Benefits of Rucking: Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Start Rucking Today

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What is so inspiring about rucking is that several

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studies have been conducted comparing calories

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burned rucking versus walking. The overall conclusions

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indicate that if you carry 10 % extra weight

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during your rucks, you could burn 10 % more calories

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than if you were just walking. Those are phenomenal

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returns. Welcome to the Rucker's Edge podcast,

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a show designed to help you develop your rucking

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routine, lose weight, and ultimately gain your

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strength and energy back. Whether you're an office

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worker with lower back pain, a fitness first

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timer, or a new parent trying to get back to

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their pre -kids weight, this is the show for

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you. I'm your host, Spencer. Thanks for tuning

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in. I'm glad you're here today because in this

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episode of the Rucker's Edge, we're laying the

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foundation for your rucking routine. We'll discuss

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what rucking is, why it's different from every

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other workout you've tried, and the five main

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reasons you should start today. Being that this

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is the first episode of the show, we're going

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to start out with why. You know, it's a really

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good idea to begin things with intention, something

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I've been trying to do lately in my own life.

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So it just seems fitting. Starting out a new

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podcast, let's start with why. And this will

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be the first episode of a beginners series. The

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next episode, we're going to be talking about

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the gear you'll need. In following episodes,

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we're going to be talking about a pre -ruck routine,

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what to expect during your ruck, and then how

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to recover and rest after your rucks. Before

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we jump into why, we need to discuss what rucking

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is in case someone has joined us and doesn't

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really know exactly what it is. Maybe you've

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heard it in passing, but rucking is walking with

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weight. You throw some weight in a backpack and

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you go for a walk. It's a workout that's easier

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on the joints, but still builds strength and

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endurance. Why ruck? Well, there are tons of

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reasons why you should start rucking and make

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it a habit of yours. I counted over 30, and I'm

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not going to list them all out, but the big ones

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were weight loss and building strength. And for

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this episode, I wanted to focus on the top five

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most important reasons, in my opinion. All right,

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so here we go. Top five. Number five, you get

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all the benefits of walking. and getting your

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steps in but you're also getting strength and

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endurance training at the same time. Now the

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benefits of walking include you're maintaining

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a healthy weight and you're losing body fat.

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You're preventing and managing various conditions,

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including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure,

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type 2 diabetes, all those different types of

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conditions. It's also been proven that it improves

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your mood, your cognition, your memory, and sleep.

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But what is so inspiring about rucking is that

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several studies have been conducted comparing

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calories burned rucking versus walking. And while

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the sample sizes were pretty small and participants

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were from varying skill levels, with wearing

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a rucksack, meaning some of the participants

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were former military and others were maybe had

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never put on a rucksack in their past. But the

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overall conclusions of the studies indicate that

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the percent increase in calories burned is roughly

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equal to the percent of weight you ruck with.

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So in general, if you carry 10 % extra weight

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during your rucks, you could burn 10 % more calories

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than if you were just walking. Those are phenomenal

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returns. Your miles may vary, of course. But I

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like to think of rucking as, well, if walking

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is body maintenance, rucking is a tune-up and

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a performance upgrade. All right, number four.

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It's a lower impact exercise that isn't boring

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or require you to go to a gym to exercise. I

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have had significant ankle injuries in the past.

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I've left a lot of scarring in there. I have

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other conditions that cause my joints to experience

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pain. I'm a former distance runner. I abused

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my body way more than I should have as a younger

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teenager, early 20s. And it was a real hard pill

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to swallow when multiple doctors told me to stop

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running. It was terrible. It was my main source

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of getting and staying healthy. And when I stopped,

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I noticed my health decline. But then I found

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rucking, and it was a game changer for me. It's

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way easier on my joints. And a number of studies

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have concluded rucking puts less force on your

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joints than running. Running puts eight times

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your body weight. on your knees. And rucking

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is somewhere between three to five times, depending

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on variables like how much weight you're carrying,

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how fast you're going, and whatnot. And of course,

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walking is lower at roughly 2 .7 times your body

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weight. And I'll include links to studies where

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I'm pulling these numbers from in the show notes.

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So if you're curious, go through and read them.

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It's kind of interesting. Rucking gave me the

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physical feedback I was missing from losing the

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running habit I had for so many years. And when

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I was told to stop running, I tried so many other

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low -impact exercises, lower -impact exercises.

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I tried swimming, cycling, rowing. But rucking

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is way more enjoyable than those other lower

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-impact exercises. Anything stationary, I just

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get bored. Even with the TV in front of me, I

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can find something interesting to watch, but

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I lose interest, and I'm not really engaged in

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the workout. And it's just not as enjoyable for

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me. But when I found rucking, it was a game changer.

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So that was number four. It's a lower impact

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exercise that isn't boring or require you to

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go to a gym to exercise. All right, number three.

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It complements other strength and mobility training.

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This is where rucking gives you the edge. It

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lifts you to another level. It gives me just

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a little more boost because I'm working muscles

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that I don't necessarily target when I'm doing

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other weight training exercises that I do. Bonus

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tip it helps with your core your shoulder positioning

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and your foot and ankle strength areas most desk

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job dads neglect like myself This might sound

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dumb and I don't think I have admitted this to

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anyone but I get up off the ground a lot easier

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after rucking. I used to use like four points

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of contact, but now I can pop up really quickly.

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The other day, my daughter and I were playing

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in her room, and her mom came home. We always

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make it a point to greet everyone with a hug

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when they arrive back at the house. It just makes

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everybody feel so good. It kind of resets things.

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So we make it a race to go give the person coming

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home a hug. And my wife started this tradition.

