Quiet at the back there! No, it’s not a rude word but one you might want to get used to if you are serious about prepping and have a mind to keep yourself fit.
It goes by a host of different names – rucking, yomping, or tabbing, the UK website TrekSumo reminds us. The practice is as old as the hills – there is ample evidence that, back in the day, you would have encountered columns of Roman centurions doing it too.
Rucking is a way of increasing your fitness, strength, and stamina – so, let’s see how.
Rucking
It gets its name from a rucksack that has been suitably weighed down by heavy enough contents to bring about a sweat and treat you to as long and as arduous a training routine as you want.
At a pinch, a backpack might do just as well – but then you’ll be missing out on some of the potential weight and volume, not to mention undoing the whole point of the name.
If you’ve ever lived near or have driven through an area where there are camps for the British armed forces, you are almost certain to have encountered a column or two of troops in training and rucking along with weighted rucksacks on their backs.
That’s where the exercise or training routine originates, of course, precisely because it goes such a long way to developing your muscles, building your physical strength, improving your stamina and endurance – and, through all this, building your strength of character and capacity for mental commitment, too.
The Benefits
It’s easy to make the connection between rucking and the general, overall levels of physical fitness you will want to achieve and maintain if you are a committed prepper.
Rucking is the same as running – but then some. Rucking brings back the sense of testing personal challenge for anyone who has found running or jogging just a little bit staid and pedestrian. Rucking is for people who want the maximum cardio workout – and rucking has been shown to burn up three times the calories that you would burn off from walking, says the American website GORUCK.
Go for a ruck and you’ll feel your heart pumping and beating faster than in many another type of workout and you’ll almost immediately feel the benefits of improved circulation as the oxygen-enriched blood course through your veins.
When you do aerobic activity, your body needs more oxygen and so your heart and lungs have to work harder. This makes the heart and circulation more efficient. Aerobic activity also helps to develop your stamina.
You don’t have to take our word for it. The British Heart Foundation (BHF), for instance, explains that intense aerobic activity means that your body needs more oxygen. To get it, your heart and your lungs both work harder – and working harder makes them more efficient.
Not only does this aerobic activity build and maintain your fitness, stamina, and general state of health, by doing it with a friend or companion or two it’s also a good way of meeting others and having a good time, says the BHF.
Simple, scalable, cardiovascular exercise
Rucking is simple – just fill your rucksacks with a weight you can comfortably carry and set off on your run. A pair of trainers or running shoes, a weighted rucksack and you have everything you need – no fancy equipment, no expense to your pocket.
As well as being simple, it’s also scalable. There are no absolutes in rucking, you begin, develop, and end at entirely your own pace. There are probably no more than three variables that determine the level of cardiovascular exercise you achieve – the weight of your rucksack, the distance you cover, and the speed at which you run.
As you develop your technique, fitness, and stamina, you can increase the weight in your rucksack (some experienced ruckers suggest you start at a weight of 20 pounds), aim to cover a longer distance, and run a bit faster (those same ruckers suggest an initial target of 20-minute miles) – or not. The decisions are all up to you.
