Your First Ruck: How to Prepare, Pack, and Crush It Without Getting Injured

WEBVTT

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I tape up right before I go. I tape the back

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of my ankle. That's where majority of my blisters

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have historically popped up. After you get used

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to your shoes, you likely won't have blisters,

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but never say never. lose weight, and ultimately

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gain your strength and energy back. Whether you're

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an office worker with lower back pain, a fitness

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first timer, or a new parent trying to get back

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to your pre -kids weight, this is the show for

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

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

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going to continue the conversation we started

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last week in our preparations to make our first

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ruck. In today's episode, we're going to be covering

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blister protection, the importance of stretching,

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warming up, correct posture while rucking, cooling

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down, and then how to start your recovery process.

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Okay. What do we need to do on rucking day? The

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first thing we're going to do is pack our bag.

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Now, obviously you want your weight in there

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already, but you're also going to want to bring

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some water. So bring a bottle of water or bottles

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of water or jugs of water or a hydration pack,

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which is like kind of like a camel back, something

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with a bladder, a hose and a mouthpiece with

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a bite valve to drink from hands free. I recommend

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putting in a first aid kit with medical tape

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in case you develop any blisters. Also throw

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in a poncho because a storm can pop out of nowhere,

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at least here in Louisiana. And then lastly a

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carabiner in case you want to take your hat off

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and you want to hang it somewhere. I always just

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leave my bag packed, ready to go, and stored

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in a dry place. That way it's always in the same

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spot and I know exactly where it is when I need

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it. After your bag is packed, go ahead and tell

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someone that you're going on a ruck and tell

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them where you're going with an estimated time

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you're going to be back, especially if you're

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going on a long distance ruck. Make sure someone

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knows the route you plan to take in case something

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happens and they need to go find you. That's

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actually just an overall good rule of thumb for

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anything, for any length of time, any outdoor

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activity. I always tell my wife the route that

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I'm going to take with an estimated time on when

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I'm going to be back. I also share my location

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with her on my phone so she can see where I am

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at any given point if she wants to check in on

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my ETA. Then you're going to want to go ahead

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and make sure that you're prepared for any blisters

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that are going to pop up. It's very likely that

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you're going to develop at least a few. I tape

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up right before I go. I tape the back of my ankle.

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That's where majority of my blisters have historically

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popped up. After you get used to your shoes you

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likely won't have blisters but never say never.

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There are several products out there that can

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help prevent blisters. Some of them are Body

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Glide, Molescan, Leukotape, and KT Tape. In addition

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to taping, you may want to consider getting a

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new pair of socks. I have been using, I've always

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historically used cotton socks, but recently

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I switched to wool socks when I started rucking.

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Darn Tough is a company that makes wool socks,

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but I have a pair of the Go Ruck Merino Challenge

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socks. Ankle sized, obviously, because I'm a

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millennial. but they do a fantastic job of wicking

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away sweat and keeping my feet pretty cool and

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comfortable and additionally they help prevent

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blisters specifically merino wool i'll include

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a link to those in the show notes if you want

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to learn more about them okay next up it's time

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to stretch this is and has always been my weakness

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in any of my exercise habits even back in my

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running days Stretching will help prevent injuries

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and will improve your performance. It's crazy

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critical for rucking. Now there's a difference

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between stretches. There are dynamic stretches

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and static stretches. I remember when I first

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learned the difference between dynamic and static

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stretching. It was in my junior year and my cross

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-country coach was teaching us the importance

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of dynamic stretching and gave us some homework

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to do. He wanted us to research the difference

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and conclude which one would be better. And I

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was the only one that brought in multiple sheets

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of paper with several lines highlighted. I think

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it was that moment when I realized that I should

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probably go into a research field for my occupation.

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Two science degrees later, here I am with the

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desire to research a topic I'm curious about

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and care deeply about, all for your benefit.

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Anyway, back to dynamic and static. When you

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think dynamic, stretching, think movement. So

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using the muscle itself to perform the stretch

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rather than holding a position, you're actually

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moving a joint through its full rotation. It's

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going to loosen you up a little bit. as opposed

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to static being still that's when you just you're

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bending over and you're grabbing your your ankles

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or uh you're touching your toes as you can imagine

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dynamic stretches are better when warming up

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before a ruck as opposed to static stretches

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the dynamic stretches i do before rocking include

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ankle circles leg swings shoulder raises arm

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circles, and butt kicks. These are all gonna

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target majority of the muscles you're gonna need

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to use when rucking. I'll include a link to a

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PDF that will show you how to do these different

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stretches. So after you do your stretches, you're

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gonna warm up. And you gotta warm up because

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it's similar to stretching, it's gonna help prevent

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injuries, and it's gonna enhance your performance.

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But it also increases your heart rate, your blood

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flow, and your breathing. And so doing so will

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help your body acclimate to the increased activity.

