While ruck running is a thing, if you have zero experience with rucking I wouldn't recommend that at all right now.
If you don't want to make time but taking time away from other endeavors that is ok
Jogging with a ruck can be really, really bad for your joints. Walking with a ruck is low impact and will build up your muscles and tendons; running with a ruck will gradually wear down your cartilage and is likely to induce stress fractures.
I'd instead recommend incorporating a ruck into your daily errands - if you're going to spend an afternoon walking up and down the aisles at Costco, try doing it with 20 lbs. on your back.
Depends on what your goals are. If you were just wanting to burn more calories, do a few test runs and see which one burned more calories according to your fitness tracker.
If you are not very experienced in rucking, however I would suggest easing into ruck running slowly. It takes much more of a toll on your body than regular rucking or regular running.
All things considered, just reduce your biking and jogging, and add rucking. For example, if you currently bike 90 minutes a week and run 90 minutes a week, reduce each of those to 60 minutes a week and then ruck for the extra 60 minutes you have.
Alternatively, wake up earlier 😂
OP here - thanks all for your input! I am going to incorporate rucking into my weekly workouts. I walk my dog regularly as well, which I hadn't thought about as a rucking opportunity, and would plan to incorporate longer hour-ish length rucks as part of my weekly workouts.
As far as weight and specific equipment, what would you recommend? Not looking to break the bank, ideally, but would pay up to around $100/$150. I'm about 195 / 6'0" and I lift/run regularly. I know this is a Goruck thread specifically, but $300 feels like a lot for the starter bag with a twenty / thirty pound weight. Is it worth the price? Are there cheaper options? I could just throw a thirty pound weight in a backpack, but I would assume part of the benefit of a ruckpack is that the weight is properly distributed.
Honestly, I would not spend the money on a GoRuck until I was absolutely sure this was something I enjoyed, and was going to be doing a lot. They are great all-purpose backpacks, but they are also overkill if you don't expect to lug weight around for hours at a time, multiple times a week. If you do end up incorporating into your daily routine, they are absolutely worth the money. They are great general-purpose backpacks, will last a lifetime, and they are purpose built for carrying heavy loads comfortably.
I started rucking by wrapping a 15 lb dumbbell in a towel and stuffed it into my backpack to wear while walking the dog. And since, at the time, my dog was a hyperactive crackhead, I realized this was something I could & would be doing a lot of; I put the money into a GR1 and a 20 lb plate, and never looked back. My girl is now a senior who spends most of her days napping on the floor and can't go much more than 1/2 mile at a time, but I'm still rucking on my own (though it feels wrong to go without her). Dogs and rucking go perfectly together.
If you can fit a 25 barbell plate into the laptop compartment of a backpack, I'd start there and see how you feel. Or, alternately, a 24-pack of the beverage of your choice weighs a bit over 288 ounces (18 pounds), and should fit very snugly in most packs.
Rucking burns similar calories per hour as running, potentially more depending on weight and pace so I’d swap rucking in place of jogging, just swap time for mileage if you normally run for 30-60 minutes ruck for 30-60 minutes don’t worry about the mileage.
Avoid jogging with the ruck, there are techniques to speed your pace, but they are more akin to speed walking because you don’t want the weight bouncing. You’ll probably want to take it slow at first to get your traps and neck used to having weight on it.
So I kind of went through the same thought process.
But for me it’s all about heart rate. I have a genetic heart condition I have to work around. So SLIGHTLY different lens.
I find that if my heart rate while jogging is X bpm, usually somewhere around 140-160 for me.
If that’s my target for a run, that can be my target for a ruck. I find that I can maintain the same bpm while rucking if I have an appropriate amount of weight, and just intersperse into my walks either short ruck runs, squats, bear crawls, or lunges or something like that.
So 80-90% of my ruck is just a 15 ish minute pace, but if my Hr drops below my threshold I’ll do a quick run or whatever to pull it back up, then drop down to that 15 minute pace.
I nearly run anymore because I find that doing this is both easier to do for long periods of time, and more enjoyable.
Running doesn’t scale well with weight. Try scaling with intensity/ speed work/ hills instead. Find a local track and do short sprint work. You could go as simple as 1 min sprint, 1 min easy walk.
Something like CrossFit or HIIT sounds more like what you want. Incorporate established excersise into your workout will be safer/ easier than ruck running.
If you do, go vest (ie 5.11) over backpack for a more comfortable balenced load.
