How to Prepare for Your First Ruck

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I took about a month or so to get my body into

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somewhat of shape. I knew if I were to just jump

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into rucking without developing the muscles around

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my joints and the muscles used while rucking,

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I would be extremely prone to a flare up. Welcome

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to the Rucker's Edge Podcast, a show designed

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to help you develop a rucking routine, lose weight,

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and ultimately gain your strength and energy

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back. Whether you're an office worker with lower

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back pain, a fitness first -timer, or a new parent

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trying to get back to your pre -kids weight,

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this is the show for you. I'm your host Spencer.

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Thanks for tuning in. I'm glad you're here today

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because in this episode of The Rucker's Edge,

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we're getting you fully prepared for your very

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first ruck, physically and mentally. You'll learn

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how to ready your body, pack your bag, plan your

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route, and avoid the biggest beginner mistakes

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that could sideline your progress. From warmups,

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to hydration tips, to choosing your route, I'll

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walk you through everything I did and wish I

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had done. Alright, ready? Let's do this. It all

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starts weeks in advance. Last episode we talked

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about selecting your gear, so let's think about

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the gear that we're going to need. You'll need

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a backpack, weight, and good shoes with adequate

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support. Again, I mentioned this last week. If

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there's one piece of gear I would invest in starting

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out, I would buy a solid pair of shoes to dedicate

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towards rucking. If not, double check your shoes.

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Make sure they're supportive, broken in, and

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your socks are moisture wicking. Trust me, a

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blister can end your momentum before it even

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starts. Also, injuries will sideline more than

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you'd like. Personally, I really like the Go

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Ruck McCalls. They're boots, soles, and tennis

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shoe uppers. Perfect for summer rucks in summer

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heat. I've provided a link to those in the show

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notes if you're curious about them. Okay, after

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you select your gear, you're going to want to

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invite your friends and family. There's so many

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benefits to working out with other people. It

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leads to more fitness success compared to solo

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workouts, primarily due to the increased motivation,

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the social support and adherence to exercise

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routines. One study conducted by researchers

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from Oxford University in 2021 concluded that

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not only does social support when working out

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in a group setting increase performance, but

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the subjects perceive the workouts as less strenuous.

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So when you work out with other people, you kind

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of forget about like how hard the exercise actually

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is and you're able to perform a little bit better.

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People in workout groups tend to push themselves

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harder They experience lower stress levels and

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are more likely to maintain their fitness habit

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pretty crazy Okay, you got your gear you got

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your your friends and family. Let's get your

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body ready now Here's as good of a time as any

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for me to tell you that I'm not a doctor and

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the content presented here is for educational

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and informational purposes only please make sure

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to check with your doctor before you make any

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health or lifestyle changes But I am a former

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distance runner and a dad that wanted to get

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into better shape for his kids and did so successfully

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through rucking. And I want to share how I did

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it with you and anyone that could benefit from

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it. Alright, let's get our body ready. We'll

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start with strength training. In last week's

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episode, I mentioned that I suffer from joint

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pain and all those flare ups that come with it.

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I knew if I were to just jump into rucking without

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developing the muscles around my joints and the

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muscles used while rucking, I would be extremely

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prone to a flare up. I took about a month or

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so to get my body into somewhat of shape. I engaged

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in strength training and I focused on developing

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muscles around my knees and my ankles and also

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my core and my back. When you ruck, you're working

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out your legs, your core, your back, and your

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shoulders. I developed these muscles by working

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out two to three times a week for about a month

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in advance of me starting to ruck. Did three

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sets of 20 to 30 of the following step ups bicycle

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kicks sit ups and calf raises and then I did

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three sets of ten of the following rows using

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my TRX strap also use the strap to do squats

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push -ups and Bird dogs I also did a farmer carry

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of 20 pounds on each side for 55 yards, but one

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area I completely forgot to strengthen was my

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feet. I'm strengthening them now but I wish I

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would have started sooner and how I'm doing that

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is by doing towel scrunches. I'll provide a link

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in the show notes to a resource with a description

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of how to do these different types of exercises

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as well as the muscle groups that are used when

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rucking. In addition to the strength training

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I just went over, I also began walking on a regular

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basis. I wanted to walk to develop sort of a

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baseline where I was in terms of my health to

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track progress in the future that's always has

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been a really good motivator for myself and I

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highly suggest you track everything that you

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do in terms of fitness. It also helped me to

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develop the habit of getting outside and walking

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to sort of ease the transition to rucking, throwing

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on that backpack and continuing to walk. In addition

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to strength training, I also adjusted my diet.

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Specifically, I reduced my sugar intake. I have

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and have always had a really bad sugar tooth.

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Reducing my sugar intake was crazy hard to do.

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The only other time I did something like this

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when I tried to reduce or eliminate sugar was

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when I was trying to drop weight before my wedding.

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I successfully did it. But that experience was

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bad. I had terrible withdrawals came with headaches

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Oh, man, it was just the headaches. That was

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the main thing. They were just they were terrible

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This time I didn't cut it out completely I reduced

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it significantly at the advice of my rheumatologist

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and my orthopedist and I feel like when two doctors

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independently give you the same advice something's

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up They both recommended I lower my sugar intake,

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specifically added sugar and refined carbohydrates

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as they could contribute to the joint pain and

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the flare -ups that I was experiencing on a pretty

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regular basis. Next, you're going to want to

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determine the weight and distance you want through

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your rucks. There are three variables when your

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ruck and they can all be adjusted, weight, distance,

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and speed. I'll be talking about this topic in

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greater detail in a future episode. But for now,

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I'll remind you that the standard weight recommendation

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is 10 % body weight or 20 pounds while shooting

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for a 20 minute mile pace for two miles. But

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this is how I started rocking. I focused on distance

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first. Well, I focused on the time I had available

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or dedicated to working out, which was and still

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is about an hour. And I started with 10 pounds.

