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Ruck Running is a very advanced form of rucking that a lot of you saw at the 2019 CrossFit Games as one of the workouts. We’ll discuss the fundamentals and show you how to do it so you can do it correctly. This is a great way for advanced ruckers to increase their pace and push yourself.

Here are the most important things with you and your rucksack when it comes to ruck running.

You want the weight stable and high on your back. The trick is if you lean forward a little bit, get it higher up, more on your shoulders, then you stand up, which you’re going to notice is that it’s a lot more stable. When you’re running, you’re not going to get things like friction burns on your lower back.

Next, you want to make sure that your shirt is not crumpled up underneath your rucksack. Now, first off, you want to be wearing a shirt. Second off, this has nothing to do with your shorts or whatever pants you’re wearing while you do this. Your goal is not to pull those up. That’s a really bad strategy. Your strategy is this: make sure that your shirt is all the way down. As you’re running, what you might find is that your shirt will come up a little bit. That’s when you just pull it back down, just a little bit. It’s like if you’re running, and you’ve got socks on, and those socks have lumps in them. That’s going to be really bad for your feet over time. So let’s talk about rucking form and then, let’s talk about ruck running form.

You want to figure out how fast you can go and stay smooth throughout the entire time that you’re out there doing it. The point of a padded hip belt is that it would allow you to transfer the load to your hips. That is not going to help you ruck run faster. Hip belts have their place, but when you’re ruck running, it’s not the preferred technique. It’s better to go back to the fundamentals of put the ruck on and cinch it all the way down.

The main purpose of the hip belt in this case is stability. The more stable your ruck is, especially while you’re ruck running, the more stable that weight is, the faster you’re going to be able to go and the safer you’re going to be able to do that.

If you’re new to this, or you’re looking to start rucking, I recommend that you start rucking. That means put 20 pounds on your back and go for a walk. Get used to how your shoulders, how your back, how your hips, how your body feels with a rucksack on it and then, look to advance it. If you want to advance yourself towards ruck running, establish the fundamentals of rucking first. Ruck running is a very advanced form of both rucking and just fitness in general.

Form becomes very important over faster speed and longer distance. Rucking form, by and large, is like walking. You want your shoulders back and then, you just want to walk.

With ruck running, it’s a little different, because it puts a lot of strain on the relationship between your body and the rucksack. There’s more movement. So the more you’re moving your arms, the faster you’re going, the rucksack will shift around a little bit.That’s just going to happen, so you have to learn how to mitigate that with your body. You want to limit the changes in your speed while ruck running. If you sprint out of the gates, and then eventually, you’re walking or rucking, let’s say, that’s not how you’re going to do your best work.