Building a Ruck Club Community: Chad Haggerty from West Orange Ruckers

0:00 don't do it by yourself. And when I say do it by yourself, I mean leading the club by yourself. Lean on other people because things are going to happen and you may not be able to go out. Like you might get injured and you can't go out for the next week or a month, you know, depending on what's happening. And so you have to find those people you can lean on that can help lead the rucks for you when you can't make it. Welcome to the Rutgers Edge podcast, a show all about rucking that is designed to help you develop a rucking routine, lose weight, and ultimately gain your strength and energy back. Whether you're an office worker with lower back pain, a fitness first -timer, or a new parent trying to get back to your pre -kid's weight, this is the show for you. I'm your host, Spencer, and today I sit down with Chad Haggerty, the founder of West Orange Ruckers. We talk about how a rucking routine that developed during COVID turned into a thriving ruck club. We dive into what it takes to start a local ruck club, how ruck clubs can give back to the community, and why the rucking mindset goes far beyond fitness. From community outreach to reflective rucks, inspired by Michael Easter's 2 % mindset, this conversation is all about finding purpose through rucking. Chad also provides practical advice for anyone looking to start their own ruck club. After the show, check out our show notes at theruckersedge .com. All right, here's my conversation with Chad Haggerty. Chad, welcome to the Rucker's Edge podcast. It's really good to have you here. Thanks, man. It's definitely

1:32 a pleasure to be here. So you just mentioned before we hit record just now, you went on a ruck this morning. I'm curious, what patch are you rocking right now? The patch that I'm rocking, let's see, right now I have our, we made a Halloween patch last year, where if you've seen our patch, it has like an alligator on it. And for Halloween last year, we did a special patch where if you came out in October, any time that you got this one, that's like. glow -in -the -dark skeleton of a alligator so it's pretty much just the dead version of our patch yeah i was i saw that online a couple weeks back and i was hoping you're gonna say that one that's really cool you know of all the rucking clubs i think that y 'all's patch or y 'all's logo might be the coolest with the gator on the front with the uh the logo in the background that's pretty cool i was super stoked when we got that So you're the founder of, I guess, co -founder of the West Orange Ruckers.

2:30 And I want to talk about that here in a little bit. But I'm curious, when did you start rucking and what got you into it? I started rucking probably, I want to say it's probably 2019. I was doing the Savage Race down here in Florida. And it's back then it was just the same location that they do it twice a year. And then they go off into other parts of the United States. And so after a while, I mean, I think I started with doing Savage Race probably when they first, like maybe the first or second year that they did it. So I was getting, for lack of a better term, I was getting kind of bored with their, with the course or the location. And it wasn't anything with them. I was just like, man, I was like, I want to do something a little bit different.

3:24 And so I started seeing that they were promoting a ruck division of Savage Race. And at the time, I mean, I had no clue about it. I mean, I'm an army brat, but me personally, I don't have any kind of military experience. So rucking was something completely foreign to me. And then it said, oh, well, you just put on a backpack and you put some weight in it and then you can just go for a walk. And I was like, oh, I could do the Savage Race, and I can walk this thing? I was like, absolutely, because my knees are absolutely shot. I have arthritis throughout both of my knees. Oh, boy. Yeah, so kind of running sucks. I hear you. But I was like, oh, okay, so I can walk this. Let me try this out. And then I went online, and it gave you a link to the Go Ruck website.

4:18 And, you know, after the first sticker shock of the of the rucks and the weights and everything, they had this, you know, they had one of those deals going on. I think it was probably like a Christmas in July sale or something. And I was like, well, this is definitely a good time for me to do it. And I had a little bit of expendable cash at the time. So I was like, let's let's try it. Yeah. So fast forward, you know, what, six months or so when they're actually a little bit longer when COVID hit. And I started going out rucking into the national park or the state park that we have down the street. It's like three miles away from me. So I just started rucking like crazy just by myself. And it was a really cool way to kind of clear my head. So, you know, work at the time was completely sucked. And I was a brand new father. And, you know, we all have those kind of stresses of, you know, what the hell are we doing? Absolutely. Yeah. And I just needed to, you know, it was COVID at the time. I didn't have my core friends to go see or to go talk about anything. And I was kind of, you know, you have your spouse, you have my wife. But, you know, I needed somebody to kind of like talk about my stresses, too. And, you know, COVID kind of put a stop to that for a little bit. You know, so I was going out in nature, just going out on a five mile ruck through

