Some rucking tweaks

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boxinabag

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Apr 7, 2013
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Hi everyone,

I am hoping to see if maybe you guys can help me tweak my ruck marches a bit.

I am planning to leave next year in hopes for a REP63 contract, and I have a pretty long story about my history of training in my intro, but in short and in regards to rucking, I used to ruck a lot with a group of awesome guys who are all now SOF and an officer. We would ruck roughly 8-16 miles during our sessions, and try to maintain a 10-11 minute pace, weight was usually around 60 pounds, with the occasional 75#-95# see what ya got days. We were all younger... dumber... but none the less we did get pretty good at it, but I had a few issues:

  • I am 5'7" - Trying to keep up with my buddies sucked, they could walk much faster than I (they were all 6' but one was 5'10"). We would usually do 5 minutes of walking, then 5 minutes of "jogging". For me this resulted in pretty much a constant pro jog/jog. Are there any other short guys out there that can give me some pointers on increasing my speed without adding risk for injury?

  • My arms lose circulation and go numb - Once I get about a mile in I have to start messing with my straps, loosening, tightening, bouncing, etc. in order to stop my arms from getting tingly and numb. Is my ruck too low/high? I usually just suffer through this and adjust over and over until I am done rucking... but it is annoying.

  • I use a large Alice ruck with a padded frame and belt, I put it at the top of my hips and tighten the crap out of it and try to keep the weight high and close to my body. Anything I am missing here?

Thanks guys, I am going to be 30 this year and want to make sure I continue to improve my paces and cals, I hope to be faster and stronger than I was years ago (I have maintained, but my 2 mile is closer to 13:00 these days, hoping to get it back to the 11:30 range soon). Any help for these problems is greatly appreciated!
 
Just using the term 'rucking' in the search area n the site and unchecking 'just this forum' led to 186 results with just that term...

You need to step up your game, the topic has been covered, covered again and then dug up and recovered to some power of ten possibly countable by our resident math geek... time to try again there stud.
 
Sorry about that, certainly don't want to start my first few threads off on a bad foot.

I did some more digging and tried to utilize the advanced search feature and then searching the site through Google and I can find some generic info around ruck placement and it seems like I have it in the right place. I also read that backwards walking could help increase my rate a bit, but no where else was this backed up so I am not sure about that one.

I still am unable to find an answer to my arms going numb... I have tried multiple things like adding more padding, removing padding, readjusting weight, always seems that the fix is to simple let the weight hang lower and not as tight. Any other suggestions?

Thanks
 
Any other suggestions?

Rucking sucks. Get used to it. You can only do so much with the weight hanging from your shoulders until your arms start to go numb or "tingly." Unless there's some modern trick, 15 years ago it still sucked.

Good luck.
 
I am 5'7" - Trying to keep up with my buddies sucked, they could walk much faster than I (they were all 6' but one was 5'10"). We would usually do 5 minutes of walking, then 5 minutes of "jogging". For me this resulted in pretty much a constant pro jog/jog. Are there any other short guys out there that can give me some pointers on increasing my speed without adding risk for injury?

I too am 5'7"

If you enlist, you will always be at the back of the formation and taking 2 steps for every 1 the tall fuckers at the front take. Just the way it is.

Personally, at 30 years old I think you are in for a world of hurt, but I still wish you all the success in the world.

To add - the numbness in your arms? It does not go away.
 
I am 5'7" - Trying to keep up with my buddies sucked, they could walk much faster than I (they were all 6' but one was 5'10"). We would usually do 5 minutes of walking, then 5 minutes of "jogging". For me this resulted in pretty much a constant pro jog/jog. Are there any other short guys out there that can give me some pointers on increasing my speed without adding risk for injury?

5'6" here; I feel/felt your pain.

IMO, running with a ruck is like shooting without ear protection. There's a time and a place for each, and training is NOT it. Doing either will, at a minimum, cause degradation of your body (when rucking it's joints and skeletal stuff - spine to ankles, when shooting it's your ears). With a few exceptions, the damage is permanent and irreversible. Decide what's worth it to you, and know that 23-year-old Totentanz and 33-year-old Totentanz (and 63-year-old Totentanz) may have very different ideas about that.

I won't speak for the crowd, but I don't think anyone here would advocate running with a ruck in training (MANY would tell you not to do it).
 
Hey everyone,

Thanks for the info and conversation. I am glad to hear that the tingly arms I get are something everyone experiences and not something I need to worry about, I will just keep pressing forward with it, it doesn't slow me down in any way, just annoying.

As far as running goes, I try to avoid it as much as possible and keep it at a fast walk or light jog. I will try dropping my pace to the 13-15 minute range this week when I head to the hills and see how I feel!

Ooh-Rah - Thanks for the well wishes! So far I haven't really experienced any issues due to my age other than the ability to pack on weight easier and finally starting to lose my baby face haha. So hopefully I will stay on that path for another 30 years!

I really appreciate the words guys, it means a lot to me. Thank you!
 
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