Post-Rucking Recovery Guide: How to Reduce Soreness, Speed Up Healing, and Get Back to Rucking Faster

0:00 One of the surefire ways to feel maximum soreness after rucking is to push yourself really, really, really hard and then completely stop. Sit down, don't stretch, watch TV or something. Do the opposite of that. Keep moving, turn your cool down, and then stretch right after your cool down. Welcome to the Rucker’s 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-kids weight, this is the show for you. My name is Spencer.

0:43 Thanks for tuning in. Today we're talking about recovering from your ruck, including some ways to expedite the recovery process so you can get back out there and keep pursuing your fitness goals. We'll go over what to expect after you ruck. Spoiler alert, soreness. You're going to be sore. But don't worry, we're going to explain how to shorten that length of time you're going to be sore. We'll also be discussing why recovery is important for ruckers and the number one thing that you can do to help with your recovery. But first, this is the first time I'm in the studio post -launch. And I want to sincerely thank each and every one of you that listened in, followed, rated, and left a review or commented. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to listen. There were and are a million things that you could be doing, and you're choosing to spend some time with me. I am grateful for that. Thank you very much. Podcast production is not easy. It takes time, research, creativity. time, a lot of effort.

1:41 Did I say time? But seeing everyone's reaction to the launch made it all worth it. And a special thanks to my wife for her sacrifices as I pursue my podcasting goals. Thank you. All right, so let's go to the meat of this thing. Let's talk about what our body goes through. Now is a good time to remind you that I'm not a doctor and the content presented here is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Always check with your health care provider before you make any health or lifestyle changes. When you're rucking, let's think about what your body is going through. You're using energy. You're sweating. You're trying to keep your body temperature regulated because of the stress that your body is under. You're tired. You're starting to get sore. You're thirsty. Some joints and muscles might start to get inflamed. You might be having some aches and pains. And the next day, like we mentioned earlier, you're going to be sore. We like it because it means our body is going to be... getting stronger, but we hate it because the soreness will linger for some time. You'll almost certainly feel it the worst after your first ruck. And then every time that you increase the weight as you progress. But as long as you're using proper form, it means you're getting a good workout and you're building muscle. Soreness could also be caused by bad form. But for the purpose of this episode, we're going to be assuming that your form is correct. I mentioned in a previous episode what proper rucking form looks like.

3:10 So if you don't remember or if you're unfamiliar, I suggest you check out episode four. But what is soreness? From growing up, playing baseball, running track, and cross country, all of my coaches told me the same thing. They said that soreness was caused by a buildup of lactic acid in our muscles. But recently, in an annual physical with my doctor, She was explaining that that's not necessarily true. Shout out to Dr. Raj. You're great. Thanks for all the information you've been providing to me over the years. She jumped into talking about the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercises and metabolic processes. She described ATP, began reciting the Krebs cycle, and described the presence of lactic acid in our muscles, but I immediately checked out. I memorized the Krebs cycle for a test in college and forgot it immediately afterwards. I was just like, give me the cliff notes, doc. I don't have the energy to consume all this information. I asked her to break it down to me in layman terms, and she said, our muscle bands... are being broken down during the strenuous workout. She called it muscle shred, where there are little tears in our muscles. And this means that we're pushing ourselves, the muscles are working like they're supposed to, and it paves the way for newer, stronger muscles as those tears are repaired.