5:49 the hills just by myself and just clearing my head and kind of, you know, kind of mentally got back to, you know, a good place. And so I kind of wanted to. share that with other people once uh we were allowed yeah allowed to start hanging out with other people in public right oh so was that when you started west orange ruckers no um i i actually i pondered the idea of starting a ruck club um you know i started i started you know seeing what you know other than buying you know, a bag and, you know, some weights. So I was trying to see what Go Ruck was really all about. I kind of didn't really get into the Go Ruck community at first. And then I started seeing, oh, there's other people, there's other clubs that do this kind of thing. And so I started wanting to join a club. I was like, hey, I was like, there's a thing called the Central Florida Ruckers and you're on Facebook. So I joined up, but then there was nothing going on. It was completely, from what I understand, I guess maybe somebody moved away that was the leader of the club, and it just kind of dissolved. So I got in my head.

7:07 I was like, man, maybe I can just get a couple people together and just go out rucking and see what happens. And then all of a sudden, fast forward to the Sandlot Festival. So the first Sandlot Festival, and then I started meeting like all these other people. I was like, holy crap, there's like hundreds if not thousands of people out here that are out here rucking. Real quick, what is the Sandlot Festival for people that aren't familiar with it? Yeah. So Sandlot Festival was a festival up in Jacksonville, just right outside of Go Ruck headquarters. Okay. That Jason and a bunch of people put together and he had a bunch of speakers. That were there.

7:51 So like Roger Sparks, who's the one who created all the patches for Go Ruck. Okay. Or their tribe memberships. And then Michael Easter was there. A bunch of other just experts in health and fitness, which for me personally, I've never really gotten into that much. And I really was interested in it. So. I got to see a lot of these speakers and meet them. And then we went out on, you know, just random people. Just we'd all go out on a ruck for three miles or five miles. And then they had these go ruck events where it was like a basic event or a light event. And so I started doing these little events and kind of like, you know, very cultish. I kind of got sucked right in. That's awesome. These cool things and meeting other people and saw that there was a community.

8:44 actually around this. And it was really cool because not one time did anybody talk about politics. Nobody, you know, nobody cared who people's backgrounds were, where they were from. They were just like, if you can pick up this weight and you can walk with it and help us out, then you're in. And I was like, sweet. Yeah, I'm definitely down for that. That's great. So I started thinking about clubs when that happened. And I was like, you know, I could really do this. And I can take this community feeling that I had from here and bring that back into the Orlando area. So I started talking to a couple people that were also kind of like I saw on the Facebook page for the Central Florida Rutgers. People were like, hey, is anything going on? Is anything? I was like, you know, there's a need for this, at least if it's only five of us. In all of Orlando, I was like, there's at least some of us here. And it kind of filled that empty void that I had during COVID of not having people to hang out with. And I was like, oh, I can hang out with other people and we can get healthy all at the same time. So that's where I started coming up with different names and talking to a couple other people about, hey, what do you think? And we're just shooting off different ideas. And eventually, because I live just next to West Orange County, I came up with West Orange Rutgers and W .O .R. People are like,

10:15 oh, it's war. We can just go to war every day. Whatever. I was like, sure. That's awesome. If that's the way you want to put it, then let's go. Yeah. So came up with that idea. And then it took it took a little while, man. It was probably a year later because that the second. um festival um i had an image in my head of what i wanted for the patch because i always very professionally i wanted to be like i need to have a patch before we start this club because everybody in the go ruck community and rucking community are just they're fiends over patches they want patches right oh i was like i have to have a patch if i'm going to get people to come out here um so i was thinking about it's like oh you know we're we're in orlando it's like alligator heaven around here right and this little spot that we kind of based ourselves out of was an old orange community that used to grow oranges all the time and then there's alligators all over the lake there so i was like we have to have an alligator we have to have orange somewhere in this so oddly enough i went and took my family to sea world one day and i was wearing a go ruck shirt And then I went and took my, you know, my daughter was probably two years old at the time. So I took her into the bathroom, come out. And on our way out, this guy goes, hey, weirdo. And I was like, what?

