Sadly, as many men age, eructations be come less and less frequent, too...
Getting Older, Getting In Shape, and Rucking.
- Thread starter Sam Gamgee
- Start date
Yeah, it seems to be a great way to add a bit of strength training to an everyday walk. Two birds, one stone, etc.
My weight bench/dumbbell setup is pretty meek and only goes up to 30lbs, but I've realized that with the right techniques it's possible to get absolutely destroyed with 30lb dumbbells. Point being, a man doesn't need a lot of stuff to get in shape. I think it mostly comes down to determination and being consistent with whatever one is doing.
Rucking two birds at the same time would likely cause some controversy, or at least hard feelings, wouldn't it?
Here is my meager garage torture chamber setup: a bench with dumbbells and a homemade pull-up bar mounted in my ceiling.
This is my primary exercise...love this thing. Crank up the stereo and walk on this as fast as I can for a couple of miles.
I would rather wear a weight vest if all I was doing was walking.
My wife and I used to do a lot of backpacking trips, 15 mile days kind of stuff. Those kind of packs are meant to hold weight distributed vertically and have to be fitted well to your shoulders and hips or else you will get trip-ruining blisters.
My wife and I used to do a lot of backpacking trips, 15 mile days kind of stuff. Those kind of packs are meant to hold weight distributed vertically and have to be fitted well to your shoulders and hips or else you will get trip-ruining blisters.
Correct, but training with a sandbag makes this easy as you can move the weight high/center and it’s right where you need it to be. Quite a bit different than a standard overnight load out.
Frim
From what I understand from my reading, the companies that make Ruck-specific bags make them to where they don’t rub and chafe.
I had to look up the meaning of the verb ruck in the OED to understand the post fully. Alas to rucksack isn't there but if a credible source can be found I'll enter it in my daily additions to the OED reader's programme.
The English language, don't you just love it
Regards,
Jay.
Doesn't it derive from German somehow?
I would hope so. But at least if you invest in a really well fitting frame pack, you can use it for actual through-hiking once you're in the shape you want to be.
Understood. I'm not interested in hiking, etc, but am just looking to take my lunchtime walks to another level.
I don’t do it as frequently as I should, mainly when I have an upcoming hunt.
The key for me was to find a good pack, designed to haul weight and adjustable to my frame. 30lbs in a poorly fit pack has put me out of commission for days, whereas 60lbs in a proper pack is doable for miles with only fatigue being the result.
I second Mystery Ranch, their packs were originally designed for military and wild land firefighters.
The key for me was to find a good pack, designed to haul weight and adjustable to my frame. 30lbs in a poorly fit pack has put me out of commission for days, whereas 60lbs in a proper pack is doable for miles with only fatigue being the result.
I second Mystery Ranch, their packs were originally designed for military and wild land firefighters.
Thanks to some input in this thread I've been doing some research. I'm a bit disappointed to see that Mystery Ranch is made in Vietnam (or at least some of the lower-priced ones are). That doesn't necessarily translate to poorer quality, but sometimes it does.
Almost. Their packs were originally designed for backpackers but they were so well made that certain operator groups bought them, spray painted them black, and used them for ops. After a few phone calls, they started building specific packs for the military. Then the wildland firefighters saw how well they worked and started using them.
From the outset they were just really well built bags for backpackers.
I can assure you that, in this case, it does not. Also, you can find USA made ones.
I have several pieces of Mystery Ranch gear and it all gets heavy use. This stuff is the real deal.
Mystery Ranch is the preferred vendor for a lot of Wildland firefighters. I’m not a Wildland firefighter, but I run into them at Incident Command Centers and I always pay attention to gear selection.
Their packs and bags weight a little more than most BUT the fabric is heavy duty. The stitching is heavy duty. The bar tacking is always one row more. Wear points are specifically reinforced. Etc.
True, but post-Dana Design is where the packs were beefed up with heavy bulky loads in mind.
I guess I flavor my thinking with my end use in mind (hauling meat off the hill).
The most important thought I meant to convey is this: if carrying weighty loads is the job, then proper fit is huge!
I’d recommend the OP go by an REI or study up of fitting a pack via YouTube or such. I struggled with many packs before I actually measured my torso properly.
I’m a big “define the job then pick the tool” proponent.
Ok, I'm getting close to pulling the trigger on a new rucksack and would love some specific input from those in-the-know. Here is my concern, and the reason I keep leaning toward a setup from GoRuck:
GoRuck has plates and a specific compartment for those plates that keep the weight up high in the bag and directly on the back. I know from what's been said here Mystery Ranch makes great bags, and that I can make my own sandbags (etc) and use a MR as a ruck sack: but I'm concerned with there being a lot of dead weight at the bottom of the pack that will be pulling on my shoulders the whole time. It seems like the DESIGN of the GoRuck pack would eliminate this but keep the weight up higher and nearer my back, rather than sitting heavy at the bottom of the bag.
Does this make sense? And is this a legit concern?
GoRuck has plates and a specific compartment for those plates that keep the weight up high in the bag and directly on the back. I know from what's been said here Mystery Ranch makes great bags, and that I can make my own sandbags (etc) and use a MR as a ruck sack: but I'm concerned with there being a lot of dead weight at the bottom of the pack that will be pulling on my shoulders the whole time. It seems like the DESIGN of the GoRuck pack would eliminate this but keep the weight up higher and nearer my back, rather than sitting heavy at the bottom of the bag.
Does this make sense? And is this a legit concern?
100%. But Dana Design was well before Mystery Ranch, and Mystery Ranch made bags for backpackers before they ever sewed the first seam for the military or wildland firefighters.
Proper fit will carry the load on hips/shoulders. Properly designed will get the load closer to frame (and back).
I haven’t looked at GoRuck, because I don’t want to invest in a pack that isn’t transferable to the end use.
If just exercise is the intent, one can use a dry bag or such of size desired and get rubber pellets and loads/compress as you wish.
Then you have a good pack you can load with whatever whenever you go wherever.
Same pack I hunt/scout in I can fill with ammo cans full of whatever heavy stuff I’ve got and replicate any load I can carry.