There’s a guy in my neighborhood who walks every morning at 6 a.m. Rain or shine. Same route. Same pace. One thing I noticed: he always wore a backpack.
I ran into him at the mailbox one afternoon and asked what was in it.
He grinned. “Twenty pounds of weight plates.”
I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. He told me it was called rucking. Walking with weight. He’d been doing it for a year. Said it changed how he felt, how he moved, and how he slept.
The next morning I loaded an old backpack with two ten-pound dumbbells and walked my usual route. Three miles. Took 50 minutes. When I got home, my legs were tired, my back felt warm, and my heart rate was up in a way that a regular walk never touches.
I’ve been doing it four mornings a week ever since.
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01. WHY IT WORKS
Walking is great. It’s the best thing most guys do for their health. But it doesn’t build much strength. Your body gets used to the load. After a few weeks, a three-mile walk is just moving your feet.
Add 20 pounds to your back and everything changes. Your core works harder to keep you upright. Your legs push more weight with every step. Your heart rate climbs. You’re getting cardio and strength at the same time without running a single step.
2–3x
MORE CALORIES
THAN WALKING
50–60%
LESS JOINT STRESS
THAN JOGGING
10%
OF BODY WEIGHT
TO START
Rucking burns two to three times more calories than regular walking. And it puts half the stress on your joints that jogging does. That’s the sweet spot. Hard enough to matter. Easy enough to do every day.
“It’s cardio and strength in the same hour. No gym. No equipment. Just a backpack and the road.”
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02. HOW I STARTED
1
Start with 10 percent of your body weight. If you weigh 180 pounds, start with 18 to 20 pounds. That’s enough to feel it. Not enough to hurt anything. I started with 20 and it was harder than I expected. In a good way.
2
Use any sturdy backpack. You don’t need a special ruck pack. An old school backpack works fine. Put the weight high in the pack, close to your shoulders. Wrap the dumbbells in a towel so they don’t shift around.
3
Walk your normal route. Don’t change the distance. Don’t change the pace. Just add the weight. The same three-mile walk will feel completely different. After two weeks, it’ll feel normal. Then add five more pounds.
03. WHAT CHANGED FOR ME
▸ My posture got better. Carrying weight on your back forces you to stand up straight. After a month, I noticed I wasn’t slouching at the desk anymore. My wife noticed before I did.
▸ My legs got stronger. Stairs are easier. Getting up from a low chair is easier. The weight trains your legs in a way that flat walking never does.
▸ I sleep better. The mornings I ruck, I fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. The effort is just enough to tire my body without wrecking it.
▸ My walks feel like they count. A regular walk is fine. A ruck feels like training. Same time. Same route. Twice the result.
04. A QUESTION I GET ASKED
Q. Won’t it hurt my back?
A. If you load the pack right, no. Keep the weight high and close to your body. Tighten the straps so it doesn’t bounce. Start light. Your core and back will get stronger, not weaker. But if you have a spine issue, talk to your doctor first. For most guys, rucking is safer than jogging and more useful than walking.
05. WHO I HAVE TAKEN
I see him most mornings now. Same route. Same pace. Same pack. Sometimes we walk together. Most of the time we just nod.
He doesn’t look like a gym guy. He doesn’t talk about sets or reps. He just puts 20 pounds on his back and walks. Every day. And he moves like a man who doesn’t sit in a chair all day.
That’s what I wanted. Not a workout. Not a program. Just something that makes the walk count for more than it used to.
Twenty pounds. Three miles. Four mornings a week. That’s the whole plan.
Load the pack. Walk the road. The weight does the rest.
— Walter
P.S. Have you tried rucking? Or do you walk every day and wonder if it’s enough? Hit reply and tell me. And if you’ve got a neighbor with a backpack, ask him what’s in it.