11:39 I was like, you know, weirdo is kind of like that term for ruckers and stuff. Yeah. I see he's wearing a go ruck shirt, too. And we're like, oh. You're wearing a goatee. You do rucks and I do rucks. And then all of a sudden we're like, okay, we're sitting in the men's bathroom with our little girls. I was like, let's go. Let's not talk here. Let's go talk. When you're out of the bathroom, I'll talk to you. Yeah, a more appropriate place. I'm thinking of like that Spider -Man meme where there's two Spider -Mans or three Spider -Mans pointing at each other. Absolutely. Except in a bathroom. Except we're in a bathroom with our daughters. Yeah. So very uncomfortable, but it made for a good story later in life. Cliff was the gentleman there. I'll give him props because I gave him my idea, which is what I do with my tattoo artists.

12:28 I'm like, hey, this is what I want. Can you draw it? Because I suck at drawing. It just so happened to be he was a graphic design artist. I was like, holy crap. God put you in my life for some reason, bro. He immediately was like, can I be in your club? And he's like, yeah. And he goes, I'll do it for free. Nice. I was like, okay. He came up with that, with the, with the logo. And I was like, okay, this is it, man. And so I, we, we got it done. We got patches made. We got, you know, all kinds of stuff. And so then we had a club, you know, it was just a few people at first. And then all of a sudden we were, you know, People saw us walking around downtown in Winter Garden, where it's based out of, and more people started joining us. And we started going up to Go Ruck headquarters, and people started seeing our patches and everything like that.

13:27 And, you know, they just wanted to earn the patch. So I was like, well, you got to ruck with us, man. I was like, I can't just give it to you. Yeah. What a cool story. What was the moment that you realized the club had become something special? You know, not just friends rucking, but... sort of being shaped into a real community so the first year we started um my my end game was always to do something good for the community um at whole like just the winter garden community the orlando community whatever it may be and there um there was a charity for looking for kids to um they needed to give toys, like a Toys for Tots, but it was on a local basis. It wasn't just kind of giving stuff to the Salvation Army and you don't know the effects that you do. But these families are all local within Central Florida that their children needed toys. So I was like, look, this is perfect. I was like, I'm going to come up with... you know, this, you know, well, Cliff came up with a patch. He started being my go -to, like, you know, I'm sure I annoyed the hell out of him going, Hey man, I got this idea for a patch. Can you draw this for, you know? And he's like, he always says yes. So thankfully he's a, he's a great friend, but he's even a better, like just patch maker. And so we came up with this idea that, Hey, you know, we can

14:59 raise money through selling these patches. Or if you donate toys, you can get a patch. So we went to, there's a local donut shop here called DG Donuts that was like a Dropbox location for them. Okay. So I let them know. I was like, hey, we're going to have probably like, I don't know, 50 people show up. that were going to bring toys, and they were going to give out free donuts to everybody who brought a toy. So it was all this kind of cool little, you know, everybody helps each other out type of deal. And I think the first year, we definitely had 50, if not more. And then the second year, last year, we had almost 100 people show up to it. Wow, that's amazing.

15:40 Yeah, we had patches for each year. But we raised, I mean, probably close to $1 ,000. between the toys and between money that's awesome that we just you know 100 of it just went straight to the charity and you know and i it was awesome because i know that like i said these kids that are going to be walking by us at any given time like we helped them so yeah so i think that's really when i knew we were um something special yeah that's Wow, that's really cool that you're using the platform or community that you're building to give back to the community that you live in.

16:22 And I think that's just so commendable. Congrats to you and congrats to the club. Thank you. I've looked at West Orange Rutgers Instagram account and seen that y 'all do a lot of community events. I'm curious, outside of that one event you just talked about with raising money for the children, what have been some of your other favorite events over the years? We did a cool ruck one time with, my gosh, I'm going to get it wrong, but there's a guy that does things with dogs. He trains dogs, Southern Cross. That's what they're called, Southern Cross. And they train dogs in order to hand them off to families with soldiers that have PTSD.

