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The #1 Fitness Trend of 2015? Ruck Marching, Of Course! Aside from when it's required, will you be participating in this new craze?
There's a not so "new" craze sweeping the fitness world this summer: rucking! Seriously; I shit you not! Whereas most of you have been doing this way before the yuppies latched onto it, I'm wondering how many of you would consider doing this for recreation purposes? Please sound off in the comments fields below!
There's a not so "new" craze sweeping the fitness world this summer: rucking! Seriously; I shit you not! Whereas most of you have been doing this way before the yuppies latched onto it, I'm wondering how many of you would consider doing this for recreation purposes? Please sound off in the comments fields below!
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Rucking
Rucking
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 43
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I love ruck marching. I hate the way that the Army does it. Send me on my way, let me keep a fast tempo that I want to keep, not everyone needs to stay together. This is just like esprit-de-corps runs, the main things that running a slow pace together does for me is it makes my knees hurt, and it makes me grumpy for the remainder of the day.
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CSM (Join to see)
SFC(P) (Join to see)
- Your ruck sack straps should be adjusted so the ruck sits high on your shoulders.
- You should fasten your kidney pad belt around your waist and connect the chest strap in front. When you hop up and down there should be very little if any movement of the ruck.
- Your boots should be well broken in and not tied too tight.
- Wear your black dress socks or pantyhose stockings under your green socks.
- When you walk you should take full strides and "lock" your knees as you step, especially going up hill. This will help keep your quads from becoming tired or stressed.
- Walk heel to toe, if you tip toe your calves will get tired or cramp.
- hydrate a couple days prior to rucking and ensure you drink water during the ruck.
- If you are carrying a weapon use a two or three point sling. Lay the sling over your shoulders with the weapon to your front. You can lean into the weapon a little and it will give you some counter balance.
- Eat banana the night before and take one with you on the march. The potassium in the banana will help fight cramping and give you energy.
- Don't think about rucking, let your mind go to your happy place and just put one foot in front of the other.
- Your ruck sack straps should be adjusted so the ruck sits high on your shoulders.
- You should fasten your kidney pad belt around your waist and connect the chest strap in front. When you hop up and down there should be very little if any movement of the ruck.
- Your boots should be well broken in and not tied too tight.
- Wear your black dress socks or pantyhose stockings under your green socks.
- When you walk you should take full strides and "lock" your knees as you step, especially going up hill. This will help keep your quads from becoming tired or stressed.
- Walk heel to toe, if you tip toe your calves will get tired or cramp.
- hydrate a couple days prior to rucking and ensure you drink water during the ruck.
- If you are carrying a weapon use a two or three point sling. Lay the sling over your shoulders with the weapon to your front. You can lean into the weapon a little and it will give you some counter balance.
- Eat banana the night before and take one with you on the march. The potassium in the banana will help fight cramping and give you energy.
- Don't think about rucking, let your mind go to your happy place and just put one foot in front of the other.
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SPC David Wyckoff
SGM Mike Oldsen
Thanks for the tips. Not in anymore but do a lot of field work for my job and I had forgotten some and didn't know about locking your knees out.
Thanks for the tips. Not in anymore but do a lot of field work for my job and I had forgotten some and didn't know about locking your knees out.
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SSG Jerrold English
Damn! Good stuff MAJ! I am a serious rucky too. I've started packing my horse with everything the last few years and hiking without my sack but I'm still putting in over 50 miles a week on average at 56 yrs old. Last year I was training for 50 and 100 mile endurance racing but my horse hurt himself in the pasture and I had to give him a 2 month break. My ruck kicked my butt when I had to carry it again for that 2 months! lol
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American Friends of Tel Aviv University. "Heavy backpacks may damage nerves, muscles and skeleton, study suggests." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 February 2013. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/ [login to see] 4.htm>.
Just one of dozens (or more) academic studies that strongly suggest rucking is, simply stated, a bad idea, especially with heavy weight. Some of the risk is manageable with proper gear and technique. But in the military we don't have proper gear and we know nothing about proper technique.
