What to Do When Rucking Or Carrying Heavy Loads Hurts

Jul 23, 2025

Explore the fascinating evolution of rucking and the cultural significance of carrying heavy loads. Discover how body adjustments can prevent discomfort while managing the challenges of rucking. Insights on integrating weights into yoga for fitness enhancement are also discussed. Plus, learn about the impact of medical hardware on bone health and the significance of mindful movement practices. This engaging conversation encourages a more thoughtful approach to fitness and personal health.

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INSIGHT

Body Adjustments When Rucking

Carrying a weighted rucksack changes your body's geometry and balance, often causing forward leans or back arches to offset the load.
Repeating a single adjustment without proper muscular support often causes pain and discomfort.

ADVICE

Vary Posture for Less Pain

Vary how you adjust your posture while rucking instead of sticking to one repetitive movement.
Experiment with leaning forward sometimes and pushing your hips forward at other times to ease strain.

INSIGHT

Backpack Passively Extends Back

Wearing a backpack can passively extend your lower back, reducing the muscular effort of back extensors.
The backpack acts like a bowstring, creating a bowed posture that muscles don't actively maintain.

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This Episode's Show Notes
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Biomechanist Katy Bowman and biologist Jeannette Loram talk about rucking—walking with weight on your back—and other modes of carrying. They touch on the evolutionary history of carrying, carrying in modern Hunter Gatherer populations, rucking in the military and the benefits of fitness rucking.

Jeannette and Katy focus on the challenges associated with rucking particularly pain and discomfort. They explain how different body adjustments—like leaning forward, arching the back, or shifting the hips forward—are responses to offset the backward-pulling force of a heavy load. These shifts help accommodate the extra mass, but if a single adjustment is done repetitively or without muscular support through the core, pain can be the result.

Listen in to discover a more varied and mindful approach to managing your ruck; your low back will thank you!

CHAPTERS

00:06:00 - The Dynamic Collective

00:07:00 - Are Humans Born to Carry?

00:13:00 - Phases of Life and Issues with Fitness Rucking and Carrying in General

00:26:00 - What's Holding You Up? Mindfulness in Rucking

00:38:45 - Listener Question about broken bones, brought to you by Ikaria Design

00:49:00 - A Conversation Between Katy and Jeannette: What Is the Big Movement Question?

BOOKS, ARTICLES AND RESEARCH MENTIONED

My Perfect Movement Plan by Katy Bowman
Pain-Free Baby Holding by Katy Bowman
Trunk Muscle Activity In Different Modes of Carrying by Motmans et al 2006
Bone Density and Intramedullary Rods by Kroger et al 2002

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