17:10 And so they're locally here. And so I was like, dude, I get, you know, in Florida, half of the year, it's way too hot to bring puppies out, you know, and get their toes burnt on the concrete. Right. But I was like, hey, anytime you want, I was like, let's get together and let's do like a ruck with the puppies so they can get training done. And then we just all come out as a community and stuff. So that was a really cool one where we just rucked with some puppies and other people brought their dogs. you know, it was a cool, cool little event. We had a barbecue afterwards. Cool. And then, you know, they, they raised money too. I was like, you know, we're, it's always been about like, Hey, if you guys want, let's raise money for it. And then a hundred percent just goes straight to whatever. So awesome. And then it looks like you've done. I guess meetups or other community outreach with other rut clubs in the area. I saw specifically Orlando Rut Club, maybe. I'm curious, how did that begin? How did you start reaching out to other clubs or did they start reaching out to you? So originally, so kind of going back to where we were. I was kind of getting the idea of creating a ruck club.

18:27 I really leaned on, at the time, this Ponte Vedra ruck club. At the time, they were called Knock Rucks. So Mike Schroeder, one of their leaders, reached out to me one time when I had some rucks stolen out of my car. And out of nowhere, I just told people, hey, heads up. If you see these out in the community, let me know, you know, cause somebody, if anybody knows what they are, you know, what the real value of, you know, these go rock bags where they'll, they'll hit you up on these little platforms. And he reached out to me and he said, Hey, you know, come and rock with us and we'll, you know, I'll give you, I'll give you some bags to replace them, which I thought was an absolutely insane guy. I've never met before. is doing something so kind for me. And, um, and so I've really leaned on Mike a lot where I was like, how do you, how did you build this club? I mean, they have 80 to a hundred people like on any given moment going out on the rucks with them. That's huge. It's insane. It's, it's quite a sight to see. So, but, um, so he was doing, you know, a pup ruck. He was doing, you know, a toy ruck as well. Like they do a Christmas in July ruck. So where they, you know, they kind of gather up all the toys to be prepared for later in the year. So he, he does all these amazing

19:59 rucks for the community. And I was like, this is what I want. I was like, I want to give back, you know, he, he, he was so kind just to me. And that little gesture was kind of like, look, I need to, I need to do step up for my community as well. you know, in any way I can. So whether it's, you know, we, we get together with, um, the local American Legion every year and we do a, um, a ruck with them. They do a challenge 22 ruck for veteran suicide awareness where they get the whole community of Winter Garden. Like everybody comes out and rucks. That's awesome. So they have a concert, they have all kinds of cool things. which is where we met Southern Cross.

20:44 That's just, you know, that was, like I said, that was the end game for me. It's just giving back to the community, whether it's through health things, whether it's through mental health and, you know, charities in general. That's really great. So I'm curious, how many members are there in the West Orange Rutgers Rut Club? Oh, Lord. I think Facebook members. I think we're over 400. But, you know, any given week, it's different because we have different locations now and different people leading it. So we'll have five or six people come out for one ruck. Another 10 people come out for a different ruck after that. So really actively, we can probably we're probably around like 20 or so. Cool. You know, normal active wise. I mean, I've had to take a step away from the club every now and then just because of my job. So I I recently had a new job in April, which is taking me all over the southern United States every week. So I get to I unfortunately get to miss out on a lot of rucks. But I think the way that I built this club was more of a choose your own adventure. Sure. It's like, hey, if you want to come out in the morning, meet up with us at 530 in the morning on Wednesday.

22:12 If you want to come out at night, we're going to be meeting at night on Thursday and we're going to ruck heavy. Bring out extra sandbags. You know, Sunday was more of a family. Bring your kids, bring your wife or husband, whoever, and we're just all going to walk type of deal. So it was a little bit of something for everybody. So follow up to that. How are you finding new? or how are you recruiting them these days? So it's really just kind of organically. You know, you start walking around and you're walking with American flag, you know, people start taking notice of like, hey, what the heck are all these people doing with bags or flak jackets on? Yeah.

22:53 American flag, you either get negative or positive results from it. Right. Also, what's in that bag? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, you know. they kind of halfway think you're a militia or something, but we're just like, no man, it's like, we're just out here exercising. You should join us. Cause like, here, come, come walk with us and see, we just, you know, and so some people do, some people are like, Oh yeah, well, you know, look us up on Facebook, you know, come and join us. It's like, all we do is we just walk and make fun of each other half the time. So nice. And, uh, I'm super curious about. Your journey through creating this community and this rec club, because I think there are a lot more people thinking about, you know, starting a rec club as as rucking gains in popularity. So for people thinking about starting their own rec club, let's learn from someone that's done it. So what's what's one mistake you made early on that you would advise other people avoid? The first thing that I would say, and this is something I, you know, I heard from Mike Schroeder in. And on a major rec club, he was like, this is like a part -time job. He's like, just so you know.

