5 Rucking Exercises to Boost Strength and Stamina

If you’re on fitness Tiktok, you may have noticed your For You Page is becoming flooded with videos about rucking. Rucking is the hottest new fitness trend, making you sweat, burn calories, and build strength. While it started as a military training workout, everyone from beginners to more advanced fitness gurus are getting into rucking. With its physical and mental benefits, as well as being a low impact cardio workout, it’s no surprise that rucking is making such a wave. Check out all the benefits of rucking, along with rucking essentials, and rucking exercises to boost strength and stamina.

What Is Rucking?

Rucking is a form of exercise that has roots in military training. It involves walking or hiking with a weighted vest or backpack, taking the intensity up a few notches. It’s a low impact, high cardio exercise option that stabilizes your core, strengthens your legs and glutes, and works your cardiovascular system. Although it originated as a military training tactic, it’s been taken over by exercise enthusiasts as a full body workout.

Everyone can benefit from rucking because everyone carries weight around as part of their everyday routine, from lugging sports equipment, to carrying groceries, to moving around furniture. It’s recommended to start off at a lighter weight and move up in weight slowly. This ensures safety while optimizing the physical benefits of rucking.

What Are the Benefits of Rucking?

1. 1. Full body workout– during rucking, your lower body is working to keep up the walking/hiking pace, and your upper body is working to carry a weighted backpack with proper form. This engages your core, lower back, and shoulders, and together is an awesome full body workout.
   2. Improves strength– you’ll notice an increase in upper and lower body strength once you start rucking. Walking with a weighted pack improves strength all over your body.
   3. Cardio- rucking increases your heart rate and is a great alternative to running. Rucking is a form of zone two cardio, meaning you’ll be working at an elevated heart rate that’s sustainable for longer durations. It’s great for building your aerobic base.
   4. Burns calories– rucking burns nearly as many calories as running (without the impact), and about 3X the calories as walking.
   5. Boosts your mood– rucking gets you outside and into the sun and fresh air. Exercising outside can improve your mood and sleep, making you feel better overall.
   6. Strengthens bone density– one of the biggest issues for women as we age is loss of bone density and the increased risk of a bone fracture or break. Rucking is low impact strength training, which increases bone density.
   7. Improves posture– rucking engages your back and shoulder muscles, making them strong and durable. It also improves posture by pulling your shoulders back as you walk.
   8. Regulates blood sugar- try rucking after you eat to help regulate blood sugar. Even a light ruck post-meal primes your muscles to pull sugar out of the blood stream.

1. Easily accessible– no matter your fitness level, rucking is adaptable and scalable. You can ruck anywhere you have access to the outdoors, and the weight carried can be adjusted to fit your fitness level.
2. Reduces stress– connecting with nature provides a sense of calm and tranquility. This, along with the exercise itself, helps reduce stress and anxiety.

5 Rucking Essentials to Invest In

1. Adjustable weighted vest
2. Tactical backpack (padded shoulder straps, ventilation, side pockets)
3. Ruck plates (to add to backpack)
4. Reusable water bottle
5. Reflective bands (for rucking at night)

5 Rucking Exercises to Boost Strength and Stamina

1. Classic Rucking
Load up a backpack or vest (start around eight to ten pounds) and start walking. If you’re using a backpack, grab a weight, wrap it in a towel for cushion and put it in your bag. Put on your pack and start walking. Start at a comfortable pace and keep an upright posture. You can slowly increase your rucking time, weight, and speed each week you train.

2. Add Hills
While rucking through parks and paths is already a great workout, adding hills will boost your strength and cardio even more. Find a hill in your neighbourhood and walk up and down it for your preferred time while carrying your pack. This adds an awesome challenge when you’re ready for it!

3. Treadmill Rucking
Prefer to workout indoors from time to time? Try rucking on a treadmill. Put your treadmill on a steep incline between eight to 12 percent and walk at a speed between 2.7 and 3.5 for 20 to 30 minutes. If you prefer a slower start, you can start with the incline at 0 and add one percent every minute or two.

4. Interval Rucking
Interval rucking allows you to push your limits, getting your heart rate up and muscles burning, and then slowing down to a recovery range before speeding up again. During high intervals, aim to ruck faster than 15 minutes per mile without running, and for low intervals, switch to a quick yet comfortable speed of around 20 minutes per mile.

Try starting with five minutes of the high intensity interval followed by five minutes of the low intensity interval. Do the switch as many times as you can. As time goes on, you can add more time to the high intensity interval or add more weight to make it more challenging.

5. Non-Walking Exercises
If you don’t have access to a treadmill and can’t ruck outside due to weather or other circumstances, there are other exercises you can do with a ruck to elevate to your workout. Wearing a ruck while doing these exercises will make your rucking stronger and also build strength and muscle. While wearing a ruck, try the exercises below for amazing results:

• • Squats
  • Lunges
  • Push ups
  • Planks

• Mountain climbers
• Dead hangs
• Bear crawls
• Burpees

If you’re interested in getting into rucking, we hope you found this post helpful to get started and get the most out of rucking!

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