Rucking consists of walking with a weighted backpack: a simple but brutal method to combine strength and cardio, burn up to 3 times the calories of walking, and improve posture.
- What it is: Walking with a weight on your back. It originates from military training (the loaded march).
- Why it works: It transforms walking into a strength endurance exercise. The heart has to pump harder, and the muscles (legs, glutes, core, shoulders) have to work to support the load.
- Postural benefits: The weight of the backpack forces you to pull your shoulders back and open your chest, countering the “desk hunch.”
- Low impact: You burn calories almost like running, but without the traumatic impact on your joints.
- How to start: No expensive gear needed. Grab a sturdy backpack, fill it with water bottles or books wrapped in a towel (about 10% of your body weight), and go.
Walking Too Easy? Add Some Weight.
We often overlook walking because it seems like a “mild” activity. Great for recovery, sure, but if we want to really train, we think we have to run until we cough up a lung.
However, there is a way to turn a simple stroll into a fat-burning machine and build strength without running a single meter. It’s called Rucking.
The concept is incredibly simple: grab a backpack, put some weight in it, and walk. It’s essential, it’s hard, and it’s incredibly effective. It’s not a mountain hike; it’s an intentional workout that is gaining a lot of popularity because it solves the number one problem for walkers: intensity.
What Is Rucking and Why Is It the Secret of “Military Physiques”
Like many fitness disciplines, you might think Rucking is just “another TikTok trend,” but instead, it is the foundation of training for every armed force in the world. Soldiers march for miles with very heavy packs. Why? Because it is the most efficient way to build a body that has both infinite aerobic endurance and the muscular strength to carry loads.
For us “civilians,” rucking is the perfect meeting point between weightlifting and cardio. It is power cardio.
The 3 Benefits: Burn Fat, Straighten Your Back, Save Your Knees
Why should you put weights on your back?
- Burn triple (really): Adding weight drastically increases energy expenditure. A vigorous ruck can burn almost the same calories as a slow run, but while walking. For those who want to lose weight but can’t run, it is the definitive solution.
- Posture (anti-desk): This is the most important secondary benefit. When you have a heavy backpack, you can’t hunch forward (or you’d fall). The weight forces you to pull your shoulders back, activate your core, and stand up straight. It is the perfect cure for 8 hours spent hunched over a computer.
- Save your knees: Running is traumatic due to impact. Rucking allows you to keep your heart rate high (zone 2 or 3) by eliminating the flight and landing phase. It is a workout with high metabolic intensity, but low skeletal impact.
Practical Guide to Start Today (Without Buying Anything)
You don’t need the €300 tactical backpack of the Navy SEALs. You need what you have at home.
The Backpack (What You Have Is Fine)
Use a sturdy backpack. Your old school bag, a hiking pack, or your laptop bag (if it has decent straps). The important thing is that it has padded shoulder straps and, ideally, a chest or waist strap to stabilize it.
The Weight (Start Light: Water Bottles)
Don’t be a hero. The golden rule for starting is: 10% of your body weight. If you weigh 70kg, start with 7kg.
- What to use: Water bottles are perfect. You know how much they weigh (1 liter = 1 kg), they are cheap, and if you are dead tired you can empty them (or drink) and go home lighter.
- The trick: Wrap the bottles (or heavy books, or bags of rice) in a thick towel. This prevents corners from digging into your back while you walk. Place the weight as high as possible in the backpack, near your shoulder blades, not at the bottom on your butt.
The Technique (Short Stride, Upright Torso)
It’s not a window-shopping stroll. It’s a workout.
- Stride: Short and fast. Don’t lengthen your stride (overstriding); you risk hurting your shins.
- Posture: Chest out, shoulders back, gaze forward. Don’t lean forward like you’re climbing Everest; let the weight “straighten” you.
Your First 30-Minute Rucking Workout
Are you ready? Here is your first mission.
- Preparation: Load the backpack with 10% of your weight. Tighten the straps well: the backpack shouldn’t bounce; it must be one with your body.
- 0-5 Minutes (warm-up): Walk briskly without the backpack (or with an empty one) to warm up your joints.
- 5-25 Minutes: Put on the backpack. Walk at a sustained pace (about 6 km/h or 10’/km). You must feel that you are working hard; your breathing should be engaged but not “gasping for air.” Maintain your posture. Focus on keeping your core active.
- 25-30 Minutes (cool-down): Take off the backpack (you will feel an incredible sensation of lightness, as if you could fly). Walk loosely for 5 minutes.
Do this 1 or 2 times a week. When the 30 minutes seem easy, don’t increase the time: increase the weight (by 1-2 kg at a time). Happy rucking!