Rucking—walking with a weighted backpack—is a military-originated practice gaining popularity for good reason. It’s a highly accessible full-body cardio workout that blends the benefits of cardio with strength training, all while being gentler on the joints than running. Rucking boosts endurance, improves heart health, burns significant calories, and builds real strength without fancy equipment.
What Exactly Is Rucking? (And Why It Counts as Cardio)
Rucking is simply walking with a weighted backpack. This military-inspired activity transforms a normal walk into an effective workout by increasing the load on your cardiovascular system and muscles. It’s a “two-in-one” exercise, offering both cardio and resistance training benefits. Rucking elevates your heart rate and oxygen consumption, similar to a light jog, making it an excellent form of cardio. For those who find walking too easy but running too harsh, rucking provides a perfect middle ground.
Boosts Endurance and Stamina
Rucking significantly enhances cardiovascular endurance. Consistently walking with extra weight trains your heart, lungs, and muscles for improved performance over time. Your body adapts, becoming more efficient at pumping blood and oxygen. This leads to increased aerobic fitness and VO₂ max, boosting overall stamina. The endurance gained from rucking translates to easier daily activities, like climbing stairs. It also builds mental resilience, as pushing through the discomfort of a weighted pack for extended periods enhances mental toughness. Regular rucking, a moderate-intensity workout, helps achieve recommended aerobic exercise guidelines, leading to noticeable improvements in endurance and reduced fatigue during physical activities.
Strengthens the Heart and Improves Cardio Health
Rucking strengthens your heart by forcing your cardiovascular system to work harder. This sustained effort over time fortifies the heart muscle and improves circulation. It elevates your heart rate into a moderate-intensity zone (50–70% of maximum heart rate), comparable to light jogging or cycling. Regularly exercising in this zone offers significant cardiovascular benefits, including lower blood pressure, improved cholesterol, and a reduced resting heart rate, thereby lowering the risk of heart disease.
Rucking’s low-impact nature allows for longer, more sustainable cardio sessions. This extended duration provides more cardiovascular work, leading to improved aerobic endurance and heart conditioning. Furthermore, rucking often maintains an aerobic fat-burning zone, aiding weight management, which positively impacts heart and metabolic health. A stronger heart from rucking also enhances endurance for other activities like cycling or strength training.
Burns Calories and Aids Weight Management
Rucking is an excellent tool for calorie burning and weight management. Adding weight significantly boosts calorie expenditure; carrying 10% of your body weight can increase calorie burn by roughly 20%. This means a brisk ruck can burn calories at a rate comparable to jogging, often feeling less strenuous. For example, a 30-minute leisurely walk burning 100 calories could become a 300-calorie ruck. Rucking’s sustained movement allows for accumulating more calorie-burning minutes.
Burning more calories supports weight loss when combined with a proper diet. Rucking can be seamlessly integrated into daily routines, effectively increasing daily calorie expenditure. Additionally, rucking builds muscle, particularly in the legs and core, which slightly increases your basal metabolic rate, further aiding body composition. Unlike some high-intensity workouts that can increase appetite, rucking’s moderate intensity often leaves you energized, potentially helping with appetite control. It also improves your body’s ability to mobilize and burn fat for energy, especially during longer treks.
Low-Impact Cardio: Easier on Joints Than Running
A major advantage of rucking is its low impact on joints. Unlike running, where foot strikes generate forces 1.5 to 3 times your body weight, walking (and thus rucking) typically produces forces around 1.2 times body weight. Even with added weight, these forces remain significantly lower than running. This makes rucking gentler on knees, hips, ankles, and feet, allowing many with joint pain from running to ruck comfortably.
While the added weight increases musculoskeletal stress, these forces are smoother and more controlled than running impacts. This steady pressure can actually promote bone density and fortify joints. Rucking is ideal for older individuals or those recovering from injuries, offering cardio benefits without high-impact risks. Its customizable nature allows for adjusting weight or pace, and choosing softer terrains further reduces impact, making it forgiving and adaptable to individual needs.
Builds Strength in Legs, Core, and Back
Rucking is an effective strength training session for major muscle groups. Carrying extra weight forces muscles to work harder, leading to strength gains and development in the legs, core, and back. This cardio-strength combination is highly efficient.
Your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves work harder with each weighted step, turning a simple walk into a lower-body strength-endurance workout. Core and back muscles engage significantly to counteract the backpack’s pull, building a stronger, more stable core and improving posture. The upper back and shoulders also bear the load, contributing to overall upper body strength.
While rucking won’t replace heavy weightlifting for maximal strength, it effectively maintains and builds muscle, particularly lean muscle endurance. It can help preserve muscle mass during weight loss, unlike pure cardio. The functional strength gained from rucking is highly transferable to everyday activities like carrying groceries or lifting children, enhancing overall capability. Rucking can also serve as a gateway to further strength training or complement existing routines.
Weight-Bearing Exercise for Stronger Bones
Rucking offers unique benefits for bones and connective tissues. As a weight-bearing activity, it enhances bone density and skeletal strength, a crucial benefit, especially with age. When bones experience compressive forces from weight-bearing, they remodel and strengthen. Rucking’s added load provides a more effective stimulus for bone growth than regular walking. Research shows weighted exercise can preserve or increase bone density, particularly in individuals at risk of osteoporosis.
Each weighted step lightly stresses the spine, hips, and legs, encouraging bones to remain strong and potentially preventing age-related bone density loss, reducing fracture risk. Unlike cycling or swimming, rucking directly loads the skeleton, offering weight-bearing benefits without the high impact of running. Connective tissues like tendons and ligaments also adapt to these loads, becoming more robust and less injury-prone. Gradual progression of weight is crucial to allow safe adaptation.