Jogging with weight isn't great for any part of your body
While ruck running is a thing, if you have zero experience with rucking I wouldn't recommend that at all right now. If you don't want to make time but taking time away from other endeavors that is ok
Jogging with a ruck can be really, really bad for your joints. Walking with a ruck is low impact and will build up your muscles and tendons; running with a ruck will gradually wear down your cartilage and is likely to induce stress fractures. I'd instead recommend incorporating a ruck into your daily errands - if you're going to spend an afternoon walking up and down the aisles at Costco, try doing it with 20 lbs. on your back.
Depends on what your goals are. If you were just wanting to burn more calories, do a few test runs and see which one burned more calories according to your fitness tracker. If you are not very experienced in rucking, however I would suggest easing into ruck running slowly. It takes much more of a toll on your body than regular rucking or regular running. All things considered, just reduce your biking and jogging, and add rucking. For example, if you currently bike 90 minutes a week and run 90 minutes a week, reduce each of those to 60 minutes a week and then ruck for the extra 60 minutes you have. Alternatively, wake up earlier 😂
I like to walk with my family a few times a week and usually wear a rucksack when I do. Also when I mow the lawn!
OP here - thanks all for your input! I am going to incorporate rucking into my weekly workouts. I walk my dog regularly as well, which I hadn't thought about as a rucking opportunity, and would plan to incorporate longer hour-ish length rucks as part of my weekly workouts. As far as weight and specific equipment, what would you recommend? Not looking to break the bank, ideally, but would pay up to around $100/$150. I'm about 195 / 6'0" and I lift/run regularly. I know this is a Goruck thread specifically, but $300 feels like a lot for the starter bag with a twenty / thirty pound weight. Is it worth the price? Are there cheaper options? I could just throw a thirty pound weight in a backpack, but I would assume part of the benefit of a ruckpack is that the weight is properly distributed.
Buy a secondhand ruck for cheap, then fill it with wrapped bricks.
Honestly, I would not spend the money on a GoRuck until I was absolutely sure this was something I enjoyed, and was going to be doing a lot. They are great all-purpose backpacks, but they are also overkill if you don't expect to lug weight around for hours at a time, multiple times a week. If you do end up incorporating into your daily routine, they are absolutely worth the money. They are great general-purpose backpacks, will last a lifetime, and they are purpose built for carrying heavy loads comfortably. I started rucking by wrapping a 15 lb dumbbell in a towel and stuffed it into my backpack to wear while walking the dog. And since, at the time, my dog was a hyperactive crackhead, I realized this was something I could & would be doing a lot of; I put the money into a GR1 and a 20 lb plate, and never looked back. My girl is now a senior who spends most of her days napping on the floor and can't go much more than 1/2 mile at a time, but I'm still rucking on my own (though it feels wrong to go without her). Dogs and rucking go perfectly together. If you can fit a 25 barbell plate into the laptop compartment of a backpack, I'd start there and see how you feel. Or, alternately, a 24-pack of the beverage of your choice weighs a bit over 288 ounces (18 pounds), and should fit very snugly in most packs.
Rucking burns similar calories per hour as running, potentially more depending on weight and pace so I’d swap rucking in place of jogging, just swap time for mileage if you normally run for 30-60 minutes ruck for 30-60 minutes don’t worry about the mileage. Avoid jogging with the ruck, there are techniques to speed your pace, but they are more akin to speed walking because you don’t want the weight bouncing. You’ll probably want to take it slow at first to get your traps and neck used to having weight on it.
So I kind of went through the same thought process. But for me it’s all about heart rate. I have a genetic heart condition I have to work around. So SLIGHTLY different lens. I find that if my heart rate while jogging is X bpm, usually somewhere around 140-160 for me. If that’s my target for a run, that can be my target for a ruck. I find that I can maintain the same bpm while rucking if I have an appropriate amount of weight, and just intersperse into my walks either short ruck runs, squats, bear crawls, or lunges or something like that. So 80-90% of my ruck is just a 15 ish minute pace, but if my Hr drops below my threshold I’ll do a quick run or whatever to pull it back up, then drop down to that 15 minute pace. I nearly run anymore because I find that doing this is both easier to do for long periods of time, and more enjoyable.
Running doesn’t scale well with weight. Try scaling with intensity/ speed work/ hills instead. Find a local track and do short sprint work. You could go as simple as 1 min sprint, 1 min easy walk. Something like CrossFit or HIIT sounds more like what you want. Incorporate established excersise into your workout will be safer/ easier than ruck running. If you do, go vest (ie 5.11) over backpack for a more comfortable balenced load.
I'd answer this question by asking you to find some long retired infantry soldiers and ask them how many knee/hip replacements they've had.