The Joy of Rucking
It’s Easy! It’s Fun! And Your Bones Will Thank You!
I always assumed that all the walking I do would protect me from getting osteoporosis. After all, walking is bone-protective, weight-bearing exercise, right?
Wrong!
As it turns out, as a result of all that walking, I’m too damn thin for walking to qualify as weight-bearing. (Ironic, huh?) At my current weight, walking does nothing whatsoever for my bones.
After my osteoporosis diagnosis, I tried increasing my weight-bearing load by using ankle weights, but they threw off my gait. And shlepping around hand weights takes a lot of the fun out of a stroll.
Then? I learned about Rucking:
Rucking (which definitely sounds as if it ought to be some kind of deviant sex act) just means walking with a loaded backpack. Writer Tim Ebl calls it “a simple, stealthy cardio that you can do anywhere.”
You don’t have to go to a gym or hire a personal trainer. Just put a bunch of heavy stuff in a backpack and walk around with it.
