My Knee-Safe Pack Training Routine

[spinninggriller]

Used to ruck 60 lbs on pavement — blew my knees by June. Switched to short hill intervals with a 40 lb sandbag 3× a week. Added step-ups and sled drags.
Result: no pain, faster recovery, and I’m packing elk quarters faster now than at 25.
If your knees hurt, stop pretending asphalt helps. It doesn’t.

 

[justinspicher]

It sounds like your previous training was a real pain in the asphalt….

 

[hibernation]

Rucking seems to be the kind of thing that's easy to overdo, a little goes a long way.

Or maybe I just dread it and that's what I tell myself.

 

[bigcarp99]

How many intervals do you do?

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Rucking seems to be the kind of thing that's easy to overdo, a little goes a long way.

Or maybe I just dread it and that's what I tell myself.

Absolutely. I’ve found that it’s good to reset in the off season but not get rid of it completely. After hunting ends, I usually just throw a go ruck pack with ~ 35lbs in it and I use it when I walk my dogs. Usually just flat to rolling dirt roads, nothing crazy, 2-4miles 5 to 6 times a week.

Over the summer I’ll get back to real pack “training”.

 

[hibernation]

Absolutely. I’ve found that it’s good to reset in the off season but not get rid of it completely. After hunting ends, I usually just throw a go ruck pack with ~ 35lbs in it and I use it when I walk my dogs. Usually just flat to rolling dirt roads, nothing crazy, 2-4miles 5 to 6 times a week.

Over the summer I’ll get back to real pack “training”.

30 to 40 lbs is the sweet spot for me. Enough that I can feel it, but not enough to bother my knees. I can get a lot more volume in safely this way and do the heavier rucks pretty sparingly.

 

[Dave0317]

Cronusfit has talked about overdoing the ruck thing before. They train a lot of Ranger Regiment and ranger school candidates, so they see a lot of it. They have said it’s one those essential things for certain endeavors that you have to do “enough” but then don’t do more than that. The trick is finding out how much that it is for you. I find value doing up to one a week. And not especially heavy. More than once a week, or more than 40ish pounds, I start to see more issues.

I nearly pushed too much this season. Rucks, heavy pack and dumbell workouts (like the MTN Tough pack test) leg blasters, step ups, and still squatting and deadlifting relatively heavy on top of all that. Kind of tweaked a hamstring shortly before my hunt, so laid off all of it the last week before I left.

Got through this season fine, but as I get older I’m definitely liking what the OP said. Hills are great because they add resistance, while actually slowing you down, therefore reducing impact.

 

[hibernation]

I nearly pushed too much this season. Rucks, heavy pack and dumbell workouts (like the MTN Tough pack test) leg blasters, step ups, and still squatting and deadlifting relatively heavy on top of all that. Kind of tweaked a hamstring shortly before my hunt, so laid off all of it the last week before I left.

Scott Johnston from Uphill Athlete talks some about this too, pushing some of his athletes too hard and having them get injured right before an event. I have a hard time keeping my training at the right volume/intensity over a long stretch, it's too easy to get impatient and start pushing way too hard for brief stretches. Really trying to work on year-round consistency and finding the right amount.

 

[bozeman]

Walk backwards uphill (slight incline), that for me has helped with knee strength. Warm up, warm up some more.

 

[199p]

The other thing to keep in mind is you need to walk on uneven ground to activate those stabilisers. you want get that on the footpath generally

 

[Stickmark]

Doing the after-action report, in my head, of my elk hunt, I think backpacking over the summer was as instrumental as lifting. That is rucking of a sort.
I would not ruck on pavement with anything heavy. (60 yrs old next year, and am rethinking my weight-program. Do lightweight deadlifts, that kind of stuff. I will not be rucking on pavement).

 

[Truckie200]

+1 for the pushing too hard with rucks and MtnTough pre-season then straight into post-season regimens, skipped over the in-season. Switched to the new kettlebell program and a couple lighter rucks through the week, feel much better. Recovering better for the next week to push hard without feeling so beat up all the time. Live in central Indiana so not much here for elevation, unfortunately, but had to remind myself I have at least until April before I get to the mountains and to spread it out. Will be my first mountain hunt for Montana Spring Black Bear