Training for Weighted Movements
By Jack Kuenzle
Athletes are often required to move with weight. Whether they’re mountaineering, in a military selection pipeline, or carrying the minimum required kit in an ultra marathon trail race that could last 80+ hours. Military athletes are often forced to maneuver and perform with a heavy loadout. Logic dictates that we should be strapping on weight every time we head out for a training session, After all, we train for runs by running; why wouldn’t we train for a rucking or effort by rucking? While training with weight should form an important cornerstone of your training for a weighted effort, it should be a relatively small volume. As this article will argue, the vast majority of your prep should be unweighted.
In this author’s experience, performance on unweighted runs is highly correlated with performance on rucks, despite some candidates rucking or lifting more than others. While I was going through Navy SEAL initial training, we completed many timed runs, some unweighted and others while carrying a 45-pound pack. We completed one or two timed four-mile runs per week during training and a timed, competitive ruck evolution at the start of Hell Week and during SEAL Qualification Training (SQT) Land Warfare. During both of these rucks, the finishing order was almost exactly the same as the finishing order for the four-mile runs. The same small, fast triathletes performed well on both. Further, one of these former triathletes, weighing no more than 160 pounds, set the record for the 12-mile ruck at SQT Land Warfare. And none of these athletes had engaged in ruck training prior to BUD/S.
We’re not the only ones preaching this. You can read the same message from the Naval Special Warfare Center website written by their director of fitness https://www.sealswcc.com/blog/physical-training-mental-toghness-and-more/post/to-ruck-or-not-to-ruck.html
Mechanically, rucking is exactly the same as running or hiking on similar terrain, albeit with increased resistance. The hamstrings, glutes, calves, and quads drive the athlete forward, while the core and lower back stabilize the trunk. We can train the propelling muscles by moving unweighted. Rucking, especially running with weight, is extremely taxing on the connective tissues, muscles, and bones. By focusing on unweighted training, we can do far greater volume at a far lower injury risk. Train for the weighted goal effort as you would train for an unweighted running effort of the same time span and elevation gain/loss. Additional core and lower back strengthening work may be effective if the load is exceptionally heavy.
That being said, there are some concrete benefits to incorporating ruck training prior to a weighted endurance effort. One is psychological. If an athlete has never put on a ruck prior to their goal effort, they may be intimidated and disoriented by the weight. They will be unsure as to how their body will respond and will be unable to properly pace the effort. Another benefit is to strengthen the trapezius muscles of the shoulders and the core. When these become painful psychological stress will become more prevalent. Further, athletes should ruck in training to ensure that their ruck is packed properly, with weight centered high and close to the back, and nutrition and hydration accessible while moving. Finally, in extremely intensive military selection programs where rucking is very common, athletes should ruck some in training to callous their skin to the movement and bouncing of the ruck on their back.
As a side note and challenge: I have done a workout where I rucked on the Stairmaster for 60 minutes with 90 pounds on my back and speed between 82 and 89 steps/minute. I seriously doubt there are many other people in the world capable of doing that. I achieved that through 99.999% unweighted work.
