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Stopped Running and Started Rucking

Just curious, what was the weight of your ruck sack? Did you start with the plain ruck in the beginning? Or did you add some weight to it from the start?
 
Just curious, what was the weight of your ruck sack? Did you start with the plain ruck in the beginning? Or did you add some weight to it from the start?

I started with weight from the beginning. About 30lbs seems pretty light for the first couple miles. I stopped when the pack got around 50lbs. Unless I decide to do a backpack hunting trip where I'll have to pack out an elk I'm not going to dump 100lbs in the pack. I think 50 is heavy enough to create a good workout at a high level of fitness.
 
Just curious, what was the weight of your ruck sack? Did you start with the plain ruck in the beginning? Or did you add some weight to it from the start?

You also need weight in a framed pack to make it ride and fit correctly (usually a minimum of 15-20 lbs). If you go and try on a pack in a good store they will add weight to the pack so it can be properly fitted. So you should start with about 15 pounds to get your pack properly fitted and then go up from there in the workout. As Timnterra said, how much weight you ultimately work to is up to you and whatever workout you're doing. I've gone as high as 100 to simulate walking out with quarters, just so I can prepare for that mentally. You should at least work up to whatever the pack weight you'll be hunting with is.
 
I quit running as well, and only ruck for my cardio. I also follow the starting strength method for my strength training program.
 
I have a Trad bow and pack for winter time 3D shoots out side on the course.

What a thrill Snow-Shoe-ing in the winter months,,, now we do the frozen Lake ice fishing with archery to add more fun through the day.

Ice fishing, traditional archery, packing & splitting wood, drilling holes in the ice, moving the 2 ton icefishing / Archery shed once in a while.

We shoot the Old British Arrow Bombs, lots of angle to get them out there.

5 arrows at the proper angle normally gets me a 240 yard walk,,, the trick is to have the furthest / tightest group.

17'x17' on average with no winds.
17'x22' on light wind days .
19'x44' with fast snow storm gusts. Ha

Make sure you are wearing a tight toque on those Windy days our you will be getting in fast shape chasing it across the ice .LOL.

PS: Don't for get to bring some binoculars so you watch the target-balloons roll across the ice when they brake free from the target.

Did you know it only takes 1 minute for a balloon to disappear out of sight when there are 60 winds.
Buuurrrrrr !!!
 
I do a lot of weighted pack training and increase the weight as it gets closer to the hunting season. Check out the ONUS Training bags at www.onustraining.com. They are leak-proof, made to go in your hunting pack, and easy to adjust the weight as needed. The intent is to train with your existing pack and not have to use random objects or leaking bags of sandn that are hard on our packs. They have a max of 100lb bag and a smaller max of 50lbs.
 
I would disagree that running is hard on your body. It's hard if you are over weight. Carrying a ruck, especially if you do downhill stints, is a lot harder on the joints than running.

I can do an easy 10 mile run in 80 minutes (used to be 70 but I'm out of shape). To ruck that would be 3 hours...which means I can run that pretty much every day if I make time, or once on the weekend if I ruck it. If calorie burn is the goal, the calculus is easy.

In my experience, if I run enough the fitness translates to packing. Last year I was out of shape by my standards and I got a 100lb pack 8-10 miles out of wilderness country. Still sucked though. The impact on my joints going downhill with that pack was brutal. I've run 50-milers and they were no contest to the joint issues caused by that ruck.
 
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