FITNESS
Ready to Ruck
Walking under load carries health and fitness benefits BY MARISSA TIEL GORUCK Award-winning adventure photojournalist and writer based in Vancouver, B.C. MARISSATIEL
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n a bluebird day last fall, a dozen people met in a Regina park. Their goal for the day: to carry heavy objects. For six hours they traded loads: logs for sandbags; weighted backpacks for Norseinspired hammers, and travelled between parks, stopping only to perform more bodyweight plyometrics. The group was doing their own elevated rucking challenge, dreamt up by coach Riley Nadoroznick of Conviction Fitness. He was introduced to rucking nearly 10 years ago while looking for better ways to train for the Spartan Race World Championships. “Rucking is a really good way to train the aerobic system, train endurance without that beat down of running,” he says. On race day, he felt prepared; fresh. These days, Nadoroznick is training others in the community, and one of his favourite activities is rucking. From carrying a heavy book bag between classes to loading up a backpack for a night in the backcountry, it’s likely you’ve already tried rucking. Its definition is to move with a weighted backpack. Simply put, rucking is walking under load, and it’s considered by some of fitness’ leading thinkers to be fantastic for both fitness and health. When it comes to building an aerobic base, there’s no comparison to rucking.
“It’s a stimulus that allows you to get a ton of that zone 2 work (60-70 per cent of maximum heart rate) in that’s interesting, that challenges your tissues in different ways,” says Kelly Starrett, author of the Supple Leopard, and founder of The Ready State. Rucking works the aerobic system, while also taxing the musculoskeletal system, which means that not only will it get your heart pumping, but you will also see benefits more commonly associated with lifting weights, without stepping foot in the gym. Rucking has its roots in the military. For centuries, soldiers have been carrying heavy loads on their way to, and even in battle. Today, weighted marches remain part of their training. But rucking has surpassed its military origins, piquing the interests of the likes of Starrett, Peter Attia, Michael Easter, even Whole30 founder Melissa Urban. And many of them discovered the activity through GORUCK, a company that makes specialized rucking gear. Last year, during the Sandlot fitness festival, GORUCK’s founder, Jason McCarthy, was joined by Starrett, Urban, army veteran Richard Rice, and author Easter, during a rucking deep-dive panel. “The biggest mistake I see is people not doing it,” McCarthy said of rucking. “This is a great way for anybody on planet earth to be more active and to get stronger and feel better.”
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Science supports his thinking. In a 2019 study, a group of 15 men took part in a 10week rucking program. According to the study authors, at the end of the program, participants all experienced better physical performance. But what about injuries? It turns out that rucking is easier on our joints than running. Easter describes a study out of the University of Pittsburgh, where researchers tracked 451 soldiers for a year. Out of their 28 injuries, 18 were from running, seven from weightlifting and just three from rucking.