24:01 And cause they do, I think like two recs a week. And we were doing three a week and it really is a part -time job. So you have to have, don't do it by yourself. Like, and when I say do it by yourself, I mean, leading the club by yourself, lean on, lean on other people because things are going to happen. And. You may not be able to go out. You might get injured and you can't go out for the next week or a month, depending on what's happening. You almost feel like the club is just kind of – I never wanted it to dwindle away. I felt like that club before me was there because I know it does do good for other people.

24:48 And so you have to find those people you can lean on that can help lead the rucks for you when you can't make it. You know, like I said, if you're doing that many rucks, which, you know, is another thing I would say, maybe focus on one a week at most. Yeah. At first, at first, you know, until you find those people that want more, then put it on them to do it with you. Hey, you know, it's like you. You know, I never even though I'm the one who helped found the club, I've always been a very, you know, big supporter of I'm not the only leader of the club.

25:29 I was like, if you want to go out on a Wednesday morning, then post it up on Facebook, post it somewhere, you know, put it into the Sandlot app and just tell people where you're going to be at what time and then people will come. It might be only two people or three people at first, but maybe that one or two people that show up really need it. Yeah, that's really good advice. The amount of coordination I'm sure it takes to find a place, find a route, and then recruit people to come with you. Yeah, I could totally see how that's a part -time job. Absolutely. So I know you're a co -founder. So I think I saw you mention someone named Dave as the other co -founder. So Dave was one of our original founders. And then this guy, Doug, we were the first, I guess, the three who really kind of started it out. And then Cliff as well, because he was our patch guy. But he lives on the opposite side of Orlando, so it's hard for him to come out on this side of town. But he's always been like... my dude in the background that is, you know, like who's really running this place. Yeah.

26:40 Um, but so Dave was really instrumental, um, when we first started, cause he was involved, you know, Doug as well. Like they were very already involved in the community. Um, but Dave was like, you know, he's a chiropractor and he was going to all of these kind of different meetings for the community. Doug was doing the same thing. And so we got, um, a write -up in one of the local magazines like a week later we ended up getting a write -up in one of the local newspapers and it was a great and it was a great way like a lot of people were you know coming into the rut going oh i read about you guys in the magazine i read about you in this i'm like oh okay that works yeah it was like awesome so any way to work to get the word out yeah yeah and so those two guys were super instrumental in helping facilitate all of that Very cool. So any advice for listeners that want to start their own club outside of the advice you just gave about having a co -founder?

27:40 I'd say if there are other clubs, don't be afraid to start your own. Because obviously we started, but Orlando, if anybody knows Orlando, you can drive an hour and still be in Orlando. We're a very big city. You know, when Orlando Ruck Club, they started a few months after us. And then they had, you know, they had a big group going out with them because they're like almost in the heart of downtown Orlando. Okay. Sanford Ruck Club is just like another 15 minutes, 20 minutes north of Orlando. And they've got a huge group that goes out there. We've got more like, I think it's like two or three like Ocala or Brick City Ruckers. And there's a new one in Claremont that just started. So we came from nothing to now there's like, I think there's at least five rock clubs in the Orlando area.

28:37 Wow. That's wild. Yeah. So if you were starting a rock club in this community with other rock clubs, lean on those guys or gals, you know, lean on them and, you know, partner with them. They're, they're not competition. Don't, and don't get it stuck in your head. Like, Oh, we've only got five people and they've got, 50 sure why why is nobody and don't worry about that it's stuff in the long run in the long run it doesn't matter if it makes you happy to go out and do this rucking with the five people you have then count as a blessing that you have five you know core people that you know are your they're your friends now they're your family so you wouldn't have had before yeah they're kind of like a community within a community that's really cool to see We are. And they're all, I mean, they're family to me. You know, those guys, I mean, you know, they, they all, we all work together and different things. We're like, Hey, what are you going to do for this rock? What are you going to do? Are you going to do something for Christmas? I mean, Sanford rock club, they're going to head up the toy drive, the toy rock this year. Awesome. So, which is great. It takes a lot of weight off because it takes a lot of planning and stuff.

