144: What’s All the Rucking Commotion? Fad or Function?

Rucking, the practice of walking with a weighted backpack, offers significant health benefits when incorporated responsibly into a balanced fitness routine. We examine how this military-inspired training method builds functional strength and mental resilience while potentially supporting bone density and metabolic health.

• Originated in military training and has gained popularity in civilian fitness communities
• Provides combined strength and cardio benefits in a single, accessible activity
• Requires careful progression starting with only 5-10% of body weight for 15-20 minutes
• Builds functional strength in glutes, hamstrings, core, and posture muscles
• Can cause joint stress, back issues, and nervous system burnout if approached incorrectly
• Should be complemented with proper recovery practices including quality sleep
• Benefits from structural alignment checks before adding weight
• Works best as part of a comprehensive health strategy that includes nutrition support
• Requires monitoring biofeedback signals like HRV to prevent overtraining

Schedule a free 20-minute high-performance strategy call or explore our precision at-home functional health tests through the links in our show notes. Train smart and recover smarter to keep breaking boundaries.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Rucking
• 3:59 The Pros and Cons
• 5:54 Science of Smart Training
• 8:31 Building Your Recovery-Focused Blueprint
• 11:14 The Bottom Line on Rucking

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

You've seen the posts weighted backpacks, marching through neighborhoods, trails and even grocery store aisles. It's called rucking and it's gaining traction fast. But is it just another fitness fad or a smart way to supercharge your health and your longevity? Today we're breaking it down with science, experience and a dose of common sense. Let's go. Science, experience and a dose of common sense, let's go.

Speaker 1: 0:28

Hello, I'm Jeffrey Mort. If you're like most entrepreneurs, you're busy taking care of business, yet who's taking care of you? If you're ready to take your energy and performance to the next level in your life and your business, then this podcast is for you, because today you're going to start breaking boundaries of your mind, body and business with integrative health, and when you do that, your possibilities are limitless. I'm grateful you're here yes, always grateful for you joining me here on the Breaking Boundaries podcast. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on all the action.

Speaker 1: 1:03

So what's all the rucking commotion about? You've probably seen it online friends or influencers strapping on weighted packs and walking for miles. Well, on the surface it looks simple enough, right, grab a backpack, add some weight and go for a walk. And, honestly, that simplicity is one reason it's become so popular. But, as with any trending fitness or health fad going on, especially in the world of high-performance health, we have to ask is this just a gimmick or is there actual science behind it? And, most importantly, is it right for you? Now, honestly, I'll be completely straight with you. I've tried rucking and, as someone who's always looking for ways to optimize movement conditioning and real world resilience, of course it had its appeal. But here's the truth. I didn't just throw on a heavy pack and hit the trails for five miles. I knew better because, like many of you, I've learned the hard way what happens when we skip the on-ramp. And, as you know my story back in 2022, during my recovery from long COVID and CIRS, my central nervous system was absolutely fried, my muscles were weak and even a short walk felt like a marathon. It took graduated program programming, our graduated exercise program and data-driven rest cycles and a balance of movement that required different types of movement to be able to rebuild, and some of that was Tai Chi, some of that was Qigong, some of that was yoga, some of that was just complete stillness, and that's why today's conversation isn't just about rucking. It's about how to integrate it responsibly into a well-rounded, high-performance health protocol. So you know. Let's get into it.

Speaker 1: 3:15

What is rucking? Why is it so popular? Well, of course, rucking if you're not aware that originated with the military Soldiers carrying weighted packs for miles to build endurance, strength and mental toughness. Now, in the civilian world, it's become a grassroots movement, accessible. All you need is a backpack and some weight, efficient, strength and cardio and mental grit all wrapped into one, and then community-driven. There's groups that are rucking, there's groups that are rucking. There's online challenges for rucking, but the key is this what works for a trained soldier doesn't always work for an overworked executive or weekend warrior.

Speaker 1: 3:58

Now let's get into the pros of rucking. That means, when it's done right, functional strength. This engages the glutes, the hamstrings, the core and the posture muscles, and we're going to talk a little bit more about posture in just a few minutes. It also helps with bone density. This is super important. Weight-bearing exercise promotes stronger bones, especially important after the age of 40. And it also is low-impact conditioning. It can be easier on the joints than running and it creates a mental resilience. This builds mental stamina and grit. And then, of course, there's the caloric burn. It boosts metabolism without high-intensity spikes that overtax that central nervous system.

