GoRuck Yourself: Transforming Fitness with Weighted Walking

Mixed Tape Themed Ruck Team!

My wife and I are always looking for another way to challenge ourselves, and when the training or the challenge itself gets us outside, we are hooked! That is how we fell in love with rucking four to five years ago. 

WHAT IS RUCKING? 

It's getting fit while walking with weight, pure and simple. GoRuck's website states, "Rucking is the action of walking with weight on your back. It's a good source of cardio as it burns up to 3x the calories compared to walking, and anyone can do it." 

Best of all, you can do it anywhere, with or without anyone. Going somewhere? Grab your rucksack and take it with you. Walking from your car to work, lunch, and meetings makes it easy to get a little exercise throughout your day. Take your rucksack to the grocery store and wear it while shopping, or wear it while walking the dogs, taking the kids for a stroll, or while you are on a phone call, pacing the office floor. It's an activity that honestly is simple and low impact that anyone can do, and the benefits outweigh the weight you will carry. 

Neighborhood Heavy Carry

Beyond the physical exercise advantages, rucking directs us toward peace as an escape from the echo of our thoughts bouncing off the four walls of our home and/or office. It removes the ceiling and lid and allows our minds to think and feel free with unlimited possibilities because most distance rucks are outside. It could be a walk through the neighborhood, a beautiful trail, or even something more urban. Best of all, it unites all who do it together in a primal way that is hard to describe. Like any long-distance event, you naturally start with people around your pace. As distance and time go on, you will find yourself behind or in front of those you started with on your journey, giving you a ton of time to get to know everyone on all levels. 

Beyond the physical and mental benefits, rucking is essential for self-defense. Not every scenario will be post-apocalyptic like in the movies. However, we must know what we can do when the fit hits the shan. When we are far from help, and our car breaks down, or we need to carry heavy gear, or god help us, someone wounded from a situation, we should be able to do it. Learning to carry, carry often, and carry heavy if you have to, will change your confidence in all situations because you will know more about yourself and what you are capable of.

HOW DO YOU START?

Simple. Grab a weighted vest or backpack and put some weight in it. Specific goals would be to build up or start with 10 pounds if you weigh less than 150 pounds, and 20 pounds if you weigh more than 150 pounds. Next, select a distance you want to go or an available time and put one foot in front of the other. Depending on your fitness level, start with one to four miles every other day or every two days. If you are looking at time, try for an hour, which is typically an average mile for most people. Time allows you to go 30 minutes away from your starting point and then turn around for another 30 minutes, which is nice if you are unsure of the distance or mixing some inside and outside time between office, home, or school duties and tasks. As you feel more confident with this newfound activity, add more time, distance, or weight to your training. Typically, if we go for a shorter time or distance, we will add more weight to increase the load, whereas if we go further, we will lower the weight. 

Mixed Tape Themed Ruck Patches For Everyone!

WHAT'S NEXT? 

Get a ruck buddy or join a ruck group. There are lots of groups around that organize rucks. It's a great way to be social while getting some exercise, and often, these groups will grab some food together afterward and celebrate each other. 

As your mileage builds up, look into GoRuck's different event courses. They are in multiple cities all year long, sponsoring 12, 26, and 50-mile challenges that offer navigation to beautiful locations in that area, which creates memories for you and your tribe, all while earning your patch when you complete the course.

In past years, my wife Sonja and I have participated in multiple 12-mile courses in and out of our state. This year, we set our sights on a 50-mile challenge early in April for our 50th birthdays. As the holidays came last year, we saw the chance to do a historic 75-mile course from Gonzales to the Alamo called the Immortal 32 Ruck, led by Official Project Grit. We jumped on that amazing opportunity in March and then teamed up with our Immortal 32 Tribe for the GoRuck's Austin 50 miler. These two combined made for a fantastic experience and a great way to start the year. 

JOIN US!

Since meeting and rucking with all sorts of people and talking about it with friends and family, more people are interested in joining us. We've created a tribe with GoRuck's themed rucks as a fun way to go out together and enjoy time with each other. Our first group grew to 13 people attending the Mixed Tape Ruck. We are looking to expand beyond the 13 on our next ruck. On June 1st, we will add mud war paint and journey five miles for the Predator Ruck! It is the perfect starting ruck for anyone. If you'd like to join us, reach out, and we'll add you to the team and the fun we have planned for more rucks soon! 

#ComingForYou2025
#YearOfTheSnake
#FightTheGoodFight
#GoRuckYourself

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Check out other instructional videos on our YouTube Channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/martialwaylegacy. 

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Guro Larry, Sonja, Lauren & Tori St. Clair
Martial Way Legacy
"A Compass to the Preservation of Bruce Lee’s Philosophy and Legacy"
http://www.martialwaylegacy.com
512-821-3637