4:19 And the sore feeling is from both the muscle shred and the inflammation during the healing process. And my doc sent me an article summarizing all this. I'll attach it to the show notes. It's pretty informative. And I thought that was pretty surprising because it... was not what I was taught initially growing up. Now, it's okay to feel sore, but we should be able to distinguish the difference between what feels sore and a sharp pain. If you have a sharp pain, something could be wrong. So take a little bit longer to recover and consider maybe going to get it checked out by your healthcare provider. Now in terms of where you're going to feel the soreness, you're likely going to feel it in the muscles that you're using the most. So your shoulders, back muscles, hip flexors, glutes, thighs, calves, everything that you're going to be using to carry the weight and travel long distance. The soreness usually starts the next day. That's why they call it delayed onset muscle soreness. And it could last for a few days, but there are things that we can do to help our bodies recover faster and make the soreness feeling go away faster. We'll cover things we can do over certain time frames, starting with what you can do to prep your body before your ruck and what we should be doing immediately after your ruck. Let's start with before your ruck. What can you be doing as a pre -recovery routine? And you might be asking, wait, did you say before I ruck? Yeah, yeah, recovery starts before you ruck, like days, weeks, months before you ruck. There are two main items associated with... pre -rec recovery preparations,

5:51 and they are preconditioning your muscles and hydration. For preconditioning your muscles, I spoke a little bit about this in a previous episode, but start a workout routine before you even start rucking. It also kind of goes hand in hand with the guidance of ramping up slowly. You gradually work the new muscle groups, develop the muscles so that you build a foundation to build on through your rucking. I found this interesting. I saw a study it's from 2019 researchers from brazil i think it was they concluded that isometric holes so planks wall sits calf raise holes etc done one to two days in advance can significantly reduce soreness now i haven't done that i think i might try it out and see how that works but i thought that was pretty cool And the other item for pre -recovery prep is a hydration strategy.

6:40 Being hydrated helps tremendously. Helps you achieve maximum effort for your performance, regulates your body temperature, and helps prevent tightness, strains, and cramps. Now the pre -hydration plan recommendation is five to seven milliliters per kilograms of body weight at least four hours before the workout on top of your normal eating and hydration habits. A paper published back in 2007 by the ACSM or the American College of Sports Medicine recommends that we consume five to seven milliliters per kilogram of body weight at least four hours before the workout on top of our normal eating and hydration habits. And the NATA or NATA, not exactly sure how you pronounce that, but the National Athletic Trainers Association stated in their position statement on fluid replacement for athletes that there should be about 17 to 20 ounces. consumed two to three hours before your workout. And then an additional seven to 10 ounces, 20 minutes before the workout. And then if you are sweating heavily or it's insanely hot, like it is now here in the summer in Louisiana, add electrolytes before and during your workout for your hydration. It will definitely make a difference. But my doctor advised not to drink too much electrolytes as it can cause kidney damage. And then during the workout itself, you want to maintain fluid replacement. So I mentioned in previous episodes the convenience of having a hydration bladder tucked away in the back.

8:09 Definitely recommend that. All right, so that was what you can do before your workout. And towards the tail end there, I talked about what you can do during the workout. But let's talk about immediately after your RUC. What can we do to help expedite our recovery process? So there are five items that you can do after your RUC to help speed your recovery process up. doing a proper cool down, followed by stretching, more hydration, potentially a recovery drink, and icing your problem areas. Let's start with the cool down. You don't want to just stop dead in your tracks after your workout and sit down. You want to kind of ease your body back into your heart resting rate. Keep moving for a while.

8:50 When I was running six miles a day back in my sprightly years, we would do a one mile warm up and a one mile cool down. And in rucking, I've been doing... Something similar. I've been doing a five -minute warm -up and a five -minute cool -down. It's been working for me. And right after my cool -down, I immediately go into stretching. I stretch right away. During previous episodes, we talked about the difference between dynamic and static stretching. Post -ruck, you want to do static stretches. I focus on a few areas. It takes about 14 minutes to stretch all the different muscle groups, but I'll stretch my calves, hamstrings, hip flexors, glutes, quads, back. and shoulders. Hold each one for about 30 seconds. So targeting my calves about a minute, hamstring a minute, and so on. One of the surefire ways to feel maximum soreness after a workout is to push yourself really, really, really hard and then completely stop. Sit down, don't stretch, watch TV or something. Do the opposite of that.