Also, we always discuss combat-focused PT; it only dawned on me recently that, despite all the rucking I did in garrison for PT, I never rucked in combat. Or on deployment, except on Kosovo, when we rucked to get ready for a 12-mile training ruck march.
Just one of dozens (or more) academic studies that strongly suggest rucking is, simply stated, a bad idea, especially with heavy weight. Some of the risk is manageable with proper gear and technique. But in the military we don't have proper gear and we know nothing about proper technique.
Also, we always discuss combat-focused PT; it only dawned on me recently that, despite all the rucking I did in garrison for PT, I never rucked in combat. Or on deployment, except on Kosovo, when we rucked to get ready for a 12-mile training ruck march.
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MAJ (Join to see)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/27/what-heavy-backpacks-are-doing-to-kids-bodies-_n_5700485.html
This isn't the graphic I want, but it'll do. Shows the problems with carrying a heavy load. Yes, this particular graphic is about kids and backpacks, and yes, it is fro, the Huffington Post; but the underlying research is legit (see the caption and sourcing of the graphic) and the same problems exist for adults carrying heavy packs.
This isn't the graphic I want, but it'll do. Shows the problems with carrying a heavy load. Yes, this particular graphic is about kids and backpacks, and yes, it is fro, the Huffington Post; but the underlying research is legit (see the caption and sourcing of the graphic) and the same problems exist for adults carrying heavy packs.
What Heavy Backpacks Are Doing To Kids' Bodies
Between studying, homework and extracurricular activities, going back to school may make kids feel like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. And sometimes, they literally do. After yo
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MAJ (Join to see)
MAJ (Join to see), yes, heavy, over-loaded and poorly-fitted backpacks are very problematic for the developing bodies of children and young teens. And yes, the same still holds true for these weekend wannabes who will have no clue to little clue what they are doing when they decide to jump headfirst into this, "the next big thing" in fitness. However, as CSM (Join to see) points out, a well-fitted ruck, with a properly distributed load will have an overall minimal impact on a conditioned, healthy adult. Man has been shouldering heavy loads over long distances for well over a millennia now, yet somehow our species advances forward. Ruck it up; we're moving out!
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MAJ (Join to see)
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid= [login to see] 2611AA8tNzK
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17050392
Anecdotal and academic references to challenge your claims. Found these on the inter web in about five minutes of searching. rucking is bad for the body, especially the way we do it. If we were carrying light loads, this might be different. In my time in the infantry, though, a light load was something like one-third of your body weight, so something like 60 pounds, just in the ruck. Add Iba and helmet and weapon and etc, this is no longer a light load. In the military we often make the wrong assumption that Soldiers are conditioned, healthy adults. MAJ (Join to see) CSM (Join to see) m
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17050392
Anecdotal and academic references to challenge your claims. Found these on the inter web in about five minutes of searching. rucking is bad for the body, especially the way we do it. If we were carrying light loads, this might be different. In my time in the infantry, though, a light load was something like one-third of your body weight, so something like 60 pounds, just in the ruck. Add Iba and helmet and weapon and etc, this is no longer a light load. In the military we often make the wrong assumption that Soldiers are conditioned, healthy adults. MAJ (Join to see) CSM (Join to see) m
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MAJ (Join to see)
Oh, MAJ (Join to see), I am most definitely not disagreeing with you that the way the Army goes about rucking is wrought with flaws and unhealthy bad habits; I know for a fact that as we add to the weight of a Soldier's IBA and protective gear, the load in the ruck never seems to be reduced in direct proportion as most things in the ruck are still deemed essential to the light fighter. And yes, we make the assumption all the time that our Soldiers are fit enough to handle a basic Soldier task such as a basic 10-12 mile tactical road march; until we witness them sucking wind and struggling with great difficulty from the 3-mile marker onward! I actually believe that if the Army expects Soldiers to accomplish this task periodically throughout their career, regardless of Branch, MOS, or component, leaders owe it to their Soldiers to provide the right conditioning opportunities and guidance that will mitigate the risk of injuries and suffering while doing so.
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Ten years retired (or retarded) and i still ruck once every couple of weeks. 40lbs... 4 miles... around 60m... great easy way to relieve stress.
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