Fitness
I walked 10,000 steps a day with a weighted backpack – here’s why I’m not stopping
Everyone loves a shortcut. Any time you see a patch of grass at the corner of a pavement, it’s bound to be trampled down by people looking to shave milliseconds off their journey. The problem is, in the fitness world, you’ll be hard-pressed to find many shortcuts that actually work.
Rucking – wearing a weighted backpack while you walk – could be one of the few exceptions. So I decided to give it a go, committing to walking 10,000 steps a day for a week with a weight on my back.
The practice originates in the military, but it’s attracted the masses in recent years thanks to its accessibility and appealing effort-to-reward ratio. Simply add weight to your walks to amplify the intensity and challenge your heart, lungs, legs, core and more. This can boost your fitness and build strength throughout your body – not a bad return from a pop to the shops, or any similar short jaunt.
With the practice promising to make fulfilling my fitness fix feel like a walk in the park, I slid on my rucksack and set off – here are five things I learned.
Rucking is accessible
When you start a new type of exercise, there’s usually a period where you don’t have a clue what you’re doing. Case in point: my early teenage gym sessions consisted of a few ropey bicep curls and 20 minutes on the treadmill. But with rucking, I found this wasn’t the case.
Without wanting to brag, I’ve walked with a backpack before, and rucking was just that with a little extra weight. Once I’d acknowledged the slight shift in my centre of gravity, I was good to go.
Another important point to note is that, while I used a purpose-built backpack and weight plates from rucking specialists GoRuck, you don’t actually need any specialist equipment to get started.
“If you want to start with a lighter weight, I suggest just throwing a few household items in a bag,” says Nichele Cihlar, GoRuck’s director of training. “My water bottle is really large and heavy, so you can put something like that in your ruck then work your way up.”
It’s versatile
I walk quite a lot anyway, so rather than trying to fit in regular long rucks I decided to wear the weighted backpack as I went about my day-to-day life. And for me, this worked a treat.
“I always recommend keeping [your weighted bag] by the front door,” Cihlar says. “If you have to go and find the rucksack then find the weight plate for it, you might not bother to bring it. But if it’s right by the door, it’s easy to put it on.”
I wore mine for dog walks, a day in the office, a pop into town; when I was out of the house, the rucksack rarely left my shoulders. And I found I was able to rack up 10,000 steps per day fairly easily by taking this approach.
But rucking can also be a handy tool if you struggle to fit movement into your day. By increasing the intensity of walking as an activity, it means you can draw more benefits from a shorter stroll.
“I have a couple of French bulldogs and I live in Florida where it’s very hot, so they can’t go super long distances,” says Cihlar. “It’s shorter walks for us, so by adding a ruck to that I can get more out of it.”
It can help you build strength
Wearing a weighted rucksack makes walking harder, and very few people would choose to make something harder unless it offered a whole bunch of benefits. Fortunately, rucking delivers on this front.
“Walking is largely a lower body activity, so the quadriceps, hamstrings and gastrocnemius [muscles in the thigh and calf] are going to have to accommodate that heavier load,” Dr Elroy Aguiar, assistant professor of exercise science at The University of Alabama, tells me.
“As a result, you would get small improvements [in strength and bone density], especially if you do it over a prolonged period of time. You would also get some improvement in muscle mass from rucking, although it probably won’t be equivalent to what you could achieve from strength training.”
“Rucking also helps develop your core strength and the postural muscles in your upper back, because you’re holding that weight on your shoulders,” Cihlar adds.
After walking particularly hilly routes with a heavier weight, I found my thighs felt the familiar dull ache more commonly associated with a challenging leg day. And my upper traps (the muscles you can see around the base of your neck) were hit particularly hard when I was carrying higher loads.
It’s not just a workout for your muscles
Strength is only one benefit to come from rucking. You’ll also call your heart and lungs into action for cardio perks, and you’ll work them harder than if you simply went for an unweighted walk.
“You’re carrying extra weight, and that extra weight costs you energy to move,” explains Dr Aguiar. “It’s going to increase your oxygen consumption and heart rate if you’re trying to maintain the same speed of walking.”
To test this, I did three 1.2km loops of my undulating local park – once without the rucksack, once carrying 15kg and once with 35kg, all at the same pace. According to my Apple Watch, he first lap burned an estimated 102 active calories and my heart rate averaged 88bpm, while the final lap used 119 active calories and my heart rate averaged 108bpm.