9:50 Keep moving during your cool down and then stretch right after your cool down. The third topic, hydration. Keep drinking. You drink beforehand. You drink during. You drink water or electrolytes afterwards as well. Now, how much should you replenish? The American College of Sports Medicine, ACSM, we talked about them earlier, and the National Athletic Trainers Association, NATA or NATA, however you say it, they both have weight -based methods for replenishing after a workout. There's a few steps, and I'll include this as a blog post potentially. Yeah, I'm going to do a blog post, and I'll link it in the show notes. But essentially, Yeah, it's a procedure. The gist of it is you weigh in before and after your ruck, you track your fluid intake during your ruck, and then you calculate the sweat loss after the ruck. And then you drink about 125 to 150 % of the amount of sweat lost. You know, I think maybe the next ruck that I'll do, I'm going to try this out. I'm going to follow this procedure and I'll make a YouTube video, which check out the YouTube channel. I created it just a couple of weeks ago. It's called The Rucker's Edge.

10:53 I'll be adding... Fun little clips here and there, sort of episode recaps and other things that I just want or like to do. I was always taught guidelines on how to know if I need to rehydrate or drink more water. And those include, you know, the standard eight glasses a day rule. Urine color only, like if your urine's yellowish in color or dark yellow, which is a really good indicator that you're dehydrated. You shouldn't rely on those, especially thirst alone. I mean, the eight glasses a day rule, that's not individualized. There's some varying factors between individuals that you might need more than that a day. Urine color, again, helpful, but it's not precise.

11:39 Definitely tell you when you really, really, really need it, but it won't tell you when you need to start replenishing. You probably need to start even before you realize that your urine's yellow colored or dark colored. And especially thirst alone. I mean, you're already mildly dehydrated if you're feeling thirsty. So again, you should have been drinking before you even get thirsty. Touching on electrolyte mix recommendations, I have been using a product that we got off of Amazon. I think it's called like Fast Light or something like that. On the front of the bag, it says no sugar, electrolytes, powder in the raw. I like it because it has very minimal. sugar, which I touched on this in a previous episode.

12:24 I'm trying to limit how much sugar I consume. I definitely have better days and worse days. Anyway, kind of got sidetracked. But yeah, that's what I recommend. I'll put a link in the show notes if you're interested in a product like that as well. And lastly, while we're talking hydration, let's talk diuretics. So coffee, tea, other diuretics. My doctor told me to drink two cups of water for every mug of coffee I drink, and I love coffee. I have two cups a day in the morning and one after lunch. My office mate made a joke the other day about how loud my coffee maker is. Sorry, dude. I'll look into getting a new one. But that means because I consume so much coffee, I really have to work my tail off to stay properly hydrated. Okay, so that was hydration. The next item that we can do after we ruck to help with our recovery is consuming a recovery drink or a protein shake. I have a mix of protein that I like to use. It's a whey protein. I'll actually prep it before the ruck so when I get back, it's already ready to go and it's still cold for me. And I'll actually add... a scoop of the electrolyte powder that I talked about earlier in that as well mix it stick it in the fridge it's ready to go post -ruck there are also several options out there on the market that you can get it's already mixed you don't have to make it yourself it's just it's pre -mixed and ready to go now I'll be the first to tell you I am not the best person to talk to about protein I do know that muscles

13:56 need it to repair all the micro tears during the workout and rebuild stronger that's what my doctor Raj was talking about when she was mentioning muscle shred and I used to question this a lot when I started like do I really need a protein shake or recovery drink afterwards and when talking with my doctor she said you need it if your diet needs it for the goal that you want to achieve so if you want to bulk up if you want to develop your muscles it's generally recommended If you don't normally eat that much protein, you might want to consume one. If you're not eating a protein -rich meal within the next couple of hours after your rock, and if your goal is to maintain or just develop your muscles in general, it's recommended. But, you know, obviously before you take any supplements or anything like that, I definitely recommend speaking with your physicians to see, or maybe more appropriately a nutritionist, see what they recommend based off the diet that you have. But based on my diet, I am supplementing with protein shakes, and I do feel like it does help with my recovery afterwards.

