Item — HN Reader

I would also recommend people try adding a weighted backpack to some of their social walks! On days when I don't want to hit the gym or am recovering from a workout, I join my wife in a walk where she walks normally and I carry 35-45 pounds on my backpack.

This can turn a 150-250 calorie an hour walk to a 300 - 600 calorie an hour walk while you're walking the same speed / socializing. It's definitely uncomfortable but doesn't interfere with socializing and thinking IMO (and of course, I'd start with 10 lbs first)

You can use sand or dumbbells but I did it often enough that I got a generic ruck plate and a high quality rucking backpack (GoRuck isn't cheap but I like their quality and the fact that they're made in America).

2 comments

Hello, I wonder if carrying a heavy backpack for a long time will cause obvious damage to the shoulders. Otherwise, it seems very tempting to significantly increase the calories burned in the same period of time. After all, we are always short of time.

hiking recommendations suggest 20% of your bodyweight for the weight of your backpack. that suggests that carrying more for exercise should be possible. consider that hiking can mean several hours of walking during the whole day, while an exercise walk is usually more limited and you don't have any other challenging activities like pitching a tent, chopping wood, etc that you might have on a hike.

if you are inexperienced, i'd start smaller and increase the weight over a few weeks as long as you feel comfortable. i think it is also important to choose a good backpack that evenly distributes your weight and doesn't pull on your shoulders.

i have never tried this myself however. i have done a lot of hiking in my youth, but i doubt my backpacks ever reached those 20%. so don't take my word for it, but double check with an expert, doctor, gym trainer, etc.

thank your advise

As with anything physical, start small and slowly increase! 10 or 20 lbs is enough to feel some pain, try it for an hour. Then 1.5 hours. Then increase the weight, and so on.

Humans have evolved to carry and run long distances and the world's militaries all ruck with 50 - 80 pounds regularly. So we're definitely "built" for this activity but of course you need to train for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd-3z5_2M0Q

I started doing rucking in Venice, Italy. (a ton of fun)

My worry for rucking is the potential issue of back problems. I haven't seen a serious study on how weight should be properly distributed.