29:46 And it takes a lot of weight off my shoulders with me working so much. Um, so with this, with this new job that I have, I, I mean, I work weekends, I work days, it's, it's nuts. So it's, you know, any family time I have, I have to take that family time. Absolutely. Yeah. That's ultimately at the end of the day, that's what's the most important for sure. Exactly. Exactly. More with Chad in just a moment, including how he adopts Michael Easter's 2 % mindset into his and his family's lives. But I want to take a quick break to say thanks for listening to the podcast. Please text this episode to a fellow Rucker that might find it interesting or a friend that could benefit from Rucking. Sharing this episode would help the show grow and help more people improve their health and lives. Okay, back to it. Okay, so moving on to... working fitness into your family life. You've done a lot of obstacle courses.

30:39 You've already mentioned savage races. I'm not familiar with savage races, but I know of Tough Mudders. Is that sort of the same deal? Yeah, it's a lot of the same deal. I've done a lot of the different obstacle course races and mud races, and I just gravitated towards savage race. You know, I think that's just, you know, I've become friends with a lot of the folks that work there. And it's just part of, you know, going back to community, they're the community that I like is the Savage Race community. Awesome. Yeah. So but I've gotten my kids into it now. So, you know, I I've always wanted my kids to.

31:23 be outside i kind of you know on purpose made them a little feral so yeah um i you know i don't want them sitting at home all day just on a tablet or watching a movie or something like that and it's so hard to get away from that because it's the easy thing to do when you know a three -year -old is screaming and you just like you know you need some help so hey you know here comes you know the tablet to the rescue But really, you know, I wanted them to go out and do fun stuff outside that, you know, tested their fitness abilities, whether, you know, they know what they are or not. But, you know, seeing, hey, can you climb a little? you know, one foot wall.

32:12 Can you go underneath these things and have fun and jump in the mud and all these, you know, fun little obstacles for kids. And my daughter did it when she was two. She's almost seven now and she's done it every single year. She looks forward to doing Savage Race. My son has, I mean, he just turned three and he's already done it twice. He's done, you know, he did it when he was like a year and a half old. So I was pretty much carrying him from obstacle to obstacle. He was your ruck, essentially. Yeah, exactly. And then he did it all on his own last year.

32:52 I mean, they're having so much fun. I think that's a cool... You know, it's a cool family outing like that. Agreed. It's a good way to bond and make memories with your family. And I totally agree. I think kids need to be outside. Absolutely. Yeah. There's a lot of studies out of like, you know, Norway or Sweden indicating that like it just kids need to be outside learning. It does something with their executive functioning skills. So we do the same with our with ours. We try to. get them outside and, you know, teach them about nature and get them to do a little bit of exercise. But that's really cool. It's really cool to hear that you're doing that with your kids. Yeah. Now, I want to talk about your mindset with rucking and your daily life. I've seen you rocking some 2 % gear. And then I saw back in December 2024, you went on a reflection ruck.

33:45 So I kind of want to start there. What is your intention with? reflection rucks i guess what what are their purpose for me it's my way of clearing my head for the year you know especially you know my like i try and do it like probably twice a year where i just kind of i don't have a time limit i don't have You know, a lot of times, you know, we do these three mile rucks as a club because we have time. You know, we have to get back to our families. We have jobs we have to go to. Exactly. So I try and keep everything under an hour. So you're always kind of in the back of your head. You're like, OK, we need to speed this up. Or, you know, what do I have to do after this ruck? Right. Where my kind of, you know, reflection rucks are just like kind of tell my wife, OK, I'm going to go out, you know, when the park opens at eight o 'clock. Kind of go back to where it all started for me into the state park down the road and just kind of go, hey, I'm just going to find a trail. I'm going to get lost a little bit and not even follow the maps that we have. So, I mean, I'll keep the map on my phone in my pocket just in case. it starts getting to be a time where I need to get out. Right. In case you come across too many gators or something like that.

35:05 Exactly. Gators, bears, whatever. But, you know, it's my time to just kind of go out and just think, you know, what did I do right this year? What did I do wrong? What improvements do I need to make? And you can do this any time of the year, really. You know, it's nice. You know, in Florida, you only have a month or two where it's somewhat nice and cool out. So it always ends up around New Year's. Right. So, yeah, that makes that makes sense. I really like that. I think I might try to incorporate that into my end of the year sort of activities. That's a really good idea. I'm going to adopt that. Yeah. And going back to the 2 % gear, you're rocking.