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It helps make the exercise feel easier to do

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at the start. I build my warmup into my ruck,

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so I just start off slower than the pace I strive

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for. So the first five or so minutes, I'll go

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at a slower pace, and then I begin to pick up

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the pace once I start getting into the actual

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ruck. All right, so we stretched, we warmed up,

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now it's time to get going. Now, when you start

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rucking... We've mentioned this in the past but

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there are three variables that you need to consider

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when setting a goal and I highly recommend you

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set a goal because without one you may not have

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the direction or purpose required to achieve

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whatever end result you would like to have. In

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fact in an upcoming episode we're going to be

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focusing specifically on how to set and what

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makes a good goal. Three variables to consider

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when setting your goal are going to be weight

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distance, and speed. Again, the recommendation

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is 10 % body weight for approximately 20 minutes

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a mile for your pace. When you ruck, it's very

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critical that you maintain good posture so you

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don't accidentally injure yourself and set you

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back. Good posture for rucking includes having

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your head up, your shoulders back and down, your

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back is straight, you're engaging your core,

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your arms are relaxed, and your backpack as tight

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and as high up as possible. You don't want any

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weight moving around. Make sure your weight is

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evenly distributed so it's not messing with your

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momentum forward. If you're anything like me,

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you might struggle with good posture during different

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activities, so I'm always constantly trying to

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check myself, make sure it's correct. One way

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to do this is if you're in the city, you can...

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pass by buildings that might have a mirror tent

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or just check yourself out in the reflection

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of the mirror of the windows and see if everything

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lines up correctly. There is one building in

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particular on the route that I usually take that

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has a mirror tent and I almost always check myself

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out to make sure that my posture is correct and

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it's actually conveniently located. It's at the

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beginning and the end of my out and back route

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and usually my posture is correct going out but

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It's when I'm coming back is when I find myself

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correcting my posture the most. Also, another

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good way to check your posture is to listen to

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your body. Are you using certain muscle groups

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more than others? Are they getting tense? Are

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they getting sore? It's a good idea to pay attention

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so that we don't heavily use some muscles and

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not others. For example, engaging my core is

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difficult for me and I'm often relying on my

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shoulders for a lot of the weight carrying. So

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I'm constantly reminding myself to engage my

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core. Also, pay attention to previously injured

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parts of your body. If you had previous knee

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injuries or ankle injuries, think about those

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different areas throughout your rock and see

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if they're aggravated or if you feel comfortable.

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If you feel the slightest hint of any soreness

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or pain, consider slowing down or reducing your

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weight. Since we're talking about listening to

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our body and previous injuries, it's crazy important

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to be able to determine the difference between

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this is hard and something's not right. This

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is where you could really exacerbate an injury

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or cause an old injury to resurface. And that

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is absolutely what we're trying to avoid. That

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is the exact opposite of what we're trying to

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achieve. Another way to avoid injury during the

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ruck is to do a proper cool down. A cool down

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is after your ruck When you're trying to get

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your body back to its pre -workout state, you're

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going to be bringing your heart rate and body

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temperature back down. A proper cool down will

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help you reduce soreness and stiffness after

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a ruck, which is really vital, especially if

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you have other activities that you need to do

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later that day or the next day. I handle my warm

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-ups and cooldowns similarly in that I include

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them in the workout. So I build the cooldown

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right into the ruck. My cooldown is just the

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last five or so minutes of the ruck where I'm

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walking at a much slower pace and just bringing

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my heart rate down. After the cooldown, we're

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going to go into stretching. Instead of the dynamic

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stretches we did pre -workout, we're actually

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going to be doing those static stretches now.

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To reduce soreness and to help us with our elasticity,

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we're going to be stretching our hamstrings,

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our quads, calves, and we'll also be doing some

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shoulder blade squeezes. Those are the stretches

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that help me post -ruck. And those will actually

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start your recovery process. The whole episode

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for next week, we're going to be discussing all

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things related to recovery and what to do on

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your rest days. Stretching, certainly, kicks

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off the recovery process followed by hydrating

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and icing any of those injured areas or areas

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that you think need special attention. Okay,

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so that pretty much wraps it up for the day of

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your first ruck. I will say lastly and most importantly,

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be safe out there. Make safe choices. Avoid injuries

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so you can continue to get the results and be

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there for the ones that depend on you. Listen

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to your body. As I mentioned before, be able

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to determine the difference between this is hard

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and something's not right here. Now I challenge

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you, go out there, get your first ruck in. It

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doesn't have to be a world record. It doesn't

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matter how fast or how far you go, just lacing

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up and stepping out there is a win. Every step

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gets easier. Okay, to recap, in this week's episode,

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we touched on ruck day preparations, which include

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stretching, warming up, and telling someone when

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they can expect you back. We discussed maintaining

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good posture while rucking, listening to your

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body to avoid injury, and cooling down post -ruck

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with slowing your pace and doing static stretches.

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Now that we know the basics for rucking, I encourage

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you to get out there and complete your first

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ruck. In next week's episode, we'll be discussing

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all things related to post -ruck recovery and

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your days of rest. In the meantime, if you haven't

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already, please follow the show and share this

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episode with a friend that might find it helpful.

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As always, links to all the studies and products

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mentioned in this episode are provided in the

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show notes. My name is Spencer, and thanks for

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listening to this episode of The Rocker's Edge.