Get Rucking! How to Build Your Own Ruck Pack

Can't afford an expensive pack? Go cheap!

Rucking is an exercise that almost anyone can do. All you need is the ability to walk and a backpack.

This dead-simple exercise creates endurance and strengthens your back, legs, and core. The typical starting point is to carry one-tenth of your body weight. For example, a 200-pound guy would start with 20 lbs. For a progression, you could add 5 pounds a week until you reach a challenging weight for yourself.

Rucking burns a lot of calories, almost as many as running. That’s why it’s a stealth cardio. No one will even know you’re exercising.

“But, Tim! I don’t have any trails here! I can’t ruck in town, can I?”

Why not? Don’t you have sidewalks or parks? If there are outside walking spaces, then go for it!

“But… I’m afraid I’ll look dumb!”

If you’re like me, you’ve always got that problem.

I can look dumb no matter what I’m doing, so I don’t let it stop me.

I just look for more things to do while I look dumb ANYWAY. This is yet another in the long list of things I look dumb doing.

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Rucking is Low-impact

This is an advantage for your knees and hips. Running and other brisk exercise can aggravate the joints, but rucking might work for you.

Start small with only a few pounds and gradually increase your load. Eventually, you could work your way up and improve your strength while giving your body some essential exercise.

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“Okay, Tim. You convinced me. How far should I go?”

Start small. Try a few blocks round trip with a light load.

The key to stuff like this is repetition, not going gangbusters. Less is more.

If you work out every other day for half a mile, you make progress. If you cripple yourself by rucking 6 miles on day one and don’t go again for three weeks, expect only suffering.

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How to Ruck on a Budget

Everything doesn’t have to cost a fortune.

You might already have everything you need. Start small and manageable. You could get going with a cheap backpack, two water bottles, a couple of canned goods out of the pantry, and a sandwich.

Anyone can put some items in a pack and walk around. It has one of the lowest barriers to entry. Compare that with biking, where even the cheapest ride is hundreds of dollars.

You already have legs and shoes, and you might have a backpack. You can easily find some weight in your house.

Find something heavy that doesn’t have an unusual shape that will jab into your back while you hike. Use a towel or small blanket to position it in the bag, and you’re off to the races.

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You Don’t Need High-End Equipment to Be a Rucking Pro

I’ve looked at “professional” rucking setups plenty of times online. I just can’t justify it to myself. That would be different if you want to pack more than 40 pounds, but let’s be honest: Most of us will never want to.

If you’ve gone to GoRuck and looked at the price of the backpack, you may have shit yourself. I know I did. Their backpacks are fucking expensive.

With a 20-pound weight, $350 US. That’s roughly $9999 Canadian! I don’t have any more small children to sell! It had better be durable for that price.

That cost is totally unacceptable.

So for the last few years, I’ve been using an old hiking backpack and some random heavy items that had been lying around the house. Sometimes I even put a kettlebell or one of those dust-gathering dumbbells in there.

You can stick with these low-cost options forever if you like. Load up any bag with soup cans, rocks, textbooks, whatever. It will get the job done.

Last month, I started looking at those expensive rucking packs again. I almost pulled the trigger and spent the money. But no! There is zero reason that these things should cost such a fortune. Yeah, I bet they’re great quality, etc. But I’m not gonna spend hundreds of dollars just for a backpack that holds weight.

I wanted something that looked a bit cooler, though. My oversized hiking backpack with all the padding needed to haul around the kettlebell was making me look like a homeless person hunting for handouts.

There’s nothing like being on a walking path and everybody thinking that you’re living in the bushes on the side of the trail, negotiating with squirrels and fighting the wildlife for leftovers.

So I found a cheap way to build my own, for less than $80.

The first thing you need is a tactical backpack. Preferably with many pockets and sleeves, and good shoulder straps. Like this one on Amazon for US $39.99. You don’t need a top-end bag.

Uncle Wiener’s Wholesale

I got mine from a local discount store called Uncle Wiener’s for $50 Canadian. So far, it’s been working perfectly. And I get to say Uncle Wiener’s every time I tell someone about it!

I bought weight plates at Walmart or another store that sells exercise equipment. Find the barbell plates in 2.5, 5, or 10 pounds. It’s gonna cost you about a dollar a pound in Canadian money, so they might be virtually free in the US. I bought 25 lbs for under $30.

Happy rucking!

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