Rucking meetings work miracles

The case for taking work calls while walking with weight—and six strategies to make it successful.

Throw on a pack and take your next work call while walking—anywhere.

Post summary

• Taking meetings while walking with a weighted pack is one of the best ways to sneak in activity and improve your health, fitness, and mindset.

• Walking and rucking meetings can decrease your risk of all-cause mortality by 40 percent and increase your work productivity by 8 to 60 percent.

• You’ll get powerful zone 1 and 2 exercise when you otherwise would have been sitting—and walking meetings don’t require you to take time out of your busy schedule for a traditional workout.

• But doing them right requires the right strategies and tactics.

• I’ll explain the six key strategies you must know to make rucking and walking meetings successful.

• I developed them over the last five years of regularly taking meetings while walking with weight.

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The post

This publication is called Two Percent because of startling statistic: Only two percent of people take the stairs when they also have the option of taking an escalator.

And it’s killing us. Inactivity is a main contributor to the 10 leading causes of death. Yet 98 percent of us avoid the simple, obvious, healthy choice of taking the stairs.

Research shows that the two percent of people who consistently take the stairs—and apply that Two Percent mindset to other areas of life—live longer, better, more impactful lives.

So our goal is to be Two Percenters—to say yes to the little opportunities we have to do the slightly harder thing that gives us a massive long-term reward.

Consider ruck meetings as one way to adopt this mindset. All you have to do is toss on a weighted pack and walk next time you have a work call.

I started doing this during during the pandemic, when incessant phone and video conferences were making me lazy and crazy.

Walking with a pack not only snuck in a ton of activity when I would have been sitting, but also changed the meeting’s dynamics. I was more focused, with fewer distractions, and more energized and happier afterward.

The numbers don’t lie.

• Walking meetings increase productivity and creativity by 8% and 60%, respectively.

• The average meeting lasts 54 minutes, so you’ll log about 6,000 steps. That number of steps drop your risk of death by 40 to 50 percent compared to if you were to walk just 3,500 steps a day. (And that’s only from one meeting … rucking meetings help you get far more steps across a day.)

• You’ll also supercharge each of those steps. You’ll burn 20 to ~100 percent more calories each step—and more fat.

I’ve been rucking during meetings when possible ever since.

But it hasn’t always been perfect. I’ve had to solve problems along the way.

I’ve compiled six key strategies to make your rucking meetings a success. Follow them and you’ll:

• Avoid some problems I faced when I started rucking during meetings five years ago.

• Fit in exercise when you would otherwise be sitting.

• Improve your strength and endurance without having to cut out special time for workouts.

• Enjoy more time in nature, which reduces burnout and stress and increases physical and mental health.

• Return to work with more focus, productivity, and creativity.

As John le Carre said, “A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.”

Let’s roll …

1. Scout your route

In one of my very first rucking meetings, I was walking down the sidewalk when the call garbled, leading me to scream “CAN YOU HEAR ME?” a few times. Then the call dropped.

I had to frantically dial back into conference line, apologize, and ask to be filled in on what I missed. It was frustrating for all involved—and a bad look!

The world is full of vortexes where full bars of cellphone service seemingly evaporate for no good reason.

The solution

Before your first ruck meeting, walk your planned route. Call your mom or grandma along the way—she’d love to hear from you—to ensure the route has reliable service throughout.

2. Use less weight

Walking with weight during meetings is a sneaky effective way to get fit. A few months after I started, I found myself leaner and with better endurance.

So I thought more would equal more—I increased the weight and speed. This was a miscalculation.

I forgot that I was rucking during a meeting, not taking a meeting during a workout.

If you overload your ruck and walk too fast, you’ll end up sweating and breathing heavy, which distracts you from the meeting (and is also rather gross for others on the line).

The solution

Lighten your pack.

• If you normally ruck with a 30 pounds, drop the weight to 15 or 20.

• If you ruck with 50, drop the weight to 30.

• If you normally ruck with 20, try 10.

• Or just leave the weighted pack at home and walk. Anything is better than sitting.

A guideline: If you can’t speak clearly throughout, including the hills, your weight is too heavy. You’ll still see a massive benefit from any weight you use. Again: Moving beats sitting.

3. Favor nature

The average American spends 93 percent of their time indoors. Our modern removal from the outdoors is linked to the epidemic of mental and physical health issues sweeping the country.

Any time outside is good. But rucking through a paved-over parking lot versus a tree-lined path impacts us differently.

The solution

If possible, favor more natural areas during your rucking meeting. Find a park, trail, or tree-lined street.

Spending just 20 minutes a few times a week in natural spaces—the kind you can find in a city park or street flanked by a lot of green—decreases stress and increases productivity and health markers.

4. Find a quieter route

I thought I was set once I discovered a good route that got service and moved through some nature. I was wrong.

One day, a park I rucked through was packed with children all screaming as they played tag. Another day, a house along my route had landscapers working with blaring leaf blowers. Garbage trucks were another big noise polluter. These all impacted my ability to hear and speak on the call.

The solution

Seek a silent route route. More important, stay alert for unexpected noises (in fairness to the outdoors, unexpected noise happens in offices all the time).

As you walk, look for noise landmines. For example, garbage trucks, workers, lawn mowers, or leaf blowers (side note: Let’s start the Two Percent Commission to Ban Leaf Blowers … please join us and save our soundscape).

Also use your phone’s mute button liberally and consider noise-cancelling headphones.

5. Bring co-workers

Cheryl from accounting and Eric from HR aren’t actually awkward and personalityless.

What’s awkward is trying to have a real conversation with Cheryl and Eric while you’re stifled up in some drop-ceiling, fluorescently lit, windowless room.

Most office conference rooms are where personalities go to die.

The good news: People come out of their shell once you get them outside and moving.

One team of scientists found that in-person walking meetings improved communication and camaraderie between co-workers compared to sit-down office meetings.

The solution

If you work in person, ask your colleagues if they’d like to walk during the meeting. Sell it—tell them about all the benefits. Together you’ll be more productive, come to better solutions, and actually enjoy the meeting.

6. Walk to healthy places

Having a fun destination to walk to can incentivize you and your co-workers to do more walking and rucking meetings.

But researchers at Harvard found that many people who did walking meetings walked to a donut shop for an extra-long maple bar or Starbucks for an extra-large Venti Frappuccino.

The scientists agreed that’s fine sometimes. One upside of rucking rather than sitting is that it gives you more room for fried, maple-glazed indulgences.

But the scientists worried that having too many walking or rucking meetings end in a thousand calories of sugar, salt, and fat may backfire.

The solution

A coffee shop or cafe gives your meeting a destination and a reward at the end, incentivizing more participation.

But once you’re there, get something calorie-free. E.g., A black coffee or cold brew.

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I’m still taking rucking meetings on the regular.

They’ve created a positive feedback loop in my life. I burn more energy across a day, which helps me sleep better, which improves my performance in the gym, at work, and in rucking meetings the next day. Rinse, repeat, live better.

Have fun, don’t die, walk don’t sit,

-Michael