Dec. 20, 2023

Get Started Today with Rucking with Steph Gaudreau [Ep. 74]

Get Started Today with Rucking with Steph Gaudreau [Ep. 74]
Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
Youtube Music podcast player badge
Amazon Music podcast player badge
TuneIn podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
YouTube Channel podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon Youtube Music podcast player icon Amazon Music podcast player icon TuneIn podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon YouTube Channel podcast player icon
Live Well

Rucking is simply carrying weight for distance. 

Sounds simple. Why is it the new fitness craze? And why would we want to put backpacks on just to walk around our own neighborhoods? 

Steph Gaudreau, sports nutritionist,  lifting coach and international speaker, joins me today to discuss this sport/exercise and all the reasons why it’s beneficial for women to incorporate it. 

We also talk about the equipment needed and what weight to start with. 

Free Get UNSTUCK Sessions available through the end of 2023!

If you haven’t lost your first 5 pounds just by listening to the podcast, you might be stuck. I’ve created this new free session just for you!

Schedule yours  HERE

If you can’t find a session that works for you, send me a quick message on IG or email me with some times that work for you and I’ll see what I can do! 


More from Well with Lisa:


More from Steph Gaudreau:

About Steph: 

Steph Gaudreau, CISSN, NASM-CPT (she/her/hers) helps athletic women over 40 fuel themselves better, get stronger, increase their energy, and perform better in the gym. She’s a sports nutritionist and lifting coach.

In her best-selling book, The Core 4, she details a four pillar approach to getting stronger, embracing your body, and owning your power. Steph has a degree in biology – human physiology. She is a Certified Sports Nutritionist from the International Society for Sports Nutrition (CISSN), Certified Personal Trainer (National Academy of Sports Medicine), and Menopause Coaching Specialist (Girls Gone Strong).

Her podcast, Fuel Your Strength, started in 2015 and has over 5 million downloads. She’s an international speaker and has been featured in Outside, SELF, and ESPN Radio. 

More from Well with Lisa:

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.009
This is the Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well podcast.

00:00:02.129 --> 00:00:03.180
I'm Lisa Salsbury.

00:00:03.180 --> 00:00:05.099
And this is episode 74.

00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:09.269
Get started today with rucking, with Steph Gaudreau.

00:00:09.990 --> 00:00:17.399
One reason I specifically named this episode get started today is because rocking is so easy to begin.

00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:20.280
You'll learn how minimal the equipment is.

00:00:20.309 --> 00:00:26.309
And if you already have a walking habit, which I hope that you do, it will be a seamless integration.

00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:31.679
You'll want to listen in today to learn all the reasons why this is such a powerful addition to your routine.

00:00:31.949 --> 00:00:35.009
And we discuss exactly what you need to do to get started.

00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:36.960
This week is Christmas.

00:00:37.020 --> 00:00:41.009
So I just want to take a moment and say Merry Christmas and happy new year.

00:00:41.219 --> 00:00:45.810
I hope you, my listeners have had a joyful month of December as you celebrate the holidays.

00:00:46.229 --> 00:00:48.119
I think there is maybe one day.

00:00:48.390 --> 00:00:57.270
Where there is some open slots left in 2023 for free sessions with me, if you want to get that in before the year end, definitely check the link in bio for that.

00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:07.400
I heard today from a woman that had a session with me back in September that she has been so encouraged by that free call that we did and the information here on the podcast.

00:01:07.430 --> 00:01:11.269
So consider giving yourself the best Christmas gift by making.

00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:12.799
Your health a priority.

00:01:13.129 --> 00:01:14.480
And get that book today.

00:01:18.272 --> 00:01:25.173
Welcome to Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well; the podcast for women who want to lose weight, but are tired of counting and calculating all the food.

00:01:25.802 --> 00:01:27.362
I'm your host, Lisa Salsbury.

00:01:27.753 --> 00:01:33.412
I'm a certified health and weight loss coach and life coach, and most importantly a recovered chronic dieter.

00:01:34.022 --> 00:01:39.962
I'll teach you to figure out why you are eating when you aren't hungry, instead of worrying so much about what you are eating.

00:01:42.361 --> 00:01:45.822
I am delighted to have Steph Gaudreau here on the podcast today.

00:01:45.822 --> 00:01:48.861
She is a sports nutritionist and personal trainer.

00:01:48.912 --> 00:01:52.691
I told her before we started, I actually am feeling a little starstruck.

00:01:52.712 --> 00:01:53.902
I've followed her for years.

