Rucking 101

Practical Warrior Fitness to get you in Fighting Shape

Ruck Training Programs – PART 1

There’s quite a bit of published research on appropriate training for load-bearing marches, also known as rucking.

This article will serve to summarize and interpret those military research findings to provide background for Part Two, which will discuss how to apply the findings to a ruck training program.

Rucking Basics
So, what do you need to know to understand the types of training that benefit rucking? The risks involved? The basics? Here goes:
The load carried by the average foot soldier in combat is very heavy. The table below is from the NATO scientific technical report on load bearing marches:

You read that correctly 40kg . . . 88 lbs . . . and the loads are not getting lighter. The same report provides the table below from Afghanistan. Note that the loads are reported in kilograms:

Foot soldiers should be trained to be able to carry, at a minimum, 40% of bodyweight efficiently, and should be able to handle up to 75% of bodyweight for short periods of time.

This type of fitness is not likely to happen without significant planning. Left on their own for program design, soldiers are not likely to build the type of fitness to accomplish this task.

RTWT @ OTPBooks