My advice is to go ahead and ruck, but start light. Start with, say, 10 pounds. Then ease into the mileage. If you're already walking, try that weight with your normal distance. If you're just getting back into dedicated walks, start with very low mileage (basically go to tolerance) and then slowly increase your distance. Once you hit, say, five miles at a time, considering adding more weight to the back.
In short: People tend to get injured when they do too much too soon, so if you can avoid that you'll be golden.
I've known about your info for a few years but have not been a subscriber. I heard you on Rich Roll this morning on my podcast feed. Talking about your new book coming out soon and other things.
I decided to take the plunge and subscribe to your substack.
I want to start Rucking and not sure what weight I should start with.
I'm 70 years old, I lift twice a week, with a personal trainer. I can dead lift 125lbs.
I cycle 2 - 3 days a week and avg of 30 - 50 miles/ride.
I'm very short, only 4'8" tall and I have about 40lbs of excess body fat...
No matter what I do, I can't seem to keep the excess body fat off my body.
I went on a 40 day cycling tour across India in 2025 (avg riding day = 60 miles) and lost about 22lbs on that trip but it has slowly crept back on over the year (now 2026). I did struggle on this tour, it was my first long cycling tour. I wrote a blog about my trip if anyone is interested in what it's like to cycle India - https://erinely.blogspot.com
I have a post on there about what I did to get ready for that trip.
I know about eating real food, I've been eating local and organic for about 30 years.
My downfall is moderation, I am not good at moderation.
There are other things I need to moderate, alcohol is one of them.
Regardless, yes I commit to changing these things and I want to kind of give myself a reset.
I'm going on a 45 day cycling tour across Japan in Sept 2026 and want to be stronger for this trip. There is a lot of climbing in Japan, lol
I do hike sometimes about 4 or 5 miles, but it's not regularly and not with any kind of weight.
I'm lucky I live in a place where I can hike right outside my door, I'm about a 20 minute walk away from the forest.
If I wanted to start rucking twice a week, to add to my cycling and weight lifting sessions.
The truth is we are failing at strength training for both men and women - those percentages are low for both. There is some encouraging news that surveys of trending fitness activities are showing strength training at or near the top. Rucking with rucks or weighted vests are a "low friction" way to get people started. Sales of weighted vests for women have been up 100% in the past year for my company and that is great to see. Sadly it takes a diagnosis of osteopenia or osteoporosis to get people (80% post-menopausal females) to start wearing weight and strength training.
Does rucking make sense if I’m already 100lbs overweight? I feel like an extra 20-40lbs will just be a drop in the bucket or hard on my knees.
My advice is to go ahead and ruck, but start light. Start with, say, 10 pounds. Then ease into the mileage. If you're already walking, try that weight with your normal distance. If you're just getting back into dedicated walks, start with very low mileage (basically go to tolerance) and then slowly increase your distance. Once you hit, say, five miles at a time, considering adding more weight to the back.
In short: People tend to get injured when they do too much too soon, so if you can avoid that you'll be golden.
Hey Michael,
I've known about your info for a few years but have not been a subscriber. I heard you on Rich Roll this morning on my podcast feed. Talking about your new book coming out soon and other things.
I decided to take the plunge and subscribe to your substack.
I want to start Rucking and not sure what weight I should start with.
I'm 70 years old, I lift twice a week, with a personal trainer. I can dead lift 125lbs.
I cycle 2 - 3 days a week and avg of 30 - 50 miles/ride.
I'm very short, only 4'8" tall and I have about 40lbs of excess body fat...
No matter what I do, I can't seem to keep the excess body fat off my body.
I went on a 40 day cycling tour across India in 2025 (avg riding day = 60 miles) and lost about 22lbs on that trip but it has slowly crept back on over the year (now 2026). I did struggle on this tour, it was my first long cycling tour. I wrote a blog about my trip if anyone is interested in what it's like to cycle India - https://erinely.blogspot.com
I have a post on there about what I did to get ready for that trip.
I know about eating real food, I've been eating local and organic for about 30 years.
My downfall is moderation, I am not good at moderation.
There are other things I need to moderate, alcohol is one of them.
Regardless, yes I commit to changing these things and I want to kind of give myself a reset.
I'm going on a 45 day cycling tour across Japan in Sept 2026 and want to be stronger for this trip. There is a lot of climbing in Japan, lol
I do hike sometimes about 4 or 5 miles, but it's not regularly and not with any kind of weight.
I'm lucky I live in a place where I can hike right outside my door, I'm about a 20 minute walk away from the forest.
If I wanted to start rucking twice a week, to add to my cycling and weight lifting sessions.
What weight do you think I should start with?
The truth is we are failing at strength training for both men and women - those percentages are low for both. There is some encouraging news that surveys of trending fitness activities are showing strength training at or near the top. Rucking with rucks or weighted vests are a "low friction" way to get people started. Sales of weighted vests for women have been up 100% in the past year for my company and that is great to see. Sadly it takes a diagnosis of osteopenia or osteoporosis to get people (80% post-menopausal females) to start wearing weight and strength training.