Perhaps this isn’t the most mind-blowing difference, but I found these incremental jumps added up over the course of the week. Regularly raising your heart rate can help improve cardiovascular fitness too, and by hiking it higher you’re more likely to experience this benefit.
As someone who exercises regularly, this final fitness perk wasn’t as much of a pull factor for me. But I did draw another less expected benefit from my rucking ventures: I enjoyed the challenge.
“The benefits are as much physical as they are mental,” says Cihlar. “I always say that you never leave the house to go for a ruck and come back in a bad mood. It’s a great way to clear your mind or get outside and get some fresh air, all while getting a good bang for your buck as far as time and fitness is concerned.”
The weight you use is important
Though it’s last on this list, this might be the most important point of all: rucking with a light backpack feels very different to rucking with a heavy one. That’s why it’s very important to find a weight that works for you, and vary it depending on the type of activity you’re doing.
Cihlar says she usually prescribes 30lb for men and 20lb for women (roughly 15kg and 10kg in UK plates) as baseline weights, but highlights how these loads “aren’t a starting point for everyone”.
“You can literally start with any backpack and put some weight in it, which can be your water bottle, some magazines, your snacks, whatever,” she says.
This can be progressed over time as your strength and fitness builds. Then, when you can happily carry more than 5kg, it might be worth investing in some rucking plates and a purpose-built backpack for comfort.
“We also make our Rucker 4.0 rucksacks so they can hold two plates, so if you’re a heavy hitter and you’re training for a hike you can bump it up to 60lb or 75lb,” Cihlar adds.
These heavier weights are more likely to trigger strength adaptations, but you don’t want to lift a load that’s too heavy for you and risk inury.
“As long as you’re [using a weight that means you’re] still able to walk and talk, as we say, then you’re OK,” Cihlar summises. “Your heart rate will be up, but you should still be able to carry on a conversation and breathe well.”
Personally, as someone who lifts weights regularly and weighs roughly 95kg, I found varying my rucksack between 15kg and 35kg worked for me, using the lighter load on longer walks or incidental steps, and the heavier total when I wanted to really push myself.
These heavier sessions were far more taxing on my muscles, and I could feel the impacts in my thighs and traps afterwards. Whereas, by the end of the week, carrying 15kg had become like a default setting and I felt comfortable carting it around.
Will I continue rucking?
Even though my rucking challenge is over, my backpack and plates remain by the front door. I no longer use them as religiously as I did during my seven-day streak – I don’t feel the need to pick them up for every walk, or hit a quota like 10,000 weighted steps a day – but I still reach for them when taking my dog to the park, among other ventures.
Why? Because I like being able to elevate a short walk into an impromptu workout, especially on busy days when it would otherwise be tricky to fit one in. I really enjoy the challenge too, and find I invariably feel better after a quick weighted walk.
For these reasons and more, I’m hoping that rucking is a fitness trend that sticks around.
Read more: I tried the viral 75 soft fitness challenge – here’s what I learnt
It’s important to have goals in mind as you set out on your fitness journey, whether you’re trying to lose weight, gain muscle or train for a race.skynesher/Supplied
January is notoriously the busiest time of year at the gym. A survey from Ipsos reported that a third of Canadians made exercise-based resolutions for the new year, with many folks working out for the first time or returning to fitness after some time away. If you’re new to exercise, the gym can feel like an intimidating place. But it doesn’t need to be. Below we’ve put together a few suggestions to help you get started.
Have a plan going in
For success at the gym, it’s crucial to have a plan. Before you start, it’s important to identify your goals. Are you looking to get stronger? Training for a race or competition? Do you want to improve body composition? While almost any consistent exercise is going to improve your overall health, specific results require specific training.
Following a workout program can help you stay committed – here’s how to write your own
Those completely new to working out may want to invest in a few sessions with a personal trainer. A reputable trainer will be able to put together a plan based on your preferences and skill level, while walking you through the proper form for each exercise. If cost is an issue, many gyms offer a free intro training session as a sign-up perk. There are also hundreds of different workout programs you can find online and video tutorials outlining proper form.
If you’re intimidated to exercise on your own, a fitness class allows you to follow along with an instructor while getting some quick pointers on how to properly perform the workout. Many gyms offer discounted or free classes to first-time visitors.
Trying to do too much, too fast will burn you out, leave you injured or both
When you’re motivated by a new year’s resolution, it’s tempting to pencil in long gym sessions multiple times a week. But that kind of regime is rarely sustainable. If you’d like to make exercising a habit beyond January – and you’ll need to for any kind of lasting results – it’s best to think about what you can do in the long term.