35:49 Yes. For listeners that are not aware, can you briefly describe that? Yeah. So it was, in my mind, it started by Michael Easter. So he is an author for The Comfort Crisis, which is a book about being a two percenter, getting uncomfortable. So for those that don't know, if you see two percent on someone's hat or something like that or a shirt, what it means is I guess there were studies that were done that When given the option of doing something comfortable, that 98 % of everybody will take the more comfortable position.

36:29 So think of what Michael Easter will say. Think about when you're in an airport and you see this long line of people waiting to get up the escalator, especially places like Atlanta and stuff, where people will wait in line to take the more comfortable. way up the escalator and not have to move their bodies where you can just take the stairs and you'll be up there and you'll get to the top before anybody on that escalator was there and then you'll be done plus you got to do some exercise yeah and only only two percent of people will do that and so wearing that two percent hat or a sticker or something for me is kind of a reminder one When I'm in the airport and I'm wearing a 2 % hat, I can't be the jerk and take the escalator.

37:21 It reminds me, hey, you need to take the stairs, bro. It doesn't matter how tired you are. You need to take the stairs because someone's looking at you on an escalator wearing a 2 % hat. There's some accountability there, for sure. Absolutely. It's my personal accountability. What are some of your other habits that you've developed through adopting the 2 %? I know in Comfort Crisis, I think he mentions parking further away to an entrance. That's something that I'll do when I go to the grocery store and I kind of force myself to grocery shop without a basket. Although that's difficult at Costco when you're buying like bulk things and you're like chuckling stuff to check out. But hey, you still do it. Exactly.

38:02 What are you implementing into your daily routine? Definitely the parking bit I will do. Um, and not even for that, it's just, you know, in Florida, you need to find a place with a shade and that's usually in the back of the parking lot. That's true. But, um, yeah, so I'll definitely park further away, um, to walk, you know, kind of get in those steps. So I always have my Garmin telling me what my steps are and how many more I need to get. So I usually try and hit my step goal for the day, but, um, That definitely helps. And then I implement it into really my family life with the kids, especially. They don't know it. I mean, obviously, they're not going to understand what 2 % means. But I make them, I give them the choice, I guess you could say, of taking a harder route. Oh, interesting. Okay. So we live very close to Disney. My wife works for Disney. And we'll, I will do like. you know, a day at the parks or something like that. And, you know, they're at that age, especially, you know, my son who's three, where he's, we're weaning him out of the stroller for the most part. And so he'll, we'll make him walk most of the time in the parks or, you know, like my daughter who wishes she could still be in the stroller. We'll have to walk the entire time. In my head, I go,

39:37 yes, you're going to have to walk all day. But we also have our, hey, you're sitting down for this. You're sitting down for that. We've got a 20 -minute show we're going to go watch in the air conditioner. You have a way of recovering. completely abusing our children on the heat yeah of course that's really cool have they have they ever surprised you and just done something that was sort of a little more uncomfortable than a different option like maybe like carrying their own backpack or something like that every day every day they do that so my my son is obsessed with wearing a backpack now that's great you know he'll throw a little stuffed animal or a book in it or something like that and just walk around the house he's like i'm a rock like you daddy i'm a rock that's awesome that's really cool so in you know little things like that i'm like okay this is definitely helping with that and i have a push -up competition with him during if we're watching a movie You know, I'll be like, hey, you know, if you want to watch this, we got to do we got to do 15 pushups, buddy. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's cool. Or, you know, during during commercial breaks, I'm like, hey, let's go do some squats. Let's do some pushups. Cool.

40:47 So now going back to the comfort crisis, Michael Easter talks about Misogi's. Do you do any Misogi's yourself? So my Misogi, I try and do my one a year. So last year, this year, I haven't had a chance to yet, just because I've had some injuries this year that stopped me from doing some things. But the year before, my Masogi was really doing a go -ruck tough, where I've done a lot of basics. I've done a lot of, you know, for those that don't know, it's kind of like a, you know, a time, kind of timed event where, If I say we're doing a basic, we're rucking for six hours and we're doing little workouts, like military -style workouts along the way for six hours or so. And for a tough, we're doing it for 10 to 12 hours, where you're putting in upwards of 15 miles in that time, plus you're working out and doing...

