Official Praise Thread

I am grateful for this community. Thank you all for being here through the years.

To those who celebrate Christmas, have a very merry!

To those who celebrate Jewish Christmas, I wish you delicious Chinese food and an entertaining movie.
 
moogoo said:
timezones, amirite?
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bart simpson episode 13 GIF
 
Quick shoutout to rucking. Rucking is walking with a heavy backback, or ruck. Infantry, scouts, and hikers do it, and people who just want a great exercise.

I saw a video late last summer, and asked my wife to get me some gear for Christmas. I've now been rucking about 5.5 weeks and 43 miles. It's amazing. It's low impact cardio and very easy to maintain heart rate zone 2. It is often compared favorably to running in terms of benefits but much lower impact. I can attest that my VO2Max has gone up about 1.25 points in my 5 weeks, after all other exercise and diet and even losing 25-30 pounds had no affect. Despite carrying the weight, it is not a substitute for weight training, though Ι guess if you ruck you maybe can skip leg day.

You can start with a simple backpack and at low weights using what you have around: bricks, 5 or 10 lb barbell plates, sandbags, whatever. If you get serious you probably want a designed rucksack with pockets for rectangular plates. The pockets keep things from clanging and bouncing around and sit the weight high on your back, and a good one has better padding on the straps and against your back compared to a basic backpack.

I vary my carries among 20, 30 and - as of today - 40 pounds, and usually walk about 1.3 to 2.7 miles, which takes 25-50 minutes. I retire end of this month and I'll start going on longer rucks in March, which I guess is fitting.

ETA: I just feel better and more fit than I have in years, even though I've been doing regular HIIT Cardio and weight training for more than a decade. The rucking just does something more, for me at least.
 
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mgarbowski said:
Quick shoutout to rucking.
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Here here. I got a ruck sack with 20 pouches for 3 lb weights each. I’ve messed around everywhere from 15-40 pounds. Really love it. (Though it doesn’t replace leg day.)

Bonus. My wife, who resists all exercise routines, is perfectly happy to wear the weight vest while she does stuff around the house or walks on the treadmill. She hasn’t taken it outside just yet, but we’re working toward it.

It might be a bit much for most, but this is the one I got. Very comfortable, very variable, looks a bit suicide vesty.

 
FootyLovin said:
Here here. I got a ruck sack with 20 pouches for 3 lb weights each. I’ve messed around everywhere from 15-40 pounds. Really love it. (Though it doesn’t replace leg day.)

Bonus. My wife, who resists all exercise routines, is perfectly happy to wear the weight vest while she does stuff around the house or walks on the treadmill. She hasn’t taken it outside just yet, but we’re working toward it.

It might be a bit much for most, but this is the one I got. Very comfortable, very variable, looks a bit suicide vesty.

Click to expand...
Thinking about getting a vest for my workout averse wife also. She does go on semi-regular 1.5 mile walks. She asked about borrowing my ruck but then shied away. I think she might like a vest better.
Good article about pros and cons of rucks vs weighted vests. I'm partial to the ruck for the core/lower back benefits discussed in the article. I definitely feel the core engagement during a ruck. But I'm also in the camp of do whatever works for you.
Re your suicide vest comment, the article notes that many weighted vests look similar to bulletproof vests, and some people are uncomfortable walking around looking like they are in an active shooter drill.

Saw this on reddit today:
"Get 6 bricks, two rolls of duck tape and stack and wrap them in 2x3 config. Wrap these in a towel or two for padding and put in any backpack; I started with a Dakine skate bag just cause it had a little more padding on the rear and was very square. This will be roughly 26#s.​
Go walk."​
It's the ruck version of "here are three chords, now form a band."

Me, I got one of the more expensive rucks out there, but I'm old and will pay to be more comfortable.
 
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