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How to Ruck | It's the NEW Jogging

Rucking? What is that?



Jason McCarthy the founder of GORUCK, has said that his goal is for “more people to ruck than run.” The fitness term to “ruck” is to load weight into a back pack and to walk or march. Another way to view it is, a civilian's activity and soldier’s exercise. McCarthy goes on to tell Emory Magazine that “It’s not just a fad, Rucking is the very definition of smart Homo sapiens doing work. The human back has evolved over millions of years to carry weight” McCarthy adds that in a world of looking at computers and phones “Rucking forces us to straighten our backs, creating better posture” (Emory, 2018).





I discovered rucking through a men’s group in my town known as F3. F3 stands for Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith. It is a men’s fitness group dedicated to reinvigorating male leadership. When I began working out with these dudes, they all rucked and I knew a little about it, but really did not know people did it for pleasure. After a few months of regularly attending workouts I had to get my very own ruck. I was hooked I went with the 20L Rucker, it is the bare bones ruck sack made by GORUCK. They make all sorts of different bags but this seemed to be the basic set up and what I needed to get started.


The previous two years before discovering rucking, I was running and I do not mean running casually, but I ran in marathons, one being the Chicago Marathon. I still ran often after purchasing a ruck, but it definitely became a staple in my fitness routine.



The more I got involved, I was craving more so I even went as far as participating in a GORUCK Event. Jason has developed a series of events led by a Cadre, usually a veteran with a special forces background, but these events are appealing to all different skill levels. There are Star Courses which are simply rucking to different land marks around a given city. Then there are Light, Toughs, and Heavy’s that push the boundaries and force you into working as a team. Then there is the Selection, which is the closest a civilian can get to participating in something similar to Hell Week. I did the Light event named after Operation Redwing which is famously known for the novel and movie Lone Survivor by Marcus Lutrell. It was everything I hoped and more. I met a bunch of cool people with a similar mindset and my limits were tested.


"So humans are more important than hardware. And to build a team you have to find great people that are aligned with your culture and your mission and you have to empower them and you have to hold a standard." Jason McCarthy

Lately, Rucking is all I do, I love the symbolism of caring weight and then unloading the weight when a ruck is complete. We all carry weight in our lives and I feel rucking is a release of that weight. I love the fact you can talk with friends while doing it. I love the fact you can change the weight and it can still push physical limits while simply walking. I love that I can workout with a ruck on and make average activity more challenging.


If you are thinking Rucking does not burn enough calories and is not worth doing you are wrong? A 200 lb Man moving at 3.5 mph will burn close to 600 calories an hour compared to around 800 calories of man of same size running (Art of Masculinity, 2020).


If you are interested in Rucking Please consider subscribing to my Blog and Youtube Channel Also below are links for you to find your very first Ruck! Leave a Comment and lets keep the conversation going!


Check out the founder of GORUCK, Jason McCarthy's book How to not Start a Back Pack Company Here!


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