15:00 Again, I make my own at the house. Whey protein, sugar -free electrolyte mix, and water, and sometimes I'll add a little coffee if I'm jumping right into dad duty when I get home, and there's leftover coffee in the pot from the morning. And anecdotally, that's not the only thing I add coffee to. I'll add coffee to my gumbo. If I'm being lazy and don't cook the roux long enough. Darker. If you're unfamiliar with gumbo, it's like a soup or a stew. It's a very common dish in Louisiana. And to make it, you start with the roux. And the darker the roux, the more flavorful the gumbo is. But if I just don't have time to sit over the stove and... and babysit the roux and stir it for a long enough, I'll just end up just throwing some coffee in it and making it look like a darker color. Anyway, if you are curious about what gumbo recipe I use, you can reach out to me at theruckersedge .com. There's a way to send me an email. Shoot me a message there and I'll respond back to you with the recipe that I use. really not that difficult to make. It just takes time.

16:02 Like I mentioned with the roux, just got to sit and stir it. But if you have coffee on hand, you can also achieve a darker roux. Just don't tell anybody. I guess it's too late for me. But anyway, the next one is for my chronic joint pain, ruckers with problem areas. All right. So we already talked about cooling down, stretching, hydrating, and consuming a recovery drink. The last thing that we can do post -ruck to help our recovery. Immediately post -rock to help our recovery is to ice. Now, my orthopedist relayed this information over to me, and he said, ice your problem areas ASAP. So I guess doing so will reduce the inflammation and speed up the recovery process. How quick is ASAP? My doctor said within 15 to 30 minutes was his recommendation.

16:51 So I'll do a five -minute cool down. I'll stretch for 14 minutes. I'll have my recovery drink. immediately jump into the ice bucket. And when I say jump into the ice bucket, I mean I'm soaking my ankle. I don't get into a giant ice bath. My problem area is my right ankle, and so I'll just dunk that into a Lowe's bucket full of ice. It's actually a really good time to spend with my daughter. She loves playing with the ice, and her favorite thing is to watch it get... tiny and she'll actually kind of get distracted sometimes and she'll check in every once in a while. She's like, is it tiny ice yet? Is it tiny ice yet? I know. It's been fun to play with her with that. So I just mentioned I ice my ankle in a ice bath, but there's other ways you can do it. You can use a cold pack or you can use ice wrapped in a towel. It's very important not to put the ice directly onto your bare skin.

17:45 You can get a burn that way. And then how long should you ice it? My doctor's recommendation was 15 to 20 minutes max. Speaking of icing, another really good method that I employ post -ruck, and this is like the night, right before I go to bed, I'll do this on the day of a ruck, is I'll use the RICE method. R -I -C -E is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. In my experience using the RICE method, the faster you do it, the quicker your recovery will likely be. Okay, so R, rest. You're basically just going to limit your activity. Take it easy. How many days before your next rock? You know, just listen to your body. Don't rush back out there. If you need time off, take time off. I, ice. Ice problem areas. Just covered this. Don't exceed 15 to 20 minutes at a time. Don't put ice or cold packs directly onto your skin. Compression. Wrapping with an elastic material. I personally use compression socks. I love them, and I'll actually go to sleep with them. Having them on through the night helps me. There are also other products out there like muscle compression floss bands or sleeves, other things that you can use for other problem areas that you might have. And what compression does, it promotes blood flow and it limits excess fluid.

19:05 So when you have inflammation, your problem area will swell up, but the compression prevents any excess fluid from accumulating in that area. And E, the end of rice is elevation. Try to get your problem area above your heart. That is also going to promote draining excess fluid and will improve circulation. All right, let's take a break here before I go into discussing the most critical thing that you can do post -rock to help with your recovery phase. To say once again, thanks for listening. Really appreciate y 'all taking the time to tune into the brand new podcast. If you found this episode helpful or interesting so far, please click the follow button in the podcast player you're using so you're notified of the new episodes. Also, if you know someone thinking about starting rucking or would benefit from rucking, please share this episode with them. It might just give them the motivation to start or keep pursuing their rucking goals.

