Rucking is functional fitness; it’s walking while carrying additional weight, which is something you probably do every day without thinking about it. This guide is designed to help you actually think about it over the course of about 6 weeks and, ultimately, ruck 5 kilometers/3.11 miles. Ideally by the end of this process you’ll be signed up for the annual Warrior Surf Ruckathon because it is the perfect way to commune with your fellow Ruckers and show off your hard work for a worthy cause. Let’s get you to that goal!
The bare minimum gear you will need to get started:
Ideally, you’ll have a route of known distance, whether that’s a path around your neighborhood, a public track, or the sidewalk from your house to the local donut shop. A simple way to plan is mapping a route that takes you about a half mile from your front door - then you turn around and head home to complete a mile. Call it an “out-and-back”. Another option is mapping a “loop” of known distance (maybe around the block or a neighborhood park?) and rucking it repeatedly to completion; the advantage of this method, especially as your distance increases, is that you’re never too far from where you started if things don’t go quite right for some reason…the tradeoff is that you potentially pay for convenience with monotony.
Optional but strongly encouraged: friends. You can 100% accomplish this program solo, but bringing a buddy or joining some new ones will make this work feel easier, even if it’s not easy. Especially as the miles get longer or the load gets heavier, having some friends around will melt the time away. If there’s a like-minded individual in your life, invite them along on a ruck. Congratulations, you just started a ruck club. Otherwise, there are existing ruck clubs all over the world that would love to have you join up. The camaraderie and encouragement you will feel is worth stepping out of your comfort zone, and it’s not an exaggeration to say you might just end up making some fantastic friends.
Rucking is just as much about mental endurance as physical fitness, and it will help you learn to endure when your body or brain doubt. You’ll recognize when to listen and when to ignore and push through. The objectives are to never reach a point of injury, but also to understand the difference between exertion and exhaustion.
Fundamentally, rucking activity can be tailored across 4 domains to dial in the challenge:
Ready to get started? Here we go…
Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): 2-3 slick walks of about 1 mile in distance
Your first hurdle in this training may not involve rucking at all. If you are truly starting from the couch, then you need to check in with yourself and see where your level is at without a weighted ruck (no extra weight = going “slick”). Your goal for this week is to go on 2-3 slick walks of about 1 mile in distance. If you can already walk a 20 minute mile then feel free to skip this week, but otherwise don’t be too concerned about your pace here; speed will come in time, but right now you need to see how your mind and body feel while covering about 1/3rd of your target distance. There is no shame if this week already feels tough for you. You should repeat this week as much as you need to in order to complete a mile of slick walking fairly comfortably before moving on to weighted rucking.
BLUF: 2 rucks of at least 10 minutes each
This week is about getting 2 rucks in for at least 10 minutes each to shake out your gear and get everything dialed in. If you’re already trying to meet the starting standard, your distance should be about half a mile over those 10 minutes. This isn’t about pushing yourself yet, so it is fine to stay in your comfort zone for now. Ask yourself these questions and make necessary adjustments as part of these rucks:
It’s good to have these questions out of the way early in your training so you can be focused on building your mental and physical stamina.
BLUF: 2 rucks of at least 1 mile each
Welcome to your first week of rucking! Your brain and body are up for walking a mile, your gear is squared away to help you succeed, and you’re ready for the challenge of walking with some extra weight. All that’s left to do is step off and do some work. Your goal this week is committing to and executing 2 rucks of at least 1 mile each. If you’re trying to meet the starting pace standard, this should take you about 20 minutes apiece and is something you can accomplish at just about any point in the day with a little pre-planning.
BLUF: 3 rucks of at least 1 mile each
This week is about strengthening the foundation you laid in the first week. The distance doesn’t change but the frequency does: get out there and log 3 more rucks of at least 1 mile each. If your gear didn’t get a proper shake out in Week 0, it surely will now. Look back there for questions to be asking yourself, and make necessary adjustments to get things feeling right. By the end of this week, you will have at least 5 miles of rucking under your belt. Pretty nice!
BLUF: at least 2 rucks of at least 1.5 miles each
Now that you’ve properly laid the groundwork and are fully committed to seeing this through, the rest of your training plan is about ratcheting up your mileage and reaching your distance goal of 5k/3.11 miles for the Ruckathon. This week, get in at least 2 rucks but step your distance up by adding half a mile for a total of 1.5 miles each ruck. If your route is an out-and-back, that’s only an extra quarter mile added to each leg. If your route is a half mile loop, you’re only talking about going 1 more lap. Any way you slice it, you can do it.
BLUF: at least 2 rucks of at least 2 miles each
Unbelievably, this week you will be going twice as far compared to the starting week! That’s quite an accomplishment already, and you should be feeling proud…and probably a bit tired. If you are working at the 20 minute mile standard, you will be rucking for 40 minutes at a time this week. Your body is probably going to be feeling things, but so will your brain. Being active for that amount of time might be a new sensation, and you could feel some aches or uncertainty creeping in. Remember that by this point you have already logged at least 8 miles; you are still going strong and getting stronger every time. If you’ve been rucking the same route across the first 3 weeks, this might be a good week to shake things up and give yourself some new surroundings to explore.
BLUF: at least 2 rucks of at least 2.5 miles each
The sweet part of this week is that you are nearly to your goal! Log at least 2 rucks of at least 2.5 miles each. The spicy part is that this distance will amp up some of the struggles you might have been feeling last week - that’s totally fine and natural. The two areas that could be feeling especially fatigued are your mind and your shoulders. For your mind, look for ways to distract yourself and not be hyper-focused on your distance, your watch, or your aches. Having a buddy along is a great way to get out of your head and think about something else while you work. Maybe it’s time to switch up the route again or refresh the playlist if you’re (safely) listening to music. Break your route down to smaller chunks: find a landmark that is ahead of you and just focus on reaching that point…then do it again. When it comes to your shoulders, carry anything heavy enough for long enough on your back and the trapezius muscles in your neck and shoulders will get mad at you. You’re already doing the best thing you can to combat this over the longer term, which is working to get stronger. That is probably less comforting in the moment, though. The second best thing you can do is keep moving, but try to relieve the pressure on your shoulders periodically by reaching behind you, bracing your hands underneath your backpack, and lifting up a little bit. The more you ruck the stronger you’ll become and the better you can cope with this fatigue.
BLUF: at least 1 ruck of at least 3.11 miles to meet your goal, plus the Ruckathon
This is a big week - you’re rucking a 5k! All of the adjustments you’ve made, all the mental & physical strength that you’ve cultivated throughout this process, all your time & effort has lead you here. You’re ready for this point because you’ve made it to this point. Adding a little over half a mile to your personal best distance may not feel easy, but you can do hard things by now. Get your 3.11 miles/5 kilometers in this week and prove to yourself that you’re ready for the Ruckathon. Speaking of the Ruckathon, here’s a fun fact: a single loop of the event route is 1.4 miles. For those of us who are not math whizzes: 2 loops is 2.8 miles and 3 loops is 4.2 miles. 2.8 miles is clearly not quite 3.11 miles, and you’re not going to stop in the middle of a loop, right? Your Ruckathon stretch goal is accomplishing those 3 loops to log 4.2 miles. You are ready and you can do it!
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