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It's been great. Just one of the reasons why

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my wife is amazing. I popped up off the ground

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like I was 18 again, and I caught myself off

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guard. I was like, whoa, that was really easy.

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So I attribute that to rucking. Rucking gives

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you the edge that working out on machines or

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dumbbells can't, in my opinion. Hence the name

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I gave to this podcast, gives you an edge. I

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feel more athletic. I'm not just strong, but

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I'm ready. All right, so that was number three.

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It complements other strength and mobility training

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and that will give you your edge for sure. Moving

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on to number two. It gets me outside. It's scheduled

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time to be away from the office, away from computer

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screens. My phone is down and I'm in nature and

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I'm sweating and it feels excellent. Being outside

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has a lot of benefits. It improves sleep, blood

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pressure, cognitive function. physical ability

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as well as reducing risks of chronic disease

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such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease

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and cancer. I feel like it improves creativity

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for me personally. My natural circadian rhythm

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resets. I have more vitamin D after being outside

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and ultimately I have better sleep. It feels

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great knowing that I put in a really hard workout

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outside and you shower, you climb into bed and

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all you want to do is Just sleep. I'm not pulling

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out the phone. I'm just going straight to bed.

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So that was reason number two. It gets me outside.

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Okay, I want to take a quick break before revealing

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reason number one to say once again, thank you

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for listening to the first episode of the brand

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new podcast here at the Rutgers Edge. If you

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found this episode helpful or interesting, please

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click the follow button in your podcast player

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so you're notified of new episodes. Also, if

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you know someone thinking about starting rucking

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or would benefit from rucking, please share this

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episode with them. It might just give them the

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motivation to start or to keep pursuing their

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rucking goal. My goal for this podcast is to

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introduce rucking to people that would benefit

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from a lower impact endurance workout. So following

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and sharing will help me out tremendously. Thank

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you. Okay. Back to the list. Before saying the

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number one reason why you should start rucking

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today, I want to mention the benefit of rucking

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that just missed the top five. So I guess this

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one gets honorable mention. It improves my posture.

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I currently have. It's getting better, but it's

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improving. My posture has been terrible. I have

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a desk job I'm hunched over. I'm probably not

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sitting ergonomically correct. I need to fix

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that. But through rucking, it's pulling my shoulders

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back naturally and it feels good. and it's improving

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my posture. If you're anything like me, I tried

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to work ergonomically correct as possible and

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do things and function how I'm supposed to, but

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I always find myself in just the terrible sitting

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positions. So with rucking, it's definitely correcting

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any of the bad posture habits that I've picked

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up. All right, number one reason why you should

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start rucking today. And it beats the benefit

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of being outside. because it was a surprise to

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me. I was caught off guard, but the number one

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reason is it clears my mind way better than any

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other workout I have ever done. I do some of

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my best thinking while rucking. Totally surprised

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by this. Not really anticipating this happening

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going into picking up the habit of rucking, but

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when I exercise, I typically listen to podcasts.

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I love podcasts. I listen to music. But when

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I rock I typically don't listen to anything I'll

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actually end up with like 10 to 20 voice memos

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on my phone for me to go back through and explore

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later during the week because I've had this thought

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while rocking I was thinking so intently that

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oh I need to record this and listen to this later

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because this could be Monumental and in fact,

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this is how this podcast was created I thought

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about the edge that rucking has given me in my

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physical and mental aspects of my life. And that

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was one of my voice memos. I should pull that

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back up one day, and maybe I'll include it in

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a podcast episode. But it's not just exercise.

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Rucking is my thinking time that I use for my

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therapy for fatherhood or working out things

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at work or my professional life. You know, recently

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had a loss in the family and it helped me as

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I entered and continued on the grieving process.

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Because I've created a regular routine of deep

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thought through my rucks, my mental health was

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improved as well. It's like I enter a different

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state of being, you know, wipes away all the

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day's challenges and gives me time to process

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ideas I otherwise wouldn't have had time for.

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For example, I get pretty philosophical on my

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rucks, which is not characteristic of my thought

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patterns. The other day during a ruck, I started

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thinking about the legacy I want to leave my

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children. I don't think like I used to before

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I had kids, maybe because I just don't have the

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time or energy I did before. But I encourage

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you, when you are starting your rucking routine,

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try it without earbuds. It's pretty contradictory

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to what other podcasters might recommend, and

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being that they want you to listen to your show.

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But I want you to benefit from rucking as much

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as you can. And one of the benefits is take those

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earpods out. Don't listen to anything and just

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listen to your thoughts. Just be with yourself.

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Be with nature. You know, it's kind of funny.

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I did some thinking and before kids, I just wanted

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abs. Now I ruck so I can be more present, more

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patient, and more grounded. Don't get me wrong,

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I still want abs, but having the time for deep

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thought like this has been priceless. So that

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was number one. It gives me time to think. All

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right, to recap, top five reasons to start rucking

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today are you get all the benefits of walking

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plus the added benefits of strength and endurance

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training. Number four. an excellent lower impact

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workout that isn't boring or requires a gym membership.

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Number three, it complements other strength and

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mobility training you may be doing, which gives

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you your edge. Number two, time spent outside

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away from the computer screen. And number one,

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it clears your mind and is an opportunity to

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do some deep thinking. Now that we know why we

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should be rucking in the next episode, we'll

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discuss how we can start rucking right now for

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no cost. In the meantime, If you haven't already,

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please follow the show and share this episode

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with a friend that might find it helpful. As

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I mentioned before, all the studies I mentioned

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in the podcast today are included in the show

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notes. And once again, my name is Spencer. Thank

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you so much for listening to this first episode

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of The Rutgers Edge.