This Is The Best Exercise You Have Never Hear Of

 Use This Activity To Develop The Most Crucial Habits for Lifelong Success

It’s a cool October night. One of those nights where the sun starts going down, coaxing people back into their houses. The type of night that is actually perfect when you are going to exercise and sweat.

Moving through the subdivision is easy enough. You can chart a rectangular course to meet the distance requirement you have. In my case, I’m able to do one big loop to get in 5k of activity.

Little did I know that the distance was going to be the easiest part of the night.

Most people outside of the military have never heard of rucking. It seems absurd when someone explains it to you.

Rucking, is a low-intensity exercise in which you add weight to your back while walking or hiking.

But what makes this the best exercise you have never heard of?

It creates a unique set of conditions and variables to play with. It challenges you mentally as well as physically.

The Physical

This part is easy to understand. It’s exercise, of course it has a physical benefit.

What makes rucking different than running, cycling or any other type of activity?

You get control over three things that you can mix and match to get the desired intensity level.

You can adjust the amount of weight you carry on you (disclaimer — it is suggested to not exceed 20% of your body weight. From the picture above, you are correct in assuming that 80lbs is far above this threshold for me).

You can adjust you distance. The further you walk, the more calories you burn.

You can adjust your speed. Pace matters. Upping the intensity of the workout can be achieved by increasing you speed even with the same weight you normally use.

The 80lbs that I have in the picture for this article is distributed two ways. First it’s on my back, and pulled up against my spine. This allows for an easy carry and forces my body to use more energy to move versus my a normal walk.

Second, the sandbag. It adds more weight and creates even more of an energy expenditure to move me, but it also forces me to use all types of other muscles to stabilize its free form.

For a guy that used to be “naturally” the same weight as I am today + this extra, I can tell you it’s not the same. Carrying extra weight in your legs, gut and chest is WAY easier than having it all concentrated to your upper half and over your shoulders.

It doesn’t take long to start sweating.

The Mental

This is where you get the biggest unexpected benefits.

I posted some thoughts recently on why running makes you more successful.

Rucking tweaks this in a fantastic way.

There two benefits I have found from higher intensity exercise. The first is that it allows you to get into a type of meditative state. The focus you have running, or in this case rucking, helps you drop into your mind and step away from the chatter that is normally there.

You’re focusing on your breathe and taking each step. That focus replicates what happens when you get good at meditating. The benefit with exercise is that it happens quickly and without all kinds of practice (mediation is harder than most people think).

I have had bursts of creativity, solutions to problems have jumped out or it has given me the ability to take a fresh perspective that I hadn’t been able to before.

The second benefit are the habits you create.

Rucking and running for example will share a lot of the same pluses this way. They both promote discipline, consistency, resilience and getting used to feedback.

Rucking though introduces one major difference though. You can’t quit.

With most exercise, there’s often a way to dial it back. From running you can walk, if you’re cycling you can drop the intensity of your gears. If you’re already walking you can sit down and take a rest.

Now, you of course can stop and take a rest while you are rucking but that usually only makes things worse.

Since you do this activity walking, for the majority of people, you can keep pushing. It’s a significantly easier to keeping forcing that next step when you are walking versus running. The other barrier to quitting is the weight.

You left the house carrying it. You don’t have any option to make it easier because you have to bring that weight home. This is extremely powerful. It forces you to work through the pain. You don’t have a choice but to lean into your discomfort and to keep putting in the work.

And the most incredible thing happens.

As you see that wall. As you are getting closer and closer to what you feel your limit is, you feel like you can’t go on. You’re brain is screaming at you, trying everything it can to get you to stop, to quit. But you know you can’t. So you stay focused. One step. Then the next. Then you feel like you are right up against that wall. I have had nights where I literally thought I was going to collapse on the grass.

Then all of a sudden, you are over the wall. You pushed past your point of resistance. You pushed past that desire to quit. You get your spark back. Your energy boots up and now you all of a sudden know that you WILL achieve the goal.

This is the lesson. This is the most important part.

Building up your experience fighting your wall is wildly important. Your wall isn’t there for exercise alone. We experience resistance in all areas of our life. It is a common experience that everyone shares.

When you know you can trust yourself. You know that you can count on your own ability and that your effort yields the results you want as long as you put in the work. You start winning, everywhere.

Build this experience. Live it over and over again. You will see how much other areas of your life are transformed as well.