You read that right, ruck, not rock.

Rucking is a full body exercise that involves walking or hiking while carrying a weighted vest, backpack, or rucksack.

Made popular by science bros, Doctors Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia, rucking actually originated from the military where soldiers march with heavy backpacks to build endurance, strength and mental toughness.

Nowadays, many are finding rucking an accessible and effective way to fitness without spending a fortune. Some are even equating it to “running” for people who hate running. In fact, GQ Magazine and The New York Times named rucking as the workout of 2024 (sorry Hyrox fans).

Rucking also prominently figured in my favorite book, Michael Easter’s The Comfort Crisis where he dedicates a chapter on the subject.

I love running but have also grown to love rucking.

Since I haven’t found a good rucksack yet, I try to spend at least once a week walking around our village with a ten-kilogram weighted vest and it has, for me, been an ideal way to do Zone 2 training while at the same time listening to an audiobook or podcast — which is quite difficult to do when running.

It is honestly as simple as finding heavy things (books, water bottles, stones, etc), putting those heavy things in a backpack, and then carrying the backpack while walking or hiking.

There is apparently a debate on which one is better — a weighted vest or rucksack which I shall no longer discuss here. Tom Esky did a comprehensive comparison of the two in his blog over at gragaegymrevisited.com.

Rucking outdoors also gives one the opportunity to get some healthy sun exposure, which is a good way of increasing Vitamin D and nitric oxide.

For menopausal women especially, it has been found to be a particularly good way to increase bone mineral density.

It also increases caloric expenditure and fat oxidation.

Dr. Troy Purdom, an assistant professor at the North Carolina A&T University Kinesiology Department conducted a study on rucking. He wanted to see if weighted vest training could function as an ergogenic aid.

The results mentioned in the GQ article show that recreational runners who ran for 20 minutes — at whatever speed they wanted — while wearing a vest that weighted 10 percent of their body mass ran an average of 19 seconds faster in a subsequent 5K race than participants who did a 20-minute run without a weighted vest before running.

In the Philippines, there is a growing number of ruck enthusiasts. One can check out their Facebook page RUCKPH founded by avid rucker Cush Evangelista.

I asked the club members why they ruck and here were some of the answers:

“It’s a great way to lift weights and breath fresh air without being stuck in the gym.”

“Rucking is Type 2 Fun. Weird community is everything. Rucking is first aid for mental health. Rucking is functional fitness and when done as a group the shared pain becomes a great story. You’ll find that rucking is more mental than it is physical the longer you’re at it.”

“When rucking alone, it’s experiencing both exercise and reflection on what you get to observe around you, then the high of achieving the goal.”

“I started in the Army, where it was a requirement. Now I think it still is a great form of training and a great way to be prepared for any SHTF scenario. I also have a theory that rucking forces your body to hold on to muscle while prioritizing fat loss.”

“I ruck because I can’t run. Rucking burns more calories than walking. Been rucking for four years now and I’ve met a lot of amazing people.”

“It’s the social aspect which pulls similarly minded people together that I like.”

“Found out I am not good at running but enjoy rucking.”

So what are you waiting for? Rucking rocks!