What Rucking Won't Do For Health, Hype versus Reality
Updated: 1 day ago
I ruck because it's one of the simplest things I do that keeps giving back. I put weight on my back and I walk. There's no gym, no class and no fancy equipment. Yet it has taught me more about my body and my head than most other training I've done.
And - as with anything in the 'wellness space' - there's also plenty of false information that comes with it, certainly for its benefits. In this article we see where reality meets the hype, so that you can make informed choices about how to invest in your health.
As ever, please talk to your doctor or medical practitioner most familiar with your medical history before implementing any changes in diet, exercise or lifestyle, especially if you are under treatment. Links to studies / resources at bottom of page.
What I get out of it
Cardio fitness. A loaded walk is deceptively demanding. Add a bergen (a rucksack) and the same pace lifts your heart rate, and you spend hours in the zone where your aerobic engine gets built. It's easy on the joints compared with running, and I can do a lot of it without breaking down. That's the point of rucking for me: volume I can sustain.
Resilience. Rucking is uncomfortable in a quiet, manageable way. The shoulders start to nag at hour two. The weather turns. The route is longer than you'd like. You learn to keep going anyway, adjust, and solve small problems as they show up. That habit carries into the rest of life better than you'd expect. And it's a nice reminder to do my strength work, for core and legs - all of which supports my running habit as well.
Mental strength. Long miles with a load strip out the noise. There's nowhere to hide from your own head, and you learn to sit with discomfort, keep your pace and not negotiate with yourself every kilometre.
A real skill. This is the one people underrate, except perhaps those training in the military or for a trek. Carrying a load well is a skill, not just fitness. It's how you pack, where the weight sits, how you set your straps, how you manage your feet, your fuel and your pacing.
What rucking isn't good for
I care more about telling you the truth than selling you a story, so here's the honest part:
Rucking gets oversold, and some of the claims floating around don't hold up.
Professor Stuart Phillips, recently shared a clear-eyed take on weighted vests on LinkedIn. His comments were about vests rather than rucksacks, but they rest on load-carriage physiology and that applies to anyone strapping weight to their torso and going for a walk. I think they're worth sharing.
It's not a calorie-burning shortcut. Phillips points out that a 9 kg vest adds only about 20 calories to a 30-minute walk. Walking up a 5% hill with no vest adds about 60. Carry 10% more mass and walking costs roughly 10% more energy, something load-carriage research has understood since the 1960s. In his words, it's a nudge, and a small one. If you want to burn more, find a hill.
It's not a proven fat-loss tool. The excitement around weighted vests and weight loss traces back to two short Swedish trials on the "gravitostat". The first found that people wearing a heavy vest for eight hours a day over three weeks ended up about 1.4% of body weight lighter than a light-vest group. The five-week follow-up found no difference in weight. In another study, 150 older adults wore a vest for a year while dieting, and it added nothing to their weight loss. Interesting physiology, as Phillips says, but not a weight-loss strategy.
It's not a bone-building programme. This is the claim he hears most, often aimed at women over 50. Phillips notes that the studies people cite had participants jumping or lifting while wearing the vest, for months or years. The vest was the barbell, and the exercise was the medicine. Tested on its own in the INVEST trial (Beevers et al, JAMA Network Open, 2025), wearing a vest for seven hours a day over 12 months during weight loss did not measurably slow hip bone loss. His advice for bone is the model many trials support: heavier lifting, force produced quickly and safely (power), and impact, ideally twice a week.
One more caution: in a pilot study he mentions, there was a one-in-four chance of a sore back. Load is a tool, and it deserves respect, which is why I build up gradually.
Built to Ruck
If you are training for the PARAS'10, a Norwegian Foot March, or just to get fast and fit, our self-paced online course"Built to Ruck The Science and Practice of Rucking" covers everything the research tells us about load carriage training, pacing, progression, heat management, hydration, fueling and more. It is built for ruckers at every level of experience, and draws directly on the peer-reviewed military and sports science research.
Final Thoughts
None of this makes me love rucking less. It simply tells me what I'm doing it for and let's me know where to properly focus my time and effort. As Phillips says of the vest, it's not something to throw away. It's useful, and if it gets you out the door, that's a win.
One area not addressed by Philips, does rucking build strength? Up to a point, yes. You will certainly improve your core and calves. However, multiple studies (see Strength below) show that lower-body strength directly predicts rucking performance, indicating that dedicated resistance training drives functional capability rather than load carriage alone. If you want to be a successful and injury-proof rucker (or runner), add resistance work.
That's how I see rucking. I don't do it for the calories, or to fix my bones (yes, as a guy I am also concerned about bone health) that's part of what my resistance training and jump training are for. I ruck for a strong aerobic engine, a tougher mind, a calmer head and the pleasure of getting better at something real. And I do it with good people, mainly (but not always) at a pace that lets us talk.
So leave the miracle claims at the door, pack your bergen sensibly and get out there. Start light, build slowly and enjoy the time outdoors.
Stay Healthy,
Alastair
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Related Resources and Studies
Source: Stuart Phillips, LinkedIn post on weighted vests
Fat Loss
Wang X, Zhou L, Shi T, Meng X, Li C, Zhu C, Guo C, Yue C, Tang Y, Liu Y. Effects of weighted vest on bone health and body fat in middle-aged and older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Osteoporos Int. 2026 Aug 14. doi: 10.1007/s00198-026-08196-y. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42601514.