20:00 My goal of this podcast is to introduce rucking to people that would benefit from this lower impact endurance workout. out so following and sharing the podcast will help me out tremendously thanks so much all right back to it the most critical thing to do post -rock to help with your recovery in my opinion is sleep i think it's the absolute most important factor it's a it's the best opportunity to gain our energy back and reduce inflammation, any aches, pains in our joints, soreness in your muscles. Our body will release hormones like HGH when sleeping, which will help repair all of our muscles. And I can do all the other things I cover in this episode, but if I don't get good quality sleep post -ruck, my recovery feels like it gets extended and will last days. I actually get the best sleep, I feel, the night after a long ruck. Since I wear a garment to track my sleep, I can go back in my sleep logs and point out the days that I rocked based off of how well my sleep was that night. The best tip I can give you to help with your sleep is to max out your sleep hygiene.

21:05 There's a whole litany of things that you can do to maximize your sleep, but these are the things that I've had success with and I wanted to pass them on. First one, implementing a policy of no screens 30 to 60 minutes before bed. There's a lot of studies talking about blasting your face with blue light before bed and how it's detrimental to your sleep. Also, pretty good idea not to have TV in the bedroom. We've removed our TV from the bedroom several years now. It's been like, I don't know, at least five years or so. It's definitely improved my sleep quality. And then in terms of a sleep environment, you want to keep it cool, quiet, and dark. And the best thing is clean sheets. Oh man, when one of my long rucks matches up with laundry day, I get the best sleep ever. And then the last one, I actually, I haven't had to try this yet, but I did learn it while I was prepping for this episode is if you're having a hard time falling asleep, there's been a recommendation to do a brain dump. So if your brain won't shut up and you're just tossing and turning because you have something on your mind that if you write out all your to do's or what you're worrying about on a notepad before bed, it'll help clear your mental clutter. Helps reduce sleep anxiety. So I think maybe the next time I'm tossing and turning, I'll just whip out a pen and pad and just scribble away. Okay, so we talked about pre -ruck recovery tips, post -ruck recovery tips. Let's talk advanced recovery techniques. And I say advanced because, I don't know, it's not really advanced, but it's

22:36 just like other things that you can do to help expedite the recovery process. This first one, massage therapy, highly recommend. using a massage gun or a Theragun. The recommendation to do this is while your muscles are still warm, so relatively soon after your ruck, generally within the first hour. Similarly to using a Theragun or a massage gun, a foam roller will do the trick. I actually just started doing this. I started rolling out my calves post -ruck. I have found that it definitely helps. A DIY option if you don't have a foam roller is you could whip out a water bottle and roll your calves, quads, hamstring, glutes. A 2015 study indicated you want to do it immediately after an intense workout and, again, 24 hours afterwards. I talked to my doctor, Dr. Raj, about rolling, and she said it's important to roll lengthways with your muscle, and you want to roll the muscle groups you use during your workout as well as the ones above and below the muscle groups. Try to roll them for about a minute.

23:40 was the recommendation, making sure not to exceed two minutes on a particular muscle group. And then most critical was rolling through the entire muscle. So not just pinpointing a portion of it, but going end to end. And there's also an article on this, and I'll include that in the show notes. Other massage items you could use include a lacrosse or a golf ball or a foot massager. Another advanced technique is yoga. I am... Definitely not the most limber person that I know. I am notoriously stiff. But if you're into yoga, there are four entry -level yoga poses that were recommended to me from a friend that is a certified yoga instructor. Their recommendation was child's pose, sphinx pose, legs up the wall, and cat -cow. All right, now let's talk foot care specifics.