41:58 horrible amount of burpees and lifting heavy 80, a hundred pounds sandbags. And it's a big team workout thing. Um, so, but mine was really doing that tough last year and it was in the middle of the summer, um, in Florida. Yikes. A hundred degree weather probably. Absolutely. With not a single bit of shade. 90 % humidity. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so doing that was really my Misogi. It was my thing of, you know, mentally, can I finish this? I say, you know, and figuring out, you know, you know, that whole 50, 50 chance of making it, which, you know, I knew that I could, if I just, you know, mentally could dial in, I can do it, which I was able to. And it was, it was a, it was a great time. Nice. Well, congrats to you. That's awesome. And sorry to hear about the injuries, man. Yeah. I'm getting old, man. I'm getting old. I saw my rheumatologist today and I've got a bum knee. So you don't have to remind me that, uh, that we're all aging.

43:03 Um, Yeah. Well, you know, I think this has been such a fantastic conversation, Chad. We're going to go ahead and get to the last bit of questions. But before doing that, I just want to say thanks again for coming on. I've really enjoyed this conversation. This was a lot of fun. I appreciate it. Absolutely. Where can people follow your club and maybe even join a ruck with you? Yeah, absolutely. So look up West Orange Ruckers. We're on Facebook, we're on Instagram. So either one of those West Orange Ruckers. Good deal. I'll put a link in the show notes too. All right. So let's move into the rapid fire round. We kind of do this with every episode, just a few questions and quick answers. So if you don't mind, what was your first rucksack when you started rucking?

43:48 Oh, I had a Rucker 3 .0 with the Go Ruck logo written like all the way across. Nice. Nice. If you could only rock one trail for the rest of your life, what trail would that be? I'm actually going to rock it this weekend. I'm going up to Lake Lure and Chimney Rock. And there is a nice trail along the top of Chimney Rock that goes over waterfalls and everything. And I'm going to go rock that this weekend. Wow, that's awesome. That does not sound like Florida. Where is that? No, it's so right in, I say the mountains of North Carolina. Most people say the foothills, but. Gotcha. It's all relative. Yeah, it's right outside of Lake Lure, kind of an hour outside of Asheville. Awesome. Okay. What's your favorite non -rucking workout? I would say, you know, it's kind of a workout. I would say surfing, man. I love surfing. Absolutely love it. What do you listen to when you rock? I listen to music.

44:56 I know, um, podcasts just, you know, I start getting in my head about other things. I just, uh, I love to listen to music. Um, you know, lately I've been listening to a band called the callous Dow boys. Um, you know, a lot, a lot of heavy music. I like to listen to a lot of heavy hardcore music. Yeah. I kind of get your, your, uh, your heart rate going. I could totally see that. Absolutely. Yeah. Last question. What is your bucket list rucking trail? I would say I did this kind of trail over in Oahu where you go up to Diamond Head, but I did it without rucking. I would like to go back and actually ruck to Diamond Head in Hawaii. Cool. Yeah, I think you're the second one to say Hawaii has a rucking trail that they'd like to do on their bucket list.

45:45 I think, yeah, the founder of Ruckwell, Chris Hayes, I think that was his as well. It is a really cool hike. I just like to do it with a ruck. And then they also have a cocoa head. I'm probably getting this wrong. And everybody in Hawaii is screaming at me. There's one. It's like the staircase that just goes straight up the mountain. I think it's cocoa head, but I don't know. Gotcha. Put your put your knee braces on for that one. Oh, yeah. Well, Chad, again, really appreciate your time. And yeah, good luck with the rest of your endeavors with your Ruck Club, man. Really appreciate it. Thank you. All right. That wraps up my conversation with Chad.

46:28 You can connect with him and West Orange Ruckers on Instagram at West Orange Ruckers. I'll drop the link in the show notes. If you want to reach out to me, head on over to theruckersedge .com or on Instagram at theruckersedgepod. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to follow or subscribe to The Rucker's Edge so you're notified of new episodes. Okay, that's it for today. Thanks again for listening to this week's episode of The Rucker's Edge.