A guide to rucking
Walking + added weight = rucking
Turn your walk into a workout.
Rucking is walking with added weight in a well-fitted backpack. It adds a physical challenge to your route. Get outdoors, together or on your own.
People have carried loads as part of everyday life for thousands of years. Rucking brings that simple combination of carrying and walking into deliberate training.
Why carry it on your back?
A well-fitted backpack holds the load close to your body, with both shoulder straps helping to support it. Your legs move your body and the added weight, while your stabilising core muscles help control the movement as you walk.
A simple way to bring carrying and walking together — and add a physical challenge to your route.
Get started in three steps
Step 1
Choose your backpack
Start with a backpack you already own that fits well and can hold the load securely. Use both shoulder straps. Pack it tight and high on your back, so it's secure and doesn't shift.
Step 2
Choose your load
Start light. Aim for around 10% of your body weight — typically 5–10 kg is a good starting point. Go lighter if you're unsure, and give your shoulders time to adjust before adding more. As a point of reference, some people build up to around 25% of body weight over time — treat this as indicative guidance, not a fixed target or a universal maximum.
Step 3
Start walking
Start with a familiar route — a dog walk, the journey to daycare or a walk along the coast. Build up gradually as you get comfortable.
When it starts feeling easy, move one thing at a time — a bit more time, a bit more load, a slightly faster pace, or one more set. Not all four at once.
Why ruck?
Strength without the gym
Build core strength and endurance without going to the gym.
Make more of your walk.
Add a physical challenge to time with friends, your commute, everyday errands or a walking work call. Turn time you already spend on other things into time for movement and training.
Carry the load. Keep moving.
Your legs move your body and the added weight, while your stabilising core muscles help control the movement as you walk.
Cardio, without the running.
Adding weight increases the effort of your walk. You keep a walking stride, without the repeated airborne landings of running.
A gym, packed on your back
The weight plates double as a kettlebell or dumbbell. Pull them out wherever you stop for a quick set of outdoor resistance training — squats, rows, twists — then pack up and keep walking.
Can help build bone density
Extra load is a form of resistance training, and resistance training is understood to support bone density over time. There's no settled number for exactly how much weight or how long it takes — but more load on your body, built up sensibly, tends to be good for it. Good for your body, good for your bones.
Optional: add resistance training
Make a stop along the way, pull the weight out of your pack, and use it like a kettlebell for a few sets — squats, rows, presses, twists. About 15 minutes is plenty when you're already warmed up from the walk, then pack up and keep going.
This is an optional extension of rucking, not a required step.
Why I’m building ONUS
More movement. A physical challenge. Time well spent.
I really enjoy working out. I fit my calendar to make space for cycling, running and resistance training, alone and with my friends. Rucking appealed to me because it adds walking as an option for deliberate workouts. I started ONUS to make more room for that in everyday life, with a bag you can load to suit the effort you want. A walk can become a workout, time to think or a chance to catch up with someone — often all at once.
Uffe GadeFounder, ONUS
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