Rucking builds strength and burns calories: Here’s what Stanford doctors say men over 40 need to know
Cardio that does not pound the joints. Strength training that does not require a gym. Rucking, the practice of walking a set distance while carrying a weighted pack on your back, has surged in popularity as men over 40 look for low-impact ways to fight muscle loss, protect bone density and burn far more calories than a regular walk.
The trend is fueled by social media, where figures like David Goggins helped push the military-rooted workout into the mainstream. Now everyday people are strapping on weight and heading out the door.
How Rucking Works
“The term ‘rucking’ comes from military members carrying weighted rucksacks during boot camp trainings,” sports medicine physician Matthew Kampert, DO, told Cleveland Clinic. “Rucking or ruck marching prepares soldiers for real-world scenarios where they must carry heavy loads for long distances and prolonged time.”
In civilian terms, it is walking with weight loaded into a backpack, rucksack or vest. GORUCK breaks the practice down to three steps. Get a ruck. Add weight. Just walk.
Mathew Welch, an exercise physiologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, described it to HuffPost as “a low-impact exercise that is pretty much based on military training.”
Why Rucking Matters for Men Over 40
Muscle mass and bone density start declining in your 30s and accelerate from there. Rucking targets both at once without the joint pounding of running or the recovery debt of hard gym sessions.
“Physically, walking is awesome, but sometimes we want to amplify that, and the easy way to do that is adding weight,” said Nichele Cihlar, the director of training at GORUCK. “Resistance training is key, especially as we age, in helping our bone health and our muscle growth because that naturally deteriorates as we get older, starting in our 30s.”
Men’s Journal reports that high-intensity training can be tempting for the sweat factor and calorie burn, but rucking delivers similar results without the joint stress and exhaustion that follow.
“The added load increases energy demand while keeping movement controlled and repeatable. That means you can train harder, more often and recover better,” military fitness coach Dan Fahey told the outlet.
Fitness Forties argues the workout fits the realities of midlife. It improves cardiovascular fitness while staying in the low-impact zone, builds functional strength through the core, glutes, shoulders and posterior chain, and slots into daily commutes or family walks with no gym time required. iNform Health & Fitness Solutions calls rucking a useful tool against sarcopenia, the age-related muscle loss that quietly speeds up after 40.
How Many Calories Rucking Burns
The calorie math is what hooks many newcomers, particularly men in their 40s trying to recapture lost ground.
“An average person burns about 125 calories on a 30-minute walk, but throw on a rucksack, and, depending on your weight and speed, you can burn about 325 calories on the same walk,” Dr. Michael Fredericson, director of physical medicine and rehabilitation sports medicine at Stanford University, told USA TODAY. “Rucking can burn two to three as many calories as just walking.”
Fredericson said the activity pushes the body into the cardio sweet spot of roughly 60 to 70 percent of max heart rate, and noted that research shows carrying heavy loads over complex terrain elevates cardiorespiratory demand.
How to Start Rucking Safely
Experts recommend conditioning the body before loading up a pack, especially for men over 40 returning to exercise.
“A combination of lunges, goblet squats and kettlebell Romanian deadlifts are excellent lifts to add in to help build the strength and durability that’s required for rucking,” Stew Smith, C.S.C.S., a military fitness training coach and former Navy SEAL, told Nike.
Start with a light load. “I always say start low because you can always grow from there,” Cihlar said. “You don’t want to start heavy and get discouraged.” Regularly active lifters can usually handle a 20- or 30-pound plate from the outset.
Fredericson urges new ruckers to warm up before each session, hydrate well and tell someone the route when heading into unfamiliar areas. Anyone with pre-existing conditions should check with a doctor before adding weight.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
