Ready for a Rucking Great Year!

Pic stolen from GoRuck.com

A friend of mine was posting his Rucks on Strava, and I was like "What the Ruck is that?".

"Carrying a heavy backpack"... is about the best description you'll ever need!  That's really it - hiking around with weight - which turns a light cardio workout into something serious. 

A stronger core!  Stronger bones!  Enjoying the outdoors!  

Here's Dr. Peter Attia talking about it (jump to 12 minutes)

https://youtu.be/ORXHya4S_TA?t=708

Rucking appealed to me instantly for a few reasons...

1. The races I'm planning involve carrying stuff while hiking. Adventure Races aren't just simple running, you have a pack with supplies on your back and you're in rough terrain that requires some degree of core strength... and the canoe race I'm doing will definitely include portaging.
2. It's super easy to start (assuming you have weights and a sturdy backpack)
3. I can turn a normal activity like walking my dog into a better workout by adding the weight!

Equipment

I wanted to make sure it was something I would stick with before over investing, so I started with a backpack I already owned, put some weight plates from barbells we have into it, made it comfortable, and went! It's good enough for now.

If I keep going with it, there is an opportunity to spend a lot of money on $200-300+ GoRuck branded rucksacks and weight plates - I'm a firm believer that the right tool for the activity helps you stick to it. But for now I'm good.

Speed

I read on the internet (the source of all things factual and not as factual) that the army standard is 15 minutes per mile.  That works out to something like 9:20/km, so trying to keep it in that low 9's as a target.  I don't think going a bunch faster is a very worthwhile goal, I already run and bike for cardio after all!

Weight

Dr. Attia says to work up to 1/3 your body weight, but I'm pretty big so that's a lot! Even at my ideal BMI that is 60lbs... I can't quite get my head around that.

I started at 25lbs, then 30lbs, and was able to go very long without trouble at that weight - so will progress to 35lbs next. I'm starting to doubt my little starter backpack can handle much more than that.

Distance/Time

I'm not to fussed about increasing this much beyond an hour - and I'll probably settle in closer to half an hour.  I would rather get the weight increased than the time, seems like it would better align to my strength goals (I already have a ton of endurance).

Results...

I only just started, but I definitely feel the workout in my lower back and abs.  Also gave a bit of soreness in the glutes.  Hopefully it's doing all the good things load bearing exercise is supposed to do under the covers - bone density, increased resilience to injury, etc etc etc...

Will keep everyone posted!