Speaker 1: 4:49

Now you might be wondering what are the risks of rucking? This is, when it's done improperly Well, poor progression. So jumping into heavy rucking too soon leads to joint stress, lower back issues and adrenal fatigue. And then there's overtraining, especially when combined with an already stressed system or intense training, and we're going to talk a little bit about how to know if your system is overstressed. Then there's the central nervous system burnout. If you're already living in fight or flight, this type of stressor can tip you into burnout. And then it can also cause sleep disruption. Overdoing it late in the day can spike cortisol. Now, this is a stressor, so it's going to spike cortisol and it can disrupt your diurnal rhythm, meaning your circadian rhythm, your natural rhythm with the earth. And we want that cortisol elevated in the morning, not at night, or I should say optimized, not really elevated. So let's get into the science of smart training. This is where balance beats bravado.

Speaker 1: 5:57

Rucking isn't bad, don't get me wrong. In fact, it can be great, but it must be part of a broader, more intentional strategy that includes things like graduated load and duration. What does that look like? It looks like starting with 5 to 10% of your body weight. So a 200 pound individual would only want to start with 20 pounds added and then begin with just 15 or 20 minutes. You don't want to go throwing 40 pounds in the backpack and walking for an hour your very first time. 15 or 20 minutes max is all that you need and then increase weight and time gradually never both at once. So you would increase the weight gradually and then increase the time gradually never both at once. So you would increase the weight gradually and then increase the time gradually.

Speaker 1: 6:45

Now, strength training. This focuses on posterior chain. What is that? Those are your glutes, that's basically your butt muscles, and then your hamstrings, the back of your legs and your lats. That would be your back, the top of your legs, and your lats, that would be your back, the top of your back. These are your rucking power muscles. Daily walking, without weight. Use walking as recovery, not punishment. So the rucking would be the exercise, the walking would be the recovery, and then true rest and recovery If your heart rate variability is trending down.

Speaker 1: 7:42

No-transcript, it's called Welltory I'm just on the free version of it, but it's very interesting and they give you some great tips and it also lets me know if you know I didn't get a good night's sleep. It lets me know before my workout that I should really take it easy, or if I got a great night's sleep that I can go, you know, a little deeper into my workout. And then, of course, nervous system regulation. We want to use functional testing like the stress mood metabolism test, for instance, to check cortisol levels to ensure that our adrenals can handle this level of an upgrade in our graduated exercise program. Now, of course, I want to give you an actionable plan. This is so you can build your recovery-focused movement blueprint.

Speaker 1: 8:39

Number one assess, before you stress, things like the minerals and metals test. This is where we use a piece of soft tissue from the hair. It's just a basic snippet of hair that can use soft tissue to let us know the amount of stress the body is under, how the body is responding to that stress, as well as something like the organic acids test, which is a urine-based test to look for nutrient deficiencies that impact energy production and muscular recovery. Number two you want to track that biofeedback. So back to the tech devices monitoring morning heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep quality and, of course, your mood. Now, you don't need a tech device to monitor your mood, you know, but if you wake up aggravated and just feeling depleted that you know. Maybe you shouldn't be pushing yourself to the limits that particular day. These are your body's dashboard readings so that you can really understand where you're at at a glance.

Speaker 1: 9:43

Number three fuel intelligently. We want to use real food. Of course, we want to stay mineralized and then add in adaptogens if adrenal support is needed. And how are you going to know that You're going to know if adrenal support is needed? And how are you going to know that You're going to know if adrenal support's needed through the functional testing, like the minerals and metals test or the organic acids test or the stress mood metabolism test will tell you how your adrenals are looking as well.

Speaker 1: 10:10

Number four recover like a pro. So active recovery days, things like sauna. Recover like a pro. So active recovery days, things like sauna, limited cold exposure or qigong or tai chi. And don't underestimate deep sleep. Deep sleep can be your recovery mechanism. Remember your body adapts through rest, not repetitions. And then, number five this is very important Struct, structural alignment Before and after check-ins with a trained chiropractor and a massage therapist is highly recommended.

Speaker 1: 10:43

If you have the luxury of having a hybrid person that is, a muscle and bone specialist. That's a two for one right there. You know, if you have subluxed spinal discs, meaning they are out of alignment and you're adding weight to your structure, this could be a recipe for nerve damage, either temporary or permanent. So we want to make sure that things are in alignment before you go strapping weight to your body and, you know, going on a ruck, basically. So, closing thought, here's the bottom line.

Speaker 1: 11:14

Rucking is not the problem. The lack of strategy behind rucking is the problem. When paired with a high-performance protocol that balances movement, rest, nutrition, nervous system recovery, rucking can absolutely be a powerful tool, but don't use it to prove your toughness. Use it to build your longevity. If you want help building your personalized movement protocol, you can schedule a free 20-minute high-performance strategy. Call with me right there in the show notes, and if you're curious about where your adrenals, your minerals, your mitochondria stand, let's test and not guess. You can check out Precision at-home functional health tests that we offer, linked right in the show notes. And remember to train smart and recover smarter and keep breaking those boundaries. Bye-bye everybody.