Versatile, Accessible, and Functional Fitness
Rucking is highly versatile and functional, contributing broadly to physical well-being.
- All fitness levels can do it: Rucking adapts to any fitness level, from beginners with light loads to experienced athletes with heavy rucks, making it suitable for nearly everyone.
- Balanced and sustainable: Rucking provides a challenging yet non-exhausting workout that can be done multiple times a week without excessive recovery.
- Outdoor and mental benefits: Rucking often takes you outdoors, improving mood, providing Vitamin D, and reducing stress. Its enjoyable nature boosts adherence.
- Functional fitness: Rucking trains the body for real-life tasks like carrying groceries or moving furniture, enhancing practical strength and endurance.
- Minimal equipment and cost: Rucking is highly accessible, requiring only a backpack and readily available weights, reducing barriers to participation.
- Calm or adventurous – you choose: Rucking can serve as a meditative walk or an adventurous hike, offering flexibility in intensity and purpose.
- Balanced physique: Rucking builds both muscle and endurance, leading to a balanced, lean physique with strong legs, a stable core, and decent upper body strength.
Rucking vs. Running vs. Cycling: A Balanced Comparison
Each exercise—rucking, running, and cycling—has distinct advantages.
- Cardio Conditioning: Running excels at rapidly boosting VO₂ max. Cycling also provides excellent cardio. Rucking improves cardio more moderately; its sustained, prolonged nature builds robust endurance over time with less strain, potentially rivaling intense running through accumulated volume.
- Joint Impact and Injury Risk: Rucking is low-impact and joint-friendly, generally safer than high-impact running, which has a higher injury rate. Cycling is ultra-low impact but lacks weight-bearing benefits.
- Calorie Burn and Weight Loss: Running typically burns the most calories per unit of time. However, a heavily loaded ruck can burn as many calories as a light jog, and rucking’s sustainability allows for longer durations and greater total calorie burn.
- Muscle Engagement and Strength: Rucking stands out for its full-body engagement, working legs, core, back, and shoulders. Running primarily works the lower body with minimal upper body engagement, while cycling targets leg muscles but offers little for the upper body or core.
- Accessibility and Practicality: Running is simple and cheap, but not for everyone due to impact. Cycling requires equipment. Rucking is extremely accessible and offers direct functional carryover to daily life.
- Enjoyment and Mental Aspect: This is subjective. Rucking can be enjoyable for those who like walking and exploring at a slower pace, offering mental and social benefits.
Balanced Conclusion:
No single exercise is “the best.” Running offers high-level cardio with higher injury risk. Cycling is great for low-impact endurance and leg strength but lacks weight-bearing benefits. Rucking offers a well-rounded mix: good cardio, significant calorie burn, muscle and bone strengthening, and low impact, generally at moderate intensity. It can be a standalone solution or a complementary activity.
FAQs: Rucking Workout Basics
Is rucking as good as running or cycling for cardio fitness?
Rucking provides excellent cardio benefits, albeit differently. Running can boost VO₂ max faster, and cycling can be intense. Rucking offers moderate-intensity, longer-duration effort, steadily improving endurance and aerobic capacity. Many find they can ruck more frequently with less fatigue or injury than running, leading to comparable accumulated cardio benefits. It definitely “counts” as cardio, qualifying as moderate to vigorous physical activity essential for cardiovascular health.
How much weight should I start with for rucking?
Start light, ideally around 10% of your body weight or even less (e.g., 10-15 pounds for a 160-pound person). Focus on good posture and form. Gradually increase weight by about 5 pounds at a time, sticking with the new weight for a few sessions before adding more. Gradual progression is crucial to avoid injury. Also, start with shorter distances (1-2 miles or 20-30 minutes). Listen to your body and lighten the load if you experience pain.
Can rucking help me lose weight (burn fat)?
Yes, rucking is effective for weight loss and fat burning. It significantly increases calorie expenditure compared to regular walking; adding 10% body weight can increase calorie burn by about 20%. Rucking also engages large muscle groups, boosting metabolism. Its sustainability allows for longer, more frequent workouts, leading to greater total calorie burn. Building muscle from rucking also raises your resting metabolic rate. Paired with a healthy diet, rucking helps create a calorie deficit, making weight loss more achievable, especially for those who find running too jarring.
Will rucking hurt my back or knees?
When done correctly and progressively, rucking should not hurt your back or knees; it can even strengthen supporting muscles. Its low-impact nature is gentler on knees than running. However, the added weight does increase stress, so allow time for adaptation. If pain occurs, it might signal too much weight, excessive distance too soon, or poor form. Focus on good posture, shorter strides, and proper foot placement. For your back, a well-fitted, properly packed backpack (weight high and close to the spine) is crucial. Use chest straps and hip belts to distribute weight and engage your core. Start light, wear supportive footwear, and listen to your body. Persistent joint pain is a warning sign; muscle soreness is normal.
How often should I do rucking workouts?
Begin with 1–2 rucking sessions per week to assess your body’s response, then gradually increase frequency. A common pattern is 2–3 times a week on non-consecutive days. More experienced individuals might ruck 3–4 times a week, varying intensity. Always include rest or active recovery days. If you combine rucking with other workouts, ensure you’re not overtraining. Pay attention to signs of overtraining like excessive fatigue or lingering soreness. Since rucking is low-impact, it can often be done more frequently than high-intensity cardio. The key is consistency and allowing adequate rest for recovery and adaptation.