“You can either do an hour of weightlifting a few days a week, and actually do it, or you have these imaginary 10-hour training sessions you’ll never actually have time for,” said Dan John, strength coach and author. “I try to focus on [programs that are] doable, repeatable and reasonable.”
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Similarly, trying to immediately push beyond your physical limitations is a great way to get injured. For weightlifting, it’s important to consider proper warm-ups, active mobility exercises and learning the right techniques before trying to lift anything too heavy. For cardio, Canada Running Series offers a Couch to 5K plan that eases newcomers into jogging by starting small and gradually increasing the length/difficulty of each run.
Follow basic gym etiquette
The gym is a shared public space. Everyone there is trying to get in a good workout. That’s harder to do when people are having phone conversations, listening to videos without using headphones and refusing to wipe down their equipment after use.
In March, fitness trainer Paul Landini wrote an article explaining some unofficial rules to follow when going to the gym, including being mindful of other people’s space and making sure you’re not monopolizing equipment during busy hours.
Try to find what you like about the gym
Changes in body composition, strength and overall health take time. They also need upkeep over the long term. Building a consistent fitness habit is something that will help with all those goals. One of the best ways to do that is finding something at the gym you genuinely enjoy doing. That can be working out with a friend to add a social aspect to exercise and accountability to show up. It can entail learning a new fitness-adjacent skill such as boxing or training for a competition like Hyrox. It can be rooted in the sense of accomplishment that comes with getting stronger. Whatever the reason, finding the joy in exercise is going to be key if you want to move beyond short-term motivation.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Finding time to work out as a mom with young kids can be a challenge in itself, especially when you’re new to an area and don’t know where to start. However, a new fitness option strolled into Sioux Falls today. iStroll offers moms the chance to work out and meet other moms all while their kids can play or even join alongside them.
iStroll is a national organization that has more than 35 locations in the country but this is the first time one opened in South Dakota. It’s a full body workout that incorporates dumbbells, body weight, and jogging strollers when the weather’s nice.
“I found iStroll in Oklahoma and fell in love,” said Kelsi Supek who started the affiliate in Sioux Falls. “We made friends. It became our entire social network. The kids loved it and then we moved to Arizona during COVID. And all the moms were stuck at home. They were inside with our kids and lonely, honestly. And we were like, why can’t we start an iStroll and be out at the parks with the kids every day? And it took off.”
When Supek moved to Sioux Falls, she was encouraged by her family to start an affiliate and own it herself.
“Gym daycares did not work out for my children,” said Supek. “I would get 10 minutes into a class and then I’d have that person trying to knock outside the yoga studio going, Can I have Kelsey and her kids screaming in daycare? And it just didn’t work for us. So at iStroll they could be with me or I could be breastfeeding the baby as I was teaching in class.”
Classes are planned to continue each Wednesday and Friday at We Rock the Spectrum and First Presbyterian Church. For a full schedule for January and February, you can look at their Facebook. The first class is also free and memberships are for the whole family.
“Letting the kids see you work out is, it’s similar to homeschooling where like, you know, how are they going to love working out if they don’t see you working out,” said Kelly Jardeleza, a stay-at-home mom of three kids. “Whereas at other gyms they put them in a room and they don’t get to watch you. And how are you going to inspire them if they’re not watching you do it?”
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
There’s no bad time to take a more active interest in your health, but the new year, for lots of us, feels like a fresh start. Maybe you’re planning to sign up for a 10k or finally have a go at bouldering, eat a bit better or learn to swing a kettlebell. Maybe you want to keep up with your grandkids — or just be a little bit more physically prepared for whatever life throws at you.
To help things along, Guardian Live invites you to a special event with public health expert Devi Sridhar, journalist and author Mariella Frostrup, and health and fitness columnist Joel Snape. They’ll be joining the Guardian’s Today in Focus presenter Annie Kelly to discuss simple, actionable ways to stay fit and healthy as you move through the second half of life: whether that means staying strong and mobile or stressing less and sleeping better.
To make the whole event as helpful as possible, we’d love to hear from you about what you find most challenging — or confusing — when it comes to health and exercise. What should you actually be eating, and how are you going to find the time to make it? What sort of exercise is best, and how often should you be doing it? Is Pilates worth the effort — and should we really all be drinking mugfuls of piping hot creatine?
Whether your question is about exercise, eating, or general wellness, post it below and we’ll put a selection to our panel on the night.
Share your experience
You can post your question to the panel using this form.
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