24:38 Starting with blister care. Consult with your doctor on this one too, but I'll say moleskin is your friend here. Apply moleskin over your blisters, and I wouldn't pop them unless they're large, painful, and likely to pop anyway. If they're on the bottom of your feet, apply a ring -shaped piece of moleskin on them. That way, your body weight won't pop them. If they do pop, keep them clean. Apply an antiseptic ointment and a loose bandage, and then monitor for signs of infection. The Mayo Clinic provides great info on blister management. And again, I'll provide a link in the show notes. Another awesome, actually, this is my favorite part. Next to sleep, this is my favorite post -ruck routine activity is slipping into my recovery slides. I have a pair of these UFO slides my rheumatologist recommended.

25:30 They are so comfortable. I know some people advocate. minimalist barefoot walking to toughen your feet up, man, that is not an option for me. Again, my doctor recommended them to me. He said to use them after any strenuous activity. Plus, after a rock, I mean, I just want to walk in the clouds, man. These Ufos recovery slides certainly feel like it. They're cushioned while still providing adequate arch support. And these recovery slides, there's more cushioning than the average footwear, like the average slide, like an Adidas slide or something like that. They reduce the stress on my feet, legs, and joints. It feels amazing. I'll include a link in the show notes for those UFA slides if you're curious. Now, I guess this being a recovery episode, I should mention specific tech for recovery, specifically tracker apps or wearables. There are products out there. I mean, even like Apple Watches and Garmin's can help provide insight into your recovery, but I know Whoop is the premier recovery wearable, I suppose. And basically you fill in your age and your metrics and it measures strain, recovery, sleep, all these different variables. It looks at your physical activity log, heart rate, sleep tracking, and it calculates an HRV, which is your heart rate variability. And I honestly don't know too much about heart rate variability. I don't have a whoop. I use Garmin and I don't know how accurate Garmin's body battery function is. I think it's somewhat accurate because if it says I'm dipping below 30%, I feel like I

27:03 am dragging. But I do know that WHOOP is supposed to be a more accurate device in measuring HRV. And if you have a high HRV, it means you're adaptable and ready to go. But if you have a low HRV, maybe consider chilling and recovering for a little bit longer before jumping into your next ruck. All right, finally, I wanted to give everyone a heads up on my personal recovery routine that works for me. Everyone's different. So what works for me may not work for you. But after tweaking it for the past few months, I feel like I'm pretty comfortable with it and it's working for me. Like I mentioned before, immediately after a ruck, I will cool down. I'll throw my rucksack down in the grass. I'll save my ruck data on my watch. I'll grab a water and then I'll start stretching and doing a little bit of foam rolling.

27:50 After that, I'll jump into. Icing my problem areas while I'm drinking my recovery drink and playing with my kids. And then after that, I'll pop on my compression socks and recovery slides. And then later that night, I'll do the rice method. Rest, ice, compression, elevate. And then sleep. I actually go to bed a little earlier than usual on days that are rough. I'm just ready for it. I actually can't wait to jump in bed. And then the next day, I'll walk. I'll park. further than I would normally park at work and while running errands. And using these muscles sort of expedite the recovery process for me. And then later that next day, I'll foam roll again, then review my rucking progress to remind me exactly how far I've come since starting. Ultimately, listen to your body and adjust your recovery plan accordingly.

28:44 Only you know your limits. you're the one making the decision that your body is in fact ready for another ruck. It could be a day. It could be a week. The tips I provided in this episode will help you recover, but only you know when you've recovered enough to get back out there. For me, it was a week just starting out. It took a while, but now it's a day or two. Okay, there you have it. So now you know how to recover quicker so that you can stay on track towards achieving your rucking goal. Speaking of tracking, in next week's episode, we'll discuss the importance of tracking our rucks and what we can do with that data that we collect. In the meantime, if you haven't already, please follow the show and share this episode with a friend that might find it helpful. And as always, links to all the studies and products mentioned in this episode are provided in the show notes. Once again, my name is Spencer.

29:34 Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of The Rucker's Edge. and anecdotally and anecdotally and anecdotally anecdote is that a word well it is now and anecdotally i feel like that's not a word all right i need to google this