but agree with your assessment: too heavy and it goes into the back, knees, or in my case, the shoulder. I do farmer's carry exercises in the gym, and worked up to very near to my body weight, but for only a couple of minutes. Very taxing on the cns, and usually grip strength goes first.

I have started rucking over the last 4 months and once you approach 30lbs the key is having a good pack AND a hip belt to distribute the weight off your spine and shoulders if you go more than 30 minutes. Obviously, you have to build up distance and speed slowly. From experience, I can tell you that it’s much safer and easier on your body than jogging - just keep the weight reasonable and use your head.

Great video, thx much ! I've recently started to ruck with 25Kg, but i'm actually having two backpacks, one on front (10kg), and obviously the other one behind (15kg). I think it works better this way, but it can become complicated to breathe correctly, because you get a lot of pressure on your chest/shoulders.

Thanks for a good honest review. I have rucked for 6 months but to be honest it’s all about calories in to calories out and that’s it’s. I haven’t found rucking to have any effect on my weight. I love rucking for the metal aspect but not weight lose. People just don’t want to change there life style eg diet.

Tje increased ris of injury is likely to be due to such a quick increase in weight. Increasing the weight your body has to carry from 0 to 35 in 7 walks doesnt allow your body to get used to the extra load, leading to knee and back pain. If you load gradually over a number of weeks or possibly months, half your body weight may be achievable.

Excellent video! The slight increase in calories burnt is just not significant to warrant the risks of back injury, etc. For my part, I just do a one sided farmer's walk with 10 kg for 3 km, switching hands when one side gets tired.

You have to adition the cal burned post workout. If you are adding weight to your walks, you also train your muscles so you can except a nice afterburn.

Rucking is the US Army term, we call it Loaded march and I'm still doing it at nearly 60. I started of course with the Army

Great video, but I think pace is an important factor when rucking. One should aim for a 15 minutes/mile pace. Add load when you can maintain that pace for multiple miles

The best cardio Regarding fat loss is going to be to be Zone 2 Training , tuning your Back pack weight or vest to get you at the middle or high end of your Zone 2 Heart rate while walking at a comfortable steady pace is what I’ve done to maximize fat loss, for me (at the moment) approximately 30 lbs get me to an average of 125-130 BPM (my Zone2 as per my Apple watch ) for %95 of my 1 hour walks , I also do this with barefoot shoes to strengthen my feet ( I started the barefoot shoe training slowly and not loaded ) and always paying attention to back AND Hip posture, eventually you will tolerate more weight and get stronger feet legs and hip , my pace is 2.5 mile per hour(or 27 min mile) as a slow careful pace that works for me , and I’m Down 10lbs , and will keep going 😎

A reason I would use the weight is for abdominal conditioning.

There was a guy who used ruck with a full size ruck sack which was taller than himself but used to run around city of York every day he had zero body fat and strong than a weight lifter.

You make a good point. Just walk... a bit faster.

So thats good if you want your short walk to job have more/any impact. Think I will try that.

When recruits train in the military, do they start out with lower weights in their packs and then build up? Or it is straight in at the deep end?

Very useful video. Just started rucking and it's quite fun. Not sure how I'll do when Japanese winter shows up.

Screw rucking plates Go get some sand, and a plastic bag. Weigh out 10lbs of sand, put it in the bag, wrap it up nice and tight with duct tape Make a couple of those, toss them in a backpack and wrap them up in a towel(s) if they are flopping around too much Also, our definitions of "walking for fat loss" are WAY different. Granted I'm out of shape, but my Heart Rate is at like 140-160 for my walks and I'm burning more around 600 cals/hr I'm doing about 120-130 steps per minute for my pace fyi

I'm wondering... what if someone has a very strong heart and healthy cardiovascular system, so their heart has a much higher pump volume? Wouldn't they be using more oxygen and therefore burning more fat as calories due to carrying a heavy weight? And wouldn't the activation of 80% (or so) of all the 650 (or so) muscles in their body during, let's say a 90 minute hike have knock-on effect of calorie burning? Are you missing anything from reducing everything down to a caloric calculation based on heart rate?

For those on a budget, just weigh out a sandbag to desired weight and throw it in there. Those ruck plates are expensive...