Bellman J, Westerterp K, Wouters L, Johannesson M, Lundqvist N, Kullberg J, Larsson C, Gustafsson M, Pettersson S, Fridolfsson J, Arvidsson D, Börjesson M, Curiac D, Jansson JO, Jansson PA, Ohlsson C. Increased weight-load improves body composition by reducing fat mass and waist circumference, and by increasing lean mass in participants with obesity: a single-centre randomised controlled trial. BMC Med. 2025 May 30;23(1):317. doi: 10.1186/s12916-025-04143-6. PMID: 40442671; PMCID: PMC12123769.
Ohlsson C, Gidestrand E, Bellman J, Larsson C, Palsdottir V, Hägg D, Jansson PA, Jansson JO. Increased weight loading reduces body weight and body fat in obese subjects - A proof of concept randomized clinical trial. EClinicalMedicine. 2020 Apr 30;22:100338. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100338. PMID: 32510046; PMCID: PMC7264953.
Russell T Turner, Adam J Branscum, Carmen P Wong, Urszula T Iwaniec, Emily Morey-Holton; Studies in microgravity, simulated microgravity and gravity do not support a gravitostat. J Endocrinol 1 December 2020; 247 (3): 273–282. https://doi.org/10.1530/JOE-20-0393
Bone Health
Luo H, Zhang X, Li H, Yin M, Li Z. Weighted vest interventions in older adults: a mini-review of implementation, benefits, and limitations. Front Public Health. 2026 Mar 25;14:1811712. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1811712. PMID: 41960379; PMCID: PMC13056602.
Beavers KM, Lynch SD, Fanning J, Howard M, Lawrence E, Lenchik L, Shapses SA, Weaver AA, Wherry SJ, Zamora Z, Nicklas BJ, Beavers DP. Weighted Vest Use or Resistance Exercise to Offset Weight Loss-Associated Bone Loss in Older Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Jun 2;8(6):e2516772. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.16772. Erratum in: JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Aug 1;8(8):e2529919. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.29919. PMID: 40540267; PMCID: PMC12181796.
Watson SL, Weeks BK, Weis LJ, Harding AT, Horan SA, Beck BR. High-Intensity Resistance and Impact Training Improves Bone Mineral Density and Physical Function in Postmenopausal Women With Osteopenia and Osteoporosis: The LIFTMOR Randomized Controlled Trial. J Bone Miner Res. 2018 Feb;33(2):211-220. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.3284. Epub 2017 Oct 4. Erratum in: J Bone Miner Res. 2019 Mar;34(3):572. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.3659. PMID: 28975661.
Jessup JV, Horne C, Vishen RK, Wheeler D. Effects of exercise on bone density, balance, and self-efficacy in older women. Biol Res Nurs. 2003 Jan;4(3):171-80. doi: 10.1177/1099800402239628. PMID: 12585781.
Snow CM, Shaw JM, Winters KM, Witzke KA. Long-term exercise using weighted vests prevents hip bone loss in postmenopausal women. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2000 Sep;55(9):M489-91. doi: 10.1093/gerona/55.9.m489. PMID: 10995045.
Energy Cost
Gaffney CJ, Cunnington J, Rattley K, Wrench E, Dyche C, Bampouras TM. Weighted vests in CrossFit increase physiological stress during walking and running without changes in spatiotemporal gait parameters. Ergonomics. 2022 Jan;65(1):147-158. doi: 10.1080/00140139.2021.1961876. Epub 2021 Aug 6. PMID: 34319864.
Huang TW, Kuo AD. Mechanics and energetics of load carriage during human walking. J Exp Biol. 2014 Feb 15;217(Pt 4):605-13. doi: 10.1242/jeb.091587. Epub 2013 Nov 6. PMID: 24198268; PMCID: PMC3922835.
Puthoff ML, Darter BJ, Nielsen DH, Yack HJ. The effect of weighted vest walking on metabolic responses and ground reaction forces. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006 Apr;38(4):746-52. doi: 10.1249/01.mss.0000210198.79705.19. PMID: 16679992.
Bastien GJ, Willems PA, Schepens B, Heglund NC. Effect of load and speed on the energetic cost of human walking. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2005 May;94(1-2):76-83. doi: 10.1007/s00421-004-1286-z. Epub 2005 Jan 14. PMID: 15650888.
Strength
Mikkonen RS, Drain JR, Vaara J, Nindl B, Kyröläinen H. Importance of strength training for sustaining performance and health in military personnel. BMJ Mil Health. 2025 Sep 22;171(5):413-417. doi: 10.1136/military-2024-002744. PMID: 39455071; PMCID: PMC12505114.
Julia Coyle , Rodney Pope and Robin M Orr Load carriage: minimising soldier injuries through physical conditioning – a narrative review In Review Article Issue Volume 18 No. 3 Doi No https://doi-ds.org/doilink/11.2021-49313873/JMVH Vol 18 No 3
Knapik JJ, Harman EA, Steelman RA, Graham BS. A systematic review of the effects of physical training on load carriage performance. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Feb;26(2):585-97. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3182429853. PMID: 22130400.
Other
Paniak I, Soni D, Tsotsos L, Stoneham S. Assessing the Impact of Wearing a Weighted Vest on Balance, Stability, and Quality of Life in Older Adults: A Pilot Study. Health Sci Rep. 2025 Nov 13;8(11):e71509. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.71509. PMID: 41245947; PMCID: PMC12614173.
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