Combining Rucking and Strength Training

League of Wildness,

How does Rucking fit into a health and fitness routine?

Since we launched back in 2014 I think one thing that has separated wild gym is that our training went beyond our products and was designed to be as holistic as possible.

The same is true with Rucking.

Rucking is an amazing form of both cardio and strength training.

And honestly - I think for most people it’s the BEST form of cardio.

Especially because of all the ancillary benefits of walking with weight:

Increased Bone Density
Increased Strength
Reduced Stress
Rucking with friends and family to build community

Rucking is the foundation that a more comprehensive approach can be built upon.

I think the biggest thing missing from Rucking is twofold:

Upper body strength - particularly in the arms
Full range-of-motion strength and mobility in the legs - Rucking definitely builds leg strength which can be accentuated with some additional exercises.

Here’s how you can design your week using Rucking as the foundation:

Aim for 2-3 strength workouts per week.
These would be in addition to your Ruck workouts.
And if time is tight - no worries.
You can still get in a legit strength workout in 20 minutes.

Here’s a few examples:

Bodyweight exercises like Squats, Lunges, Pushups, Dips, Rows, and Pullups are awesome to combine with Rucking.

To keep it SUPER simple and time efficient, you could do “strength circuits” where you pick 3 of these exercises and do 5-15 reps of each exercise for 20 minutes.

For 20 minutes do:
15 Squats
10 Pushups
5 Rows or Pullups

You don’t need to necessarily sprint through it like a Crossfit workout.

It’s more about focusing on quality reps and range of motion - more doesn’t necessarily mean better.

Another example is a simple barbell or dumbbell split where you do 3 sessions per week in addition to Rucking.

3 sets of 5 reps of these exercises can definitely get results.

Barbell Back Squats or Dumbbell Front Squats
Barbell Bench Press or Dumbbell Bench Press
Barbell Deadlift or Dumbbell Deadlift
Barbell Overhead Press or Dumbbell Overhead Press
Barbell Row or Dumbbell Row

Each session, choose 3 exercises and do 3 sets of 5 reps with a moderately heavy load.

Once it gets easy - you can increase the weight.

20-30 minutes is plenty of time to get these strength workouts completed and are an awesome complement to your Rucking.

A simple and effective program could be to alternate Ruck Workouts with Strength Workouts.

For example:

Monday - Strength Workout

Tuesday - Ruck

Wednesday - Strength Workout

Thursday - Ruck

Friday - Strength Workout

Saturday - Ruck (go longer if you have time)

I love scheduling one “long” Ruck per week.

Long is a relative term, but I think 60 minutes would be a solid baseline and if you could go over that - awesome.

Even better is you can get a crew together for a weekend Long Ruck.

I've been working on a new Ruck-based training program where each week has:

3 Ruck Workouts
3 Strength Workouts, and
3 Mobility/Yoga/Flexibility sessions.

I can’t wait to release it into the wild soon!

Much love and have a wild weekend,

-Dan, wild gym founder

Combining Rucking and Strength Training

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