I don't think Whoop calculates your calories accurately. I suspect the calorie calculator is a formula based on your weight, pace of walking etc. So if you add 20kg's to your back, the whoop can only detect the additional strain by a slightly elevated heart rate. (thus underestimating calories). I maybe wrong and its is more sophisticated than that, but in my experience it underestimates calories when rucking.

is using a wted vest the same thing???so you have wt on the front and back evenly

Hope those numbers off. Only 10% more calories for 10kg? More damage to muscles must end up using more calories.

Ruking plates ? What happent to old fashion bag full of stones ?:)

Half your body weight is a huge extra load. I've seen some wild claims about the extra calories burned by rucking. Seems like it really doesn't add much.

Will it destroy the spine?

Walk in hilly areas for the extra calorie burn.

If you're going to increase weight beyond 20kg or so - especially if you're going to run with it - I highly recommend distributing the weight across your body instead of just using a heavy backpack. Put things on legs, arms, torso etc. You can see what I put together for my weighted runs and walks here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n76Cgrud377edWg.htmlsi=y_EQqQdpE1GDzyXC

Im a veteran and love rucking. Yesterday I took off on a 10k with 21kg only because I rushed and didn't weigh my ruck! FAFO! 15kg plus water seems to be the sweet spot. I honestly think more is asking for harm. Definitely take your time and work yourself up - absolutely no shame in it! Ruck on!

Ankle weights Wrist weights Vest weights Hip weights Neck weights Wear them all while walking.

If you're over 50, be careful using rucking as it can cause disc compression in older adults...be sure to ask your Chiro about rucking if you're older.

Brilliant workout but if you carry half your body weight I promise you by the time you get to the end of the first year you will have knee , hip and foot problems. Max weight should be 35lbs of useful items . Then work to your age , heart rate ect .

Great info but could you please stick to all metric with perhaps imperial data in brackets for the one country in the world still using lbs. I know the uK mixes and has miles. but you have an international audience and the info is valuable. Thanks

Soldiers ruck and they are fit so ……. Rucking is good 👍

I feel like the way you are approaching this comparison likely indicates that you have misunderstood the way that walking burns stored energy in the body. You will not burn more calories by going faster, you burn more calories by going further. If you are walking or running for the same amount of time and do it at two different speeds you will burn a different amount of calories, but that's because you traveled different distances during the same period. I feel like it's an important distinction because you might be giving people the impression that doing the same distance with additional weights is equivalent to just walking faster, which is wrong. The amount of additional calories burnt due to the higher effort level will always be offset by the shorter amount of time it takes to cover the same distance to the point where it's fairly negligible. I feel like it's also a bit of a mistake to track this in terms of calories burned during and immediately after these stimuli, as carrying weights will create different adaptations as compared to just walking, and even running. If someone's metabolic response to that stimulus is hypertrophic, then the recovery process will burn calories not accounted for in the model you're employing and the increase in muscle mass will increase the amount of calories burnt through basic metabolic processes in a way that isn't applicable to walking.

I am 25 kg overweight that is my daily RUCK

So watched your hair videos which you uploaded 8 months ago and it looks it made no improvements to your hair.

It is not good at all. Just walk more time. Or walk on incline. Nice to know.

This content is bad. I would recommend anyone interested in learning more about the topic 1. Read peer reviewed journal articles about it and 2. Consume content from people with more expertise on health and fitness in general. The content creator left me wondering if he understands basic health and fitness. For example, towards the end of the video he says that since rucking only burns an extra 10% more calories then it probably makes more sense for a lot of people to just walk faster and burn the same amount of calories. It was at this moment that I knew that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. One of the main benefits of rucking is that you get a good cardio workout in as well as a resistance workout. The resistance aspect results in some muscle being built from the workout vs muscle loss from brisk walking, jogging, and running. If you’re consistently burning 10% more calories and building muscle, over time, that compounds to burning more than an average of 10% more calories because you burn more calories during muscle breakdown and repair. Increased muscle also burns more calories in your resting state. Really sad that he made this video and that it got so many views, because he really did next to no research and had a lot of incomplete information and misinformation.

So not worth it in my opinion. I would rather walk 10% longer changing 60 min walk to 66 min walk over walking with 10% more weight.