I am 47, run a small business, and have three kids, a wife and a dog.
I got interested in health & fitness when my wife was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) around 2005. Since then, I have tried to exercise and eat well within the confines of a busy life but was never really cut out for most types of cardio (I don’t enjoy it and am no good at it).
As time passed, I found it harder and harder to cover all my exercise bases until I found rucking.
This is the story of how I got there and how I believe rucking can help you!
Rucking vs Running
I am not built for cardio.
I was never a keen exerciser as a younger man. Sure, I liked Sylvester Stallone & Arnie as much as the next kid of the 80s and wanted to be huge and shredded, but it my lacklustre attempts never went anywhere.
As I got into my 20s and started to put the party lifestyle behind me, I would do a bit of running here and there but again, was never great.
I managed to squeeze out a few half marathons and one full marathon, but never got great times and if I am honest, I found the training a struggle and it was just not enjoyable enough to be something I could maintain.
The problem with runs as well was that after each event, I would then have a period where I would just do nothing.
Running never got me lean, I never felt great, I would get injured and to top it all off – my wife is better than me.
Strength Training & Paleo
As mentioned in the summary above, my wife got ill about 20 years ago and that lead us down a pathway to ancestral diets and Paleo. That also introduced me to some more structured weight training, compound lifts etc. I bought myself a power rack and set up The Muscle Factory in my shed.
I trained pretty hard for about 5 years. I got strong, but never shredded. I enjoy weight training, it seems a better fit for me, but it did not address my cardio and as I hurtled towards my 40s my weight was up and down.
I had a period mountain biking, but like running, I had to train very hard to get fit enough to do anything interesting and I could just never hold onto that fitness for long.
Rucking
Rucking was almost an accident. I can’t even remember how it happened.
I had got into cycling through Owen. As that fell away, we saw less of each other for a few years, but then, as we were both going through a rough patch, we started walking on a Friday morning. Men, it seems, need a shared activity to keep seeing each other, and in our mid-40s, drinking was just not working out as a shared hobby (as it did for many of our younger years).
I was still trying to do a bit of running but it seemed like I was falling apart. Knee pain. Achilles issues. Running was not working out.
On one of our walks we talked about throwing on some backpacks and everything just grew from there.
We moved from backpacks with hand weights to weighted vests.
We progressed from a few kilograms up to 90-minute walks with 30kg vests.
I got stronger, had no knee pain, my fitness went up, weight went down – it felt like we stumbled onto something truly powerful.
It seemed that rucking, for us Generation-X folks (approx 40 to 65) might have the exercise X-Factor! Cardio, strength, weight loss, time outside, socialising, and talking all rolled into one. Good for physical and mental health. It all seemed so bloody obvious that we could not understand why more folks did it.
Then we both got injured—neck and shoulder injuries. Rucking, or carrying weighted vests, it was no doubt powerful but, it needed consideration of how you carry the weight and other mobility work to keep everything working as it should to enable the rucking.
This got us thinking (and yes, it was painful).
Rucking is super easy to get going with; grab a backpack and stuff something in it (a few cookbooks are a good start), and you are rucking – simple.
But, to build it up to a good weight, like 30kg, you need the right kit along with stretching and mobility work to keep yourself injury-free. Then, you can round out the program to suit your goals – I currently add a few runs in and a bit of weight lifting.
Rucking was the backbone and could be a hugely accessible exercise to help us stay fit, strong and functional as we get older, but rucking alone was not enough; there was more needed to keep us rucking.
RUCK-X
RUCK-X was born.
Rucking + X
X is for us generation X folks that need a simple, accessible exercise program.
X is for the X-Factor, as rucking combines strength, cardio, time outdoors and socialising – all things we need as we get older and busier and overwhelmed with our busy lives.
X represents the variable X, being all the other aspects that complement rucking and can be used to tailor your rucking program to your goals!
We realised the importance of having a buddy system – I can happily let myself down but will always be there for someone else, so we can leverage this to keep ourselves getting up and getting out there.
There is no end of health and fitness influencers targeting young, hard-charging athletes. There are plenty for the super-fit, but not much for the average bloke who needs a simple, accessible, time-efficient exercise program to keep the wheels on the wagon! Generation X men, RUCK-X is for you!
So, as we walked and talked, we started to put it all together and organise it into a program that we tested on ourselves.
We fixed our injuries and continue to keep rucking three times a week and have never been happier, healthier or more productive.
Rain or shine, we get up and get out there three times a week.
So we want to share what we have learned and hopefully improve the lives of men like us across the world – that would be eXcellent!
If you want to get fitter, stronger, leaner and happier try RUCK-X.
