Rucking is a new trend in which you walk with weight in a backpack on your back with the idea of ??burning more calories and gaining more muscle power. It is a practice exported from the US Army, widespread in that country and which is reaching Spain and the rest of the world.
In everyone’s imagination there are fully fit army marines marching with their equipment on their backs, and if it works for them to have a strong and healthy body, why not for others? However, that is not the case.
Scientific research suggests that it has many more harms than benefits, as Eva María Orantes, PhD in Biomedicine from the University of Granada, researcher and professor at the Faculty of Sports Sciences at the Pablo de Olavide University of Seville, explains to La Vanguardia. who has carried out different research precisely on the health effect of loads on military personnel.
“We have many studies on the use of backpacks in the military population, which is where this trend comes from” and they all endorse that “the prejudices you have when carrying cargo are much greater than the benefits you can obtain,” says the expert.
Among the main benefits of rucking, a term that comes from ‘rucksack’ (backpack in English), is the greater burning of calories and the strengthening of muscles and all supposedly with little effort, since you would only have to add some weight in one backpack while walking or running.
However, the specialist in Sports Sciences and researcher in the effects of loads on both soldiers and children, dismantles the supposed benefits of this new fashion.
Regarding the fact that rucking enhances bodybuilding, Orantes says that “it is said that it strengthens the legs, perfect, but if you walk a little faster you also strengthen them or if you go up hills you also enhance that strengthening and you also burn more calories.” “However, the damage is much greater at the level of back, discomfort, discomfort, etc,” he adds.
On the other hand, this trend is sold as a good way to lose weight with little added effort. In this sense, this biomechanics professor explains that, indeed, “when you add load to yourself, calorie burning increases, because a person who weighs 100 kilos spends more calories than one who weighs 50, that is the basis of caloric expenditure. : the more I weigh, the more energy I expend”, so if you walk the same way with more weight, the calorie consumption will be a little higher.
Therefore, it is true that rucking burns more calories, but again we are faced with the balance of whether it is worth doing it that way in terms of the damage caused by this practice. The expert ironizes the fact that if we all gained weight, we would also spend more energy when exercising and that does not mean it is recommended and insists that “a priori the use of a backpack is never recommended.”
What are the risks of rucking? “First of all, the discomfort caused by walking with a backpack is enormous, because the handles limit the movements of the arms, at the level of the back, which causes an increase in the pressure that has to be endured, etc.” and “if the weight “If it is too high, it causes problems in blood flow to the arms, discomfort in the neck, dorsal and lumbar areas,” summarizes Orantes.
“Since you also have to carry a greater load than what you are used to, at a muscular level it seems that the muscles and power of the lower extremities are enhanced.” Here the problem arises of what load you have to implement to enhance that, because rucking in principle is practiced with little weight and “I have many doubts that with a light load you will be able to enhance that, apart from the fact that there are other methods that are specific to work on power, resistance or caloric expenditure that do not have all these types of risks associated with them that we are talking about.”
There are those who may think that if the military does it, both in the US and in all the armies in the world, it must be good for physical fitness, but the truth is that these professionals do it out of necessity.
In fact, Orantes, who has carried out four research projects with the military, says that the US army “is trying to prevent cargo transportation because they have soldiers with casualties, discomfort, herniated discs and cervical spines, etc… ”. Therefore, “they are giving a foundation to this technique because the American marines do it and they are strong… but of course, they have no choice but to do it.”
“Even in the military population, the tendency is always to minimize load because it causes many injuries and also something else that is fundamental, which is the feeling of subjective fatigue, of not being able to do more, which makes them perform less, be more tired, It’s more important to focus on what has to be done, etc.)”, continues Orantes.
The doctor reveals that “in futuristic projects of the American army, the use of a kind of quadruped dog-type robot is being tested to carry the weight and they only have to carry their protection and the weapon.” This is for example the LS3, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) robotic dog built to carry heavy loads for troops in the field.
The Spanish Army is also working to lighten the weight of weapons, ammunition and supplies that soldiers have to carry and to do so they use accompanying robots for heavy loads and even exoskeletons.
“Even in sports you always try to train without a backpack, when you have to do some type of exercise you have to carry it because there is no type of supplies along the way, it requires an adaptation time, the first days you are very uncomfortable, you always feel “It tends to carry as little water and food as possible,” clarifies Orantes.
For those who want to exercise outdoors like rucking and look for the benefits associated with this practice, Orantes recommends “walking faster or using small hills depending on each person’s level of training because this continues to increase your caloric expenditure and also “muscular power is worked.”
And for those who are interested in using some weight, it is better to “use them on wrists or ankles with weights that adjust because that makes more sense than the backpack” which “is also dangerous because people use backpacks that are not prepared to the level.” comfort, handles, layout, etc. and are not very adapted to what transport is, which causes lumbar damage, discomfort in the shoulders and even in extreme cases there can be oxygenation problems at the level of the arms” “It is a very high price,” he adds.
If with all this you are still thinking about practicing rucking, it is important to think about the amount of weight you are going to put on your back. In principle, this trend is practiced with little weight but in reality, if it is too little, the desired effects of weight loss and muscle gain would not be achieved.
Orantes explains that when you are going to do a sport that requires carrying a load due to lack of supplies, the ideal is a camel bag type backpack, which is a harness type attached to your back and where you carry food and water with a weight of around 500 and 600 grams. However, to see a benefit from rucking “the minimum we are talking about is 10% of your body mass, which is a considerable weight”, since if you weigh, for example, 80 kilos, you should carry 8, which is a lot.
