Let’s begin with a thought experiment.
Try to remember a day that you spent in total comfort. Not a pinch, not an awkward seat, not a weird sense of pressure, not a worry and not a care.
Can you remember the day? I doubt it. But let’s say that you did.
Remember a series of days that you spent in total comfort. Or find a week of your life without a stitch of discomfort.
You couldn’t, could you?
There’s a good reason. Discomfort is part of the human condition. You can dull it. You can remove some of it. But discomfort ain’t goin’ nowhere.
The truth is, most folks could use more discomfort in their lives.
As Michael Easter illustrates in his book, The Comfort Crisis, comfort seems to be killing us. Killing might be too strong of a word in reference to the body. We’re, on average, living to old age. But it’s certainly diseasing us before it kills us. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States. It doesn’t necessarily kill you young. But it kills you earlier than you should go, and it steals your vitality as it takes you.
Killing might be the right word for us spiritually and emotionally. We seek so much comfort that we live numbed, half-awake lives. Well, not you and I, of course. It’s those other people.
We try so hard to avoid discomfort; we try to eradicate it. And for the effort, we miss out on discomfort’s value. As we attempt to avoid discomfort we get worse at dealing with it. So it affects us more.
Like Fat Bastard said in Austin Powers, “I’m unhappy because I eat, and I eat because I’m unhappy.”
What a sage.
There’s a solution to all of this: Voluntarily seek out discomfort so we aren’t so reliant on comfort. Rucking serves this mission well.
When I first started rucking, I’d toss a 35-pound kettlebell into an old Jansport backpack. (The first thing I’ll do is recommend that you don’t do that. Bags that aren’t designed to carry weight like that are hell on your back and shoulders.) I’d head off down the walking path through Carisbrooke and into the surrounding neighborhoods. I’ll level with you – I didn’t really know what in the hell I was doing. I just put weight on my back and went walking for indiscriminate amounts of time and distance. But it did something.
Now, I know I would have felt less discomfort had I been properly equipped. Nonetheless, my shoulders ached and burned. My legs felt tension and built fatigue in a way that I’d never felt before. And I’ve done a lot of exercising: powerlifting, strongman, running, field sports. I felt full body discomfort in a different way. There’s something else about rucking that’s beautifully heinous.
No matter how far you go with the weight, you have to carry it back, too. You can always quit on a run and start walking. But you can’t quit on a ruck. You’re carrying that shit all the way back, one way or another. That’s the beauty of it, especially as it pertains to dealing with discomfort. There is no out. You can cut your walk short, but you can’t ditch the weight.
As I got more into rucking, I upgraded my equipment. I bought a good hunting pack with a load carrier and a sturdy frame. Eventually, I got a GoRuck bag, so I didn’t unnecessarily beat the hell out of my hunting pack. And I started programming my rucking; I’d go for set times and set distances with set amounts of weight.
While I got better at rucking, and fitter for it. While I upgraded my equipment, one thing remained constant – the discomfort. Even with good gear and good fitness, rucking is never a comfortable endeavor. There is the strain on your shoulders; there is the tension on your hips from your hip belt; there is the weight on your legs. Then, there is the knowledge that the weight goes with you wherever you go. It’s wonderful.
If you’re already rucking, good. This article affirms what you already know. But if you read on, you might pick up some rucking tips.
If you’re not already rucking, let’s get started. Here’s what you’ll do:
Get the Right Bag for Rucking
Go online and get a bag that’s designed for carrying weight. GoRuck bags are great. Chris and I each own one. Yes4All makes affordable plates for those bags. Buy enough weight so you can progress up to carrying 20 to 25 percent of your body weight. You’ll start, however, by carrying around 10 percent of your body weight.
Start with Easy Rucks
Start with 30-minute walks with 10 percent of your body weight while keeping your heart rate under 180 minus your age. Work up to an hour. Once an hour is easy, start adding weight and time as you see fit, until it’s easy to ruck for an hour on flat ground with 20 percent to 25 percent of your body weight. Then, it’s time for terrain. Drop the weight back to 10 percent to 15 percent of body weight and take a 60 to 90-minute hike in the hills, while keeping your heart rate under 150 on average. Once you can do that, the rucking world is your playground.
If you follow this progression, and you ruck consistently, you will expose yourself to resilience-building discomfort. Your shoulders, back, legs, and core will grow stronger – and you’ll gain endurance with that strength. Most importantly, you’ll adapt mentally and emotionally to need less comfort.
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