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So I know when you're ready to ramp it up at

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just one variable at a time. So either adjust

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one of the three, weight, distance, or speed.

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If you decide to increase the amount of weight

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you're carrying, the recommendation is to bump

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it up in five pound increments. Alright, so that

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was how to prepare for rucking weeks in advance.

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Before discussing what to do the day before your

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first ruck, I want to take a quick break and

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thank you once again for listening to the brand

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new podcast. If you found this episode helpful

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or interesting so far, please click the follow

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button in your podcast player so you're notified

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of new episodes. Also, if you know someone thinking

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about starting rucking or would benefit from

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rucking, please share this episode with them.

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It might just give them the motivation to start

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or to keep pursuing their rucking goal. My goal

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for this podcast is to introduce rucking to people

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that would benefit from a lower impact endurance

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workout. So following and sharing the podcast

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will help me out tremendously. All right, back

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to it. Now let's talk about things we need to

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be doing the day before to prepare ourselves

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for our first ruck. The most important thing

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is to start hydrating. Start hydrating the day

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before. The reason you need to start hydrating

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the day before is you gotta get your body in

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the best possible position to take on the heat

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that you're gonna be faced with when rucking.

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The heat index, which is the temperature plus

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humidity, is the feels like. And in the summer,

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which it currently is here in Louisiana, it is

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hot and it will sneak up on you. So hydrating

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the day before and continuing to hydrate throughout

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the prep you do that day of the ruck, is going

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to help you regulate your body temperature and

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enhance your performance. I am always surprised

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how quickly the heat can sneak up on you. I was

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born and raised in Louisiana, still live here,

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and this is the weather that I know and it still

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sneaks up on me. Hydrating is super critical.

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I've suffered heat stress multiple times in my

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life, playing baseball as a younger kid, another

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time in my line of work when I was wearing several

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layers of personal protective equipment, and

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so now I'm sensitive to it. I'm more prone to

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heat stress than the average person, so I take

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it seriously and anyone doing any exercise outside

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should take it very seriously. I try to set a

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good example for my kids. I drink water all the

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time throughout the day. We all, everyone in

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our family, we all have our dedicated water bottles

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and we even bring them to the dinner table. So

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we drink out of them all day long. And, you know,

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I'm kind of curious comment wherever you're listening

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to this on what water bottle you're using. I

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have this theory that I could probably guess

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someone's age or at least generation by whatever

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water bottle they're rocking. For me, it's, it's

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a Nalgene from REI. I'm a millennial. Anyway,

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after you've started hydrating, you're going

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to want to plan your route and here's some tips

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for planning route. I recommend an out and back

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route. It's a pretty straightforward route. You

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walk out and you turn around and you come back.

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The other option is a loop. You can go kind of

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like in a counter clockwise or a clockwise circle

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around the neighborhood or wherever you might

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be. I would avoid steep inclines starting out.

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because you're kind of getting used to this new

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weight on your back and you don't want to risk

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losing your balance or you know tripping which

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could lead to an injury and set you back for

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your fitness development. And lastly make sure

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that the route that you've chosen is safe and

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well lit. There are plenty of apps or tools online

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that you can use to plan your route. I like Google

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Earth, personally, it's my favorite, been using

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it for years. It's a really easy point and click

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and you can measure distances and routes pretty

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easily. There are also a couple of apps that

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you could use to do this as well. I know Strava

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is very popular and another one is called Map

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My Run. Okay, so after your route has been planned,

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now it's time to determine how you're gonna track

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your rucks. Super critical to track your progress

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because it's an excellent motivator later on

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when you're gonna need it. I always pull up,

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I use Garmin, so I pull up the Garmin app and

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I look at where I started and where I ended up

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and feel like I've accomplished a lot and it

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gives me motivation to keep accomplishing and

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achieving more. There are a lot of options. You

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can wear a watch, you can download an app on

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your phone. Personally, I love Garmin watches.

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I have a Vivo Active 4, which connects to my

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phone and I can pull up all my previous activities

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in the app and take a look at the progress. It

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connects to a data field. You have to download

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a data field called rucking calories that somebody

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made. You type in how many pounds you're carrying

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during your ruck and then it will calculate how

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many calories you used and other data sets. but

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the newer Garmin watches actually have a rucking

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app built into the watch, so you don't need to

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download an additional data field. If you don't

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have a watch and you just want to require it

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on your phone, there's an app called Ruckwell.

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I haven't used it, but I've seen people on social

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media use it and everyone has really good things

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to say about it. I might give it a shot. I don't

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need to use it because I use my watch, but I'm

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just kind of curious to see how that functions

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and how it works. Okay, so we just discussed

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all the things you need to consider before the

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day of your first ruck. We touched on gear, getting

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others involved, conditioning your body, both

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building muscles and the importance of hydration,

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route planning, and lastly, activity tracking.

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In next week's episode, we're going to be talking

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about what you need to do the day of your first

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ruck and what to expect. In the meantime, if

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you haven't already, please follow the show and

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share this episode with a friend that might find

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it helpful. As always, links to all the studies

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and products mentioned in this episode are provided

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in the show notes. Once again, my name is Spencer

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and thank you so much for listening to this episode

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of The Rucker's Edge.