20kg backpack rucking - good for cardio?

I think it is good for muscular strength. Particularly if you are going up and down hills with it, you'll build some leg strength.

I used to hike a lot in the mountains with or without skis, usually with backpacks around that weight and it does give you a huge amount of basic strength in your lower back and legs and may be the reason for why I never get injured once I have take up running/ triathlon.

It is of course not very runspecific.

For the cardio: Everything that makes your heart pump more than 55-60% returns good results for general cardio.

I don't know man, that's super heavy! I may be weakling, but I take a maximum of 14kg to 4-5 day trekking trips (usually 11-12 though). If you're not hiking down steep mountains it might be ok and it won't ruin your knees.

Thank you for the answers... I'm mostly doing this training as I want to join the military, but good to know it's applicable in general fitness.

Yesterday have gone with a 22kg load in my pack and was dying by the second hour... Four hours of walking and my legs today really feel in pain, never had this even back in my squatting/deadlifting days.

It's probably heavy but I plan on cutting down the weight to around 10kg and running with it once I'm used to the rucking first.

Interesting. I did a few rucks the first in June. Do y'all think rucking would be a good "pre-base" phase? I don't know, say, rucking consistently for 3 weeks then going into the easy base phase mileage. Or would this be better incorporated in say lydiard & daniels 2nd phase training?

That rucksack must fit a small house inside it. 75L?

Yes, rucking around is very good cardio.

Running helps Backpacking.

I am not so sure if backpacking helps running. I would say that have to be very minimal.

Good plan. As one poster said, as long as you reach 55-60% of max HR it has an aerobic effect.

For military it is excellent to increase strength and stamina and mental aspects.

I for some years played a lot of golf carrying my bag and walking briskly. I didn't need much running to feel well running faster and longer so it obviously maintains and builds some base aerobic capability.

If military requirements are to run fast on 3k you should maybe have som speedwork?

Its a long term recipe for back problems. I urge you to reconsider wearing a backpack any more than necessary. Its just foolishness.

It will make you better at backpacking. That's about it.

It helps with injury prevention and base fitness. Not specific.

What in thee hayl is 'rucking'?

Old guy with mirror glasses wrote:

Its a long term recipe for back problems. I urge you to reconsider wearing a backpack any more than necessary. Its just foolishness.

If the backpack is well made and with hip support there will be no problem. Then the weight will sit primarily on the hips and not the back itself.

Just progress steadily with the weigth and keep it low and as close to the back as possible.

Backpacker wrote:

Running helps Backpacking.

I am not so sure if backpacking helps running. I would say that have to be very minimal.

The training of elite Japanese female marathoners has been mentioned in other threads: They spend the first year of an Olympic cycle hiking for hours in mountains with heavy packs, no running.

Another giver of +1 wrote:

Backpacker wrote:

Running helps Backpacking.

I am not so sure if backpacking helps running. I would say that have to be very minimal.

The training of elite Japanese female marathoners has been mentioned in other threads: They spend the first year of an Olympic cycle hiking for hours in mountains with heavy packs, no running.

Thanks for a great reference. I guess we have no proof that walking with heavy backpack is beneficial or not beneficial. But using logic. Running is about both a passiv and an active use of muscles and legs. The passive is the stretch shortening of tendons and muscles that makes us running economically (the jumping). The other effect is the active use of contraction to propel forward. Walking and running is very similar for the active case. We use more or less the same muscles, but we just do not jump from foot to foot as with running. So a heavy backpack will make all this active work higher and some sort of strength training and if we go briskly with a HR high enough we get an aerobic effect as well. I cannot imagine this does not have any effect on running.

Jon Arne Glomsrud wrote:

Just progress steadily with the weigth and keep it low and as close to the back as possible.

You want to keep the weight as close to the back as possible and as HIGH as possible.

Rocky Mountain HIGH wrote:

Jon Arne Glomsrud wrote:

Just progress steadily with the weigth and keep it low and as close to the back as possible.

You want to keep the weight as close to the back as possible and as HIGH as possible.

Interesting, why is that?

In military we ran and skied with at backpack and then I wanted it low. When we walked, we always had a big backpack and then it was relatively high anyway.

This is my experience to not having to balance a high weight too much. If the aim is to get the weight above the centre of the core, you might be right. If it is to keep the centre of weight as low as possible it is to put it as low as possible, but then obviously the backpack weight is more to the rear.