00:01:53.902 --> 00:01:57.602
I feel like on Instagram and listen to her podcast.

00:01:57.777 --> 00:02:03.387
Um, I get kind of like, I'll binge several episodes and then I'll forget or something.

00:02:03.427 --> 00:02:04.096
And then I'll go back.

00:02:04.096 --> 00:02:05.837
I'm like, Oh man, I've missed so many.

00:02:06.427 --> 00:02:09.627
So she is a great wealth of information.

00:02:09.627 --> 00:02:11.127
So welcome Steph.

00:02:11.176 --> 00:02:16.556
Why don't you introduce yourself a little bit, tell us more about what you do and then we'll get going on our conversation.

00:02:16.741 --> 00:02:17.021
Yeah.

00:02:17.032 --> 00:02:17.912
Thanks for having me.

00:02:17.912 --> 00:02:23.292
It's great to sit down and chat and talk all things fitness and all the things we're going to get into.

00:02:23.372 --> 00:02:34.062
Um, so yeah, I'm a sports nutritionist and I primarily work with women over 40 who are looking to build their strength, maybe step into the gym for the first time, or just.

00:02:34.276 --> 00:02:48.727
Take what they're doing with weights and start seeing better results, um, to build muscle, to improve their performance, both in the gym and outside the gym, because it's truly my belief that strength is a catalyst to amazing things in our lives.

00:02:48.757 --> 00:02:49.247
And when.

00:02:49.681 --> 00:02:54.542
We feel stronger and we show up differently and we're, we're just more engaged in life, I think.

00:02:54.572 --> 00:02:57.181
So that's what I do on the training side.

00:02:57.192 --> 00:02:59.301
And of course the nutrition piece is part of that.

00:02:59.312 --> 00:03:05.072
So really helping people to understand how to adequately fuel our bodies, especially.

00:03:05.512 --> 00:03:23.102
As many of us in our forties and beyond have come from decades of dieting and diet culture and just really trying to take a different approach, you know, how to fuel for having the energy to do the things we want to do, build muscle and, and just show up and stay fully engaged.

00:03:23.111 --> 00:03:28.731
So I do both of those things kind of independently, but also together because they're both important in.

00:03:28.972 --> 00:03:30.102
And moving folks forward.

00:03:30.102 --> 00:03:31.551
So that's what I do.

00:03:31.592 --> 00:03:36.201
And that takes the form of different programs, coaching my podcast.

00:03:36.602 --> 00:03:43.581
And so I'm, I'm glad to be on the other side of the mic for once and just be able to relax and answer some questions.

00:03:43.943 --> 00:03:44.544
Yeah, great.

00:03:44.593 --> 00:03:48.609
I think your phrase of like strength is like the real key.

00:03:48.609 --> 00:03:51.549
I always just tell people exercise is the fountain of youth.

00:03:52.008 --> 00:03:58.818
Like there's nothing that has been shown to help us live longer for like basically all cause mortality than exercise.

00:03:59.598 --> 00:04:00.128
And.

00:04:00.128 --> 00:04:03.549
Specifically, I think for women to the weight training aspect,

00:04:04.012 --> 00:04:04.771
Absolutely.

00:04:05.521 --> 00:04:09.022
I've heard you talk about things about like picking up something heavy.

00:04:09.413 --> 00:04:15.582
I constantly am telling my clients, like, please use weights that are heavier than your purse that are heavier than your toddler.

00:04:16.413 --> 00:04:16.923
Right?

00:04:17.302 --> 00:04:17.862
Yes.

00:04:18.483 --> 00:04:19.312
Absolutely.

00:04:19.362 --> 00:04:26.122
I think in the past couple of years, I had my backpack that I carry with me sort of to jujitsu class and things like that.

00:04:26.122 --> 00:04:30.072
And it's got, you know, some other stuff in it, but it's not a tiny backpack.

00:04:30.083 --> 00:04:34.653
And so you think about how many people are carrying a very large purse or a backpack of some sorts.

00:04:35.093 --> 00:04:38.523
And I put it on the scale and it was almost 15 or 16 pounds.

00:04:38.995 --> 00:04:40.225
So there you go.

00:04:40.266 --> 00:04:45.665
I mean, your purse might weigh eight or 10 pounds, you know, as much as a gallon of milk or a gallon of water.

00:04:46.105 --> 00:04:56.175
And so, yeah, we have these things that we literally pick up and carry every day, but then we get into a gym scenario and we think, Oh, that's too heavy for me, or I should be really careful.

00:04:56.475 --> 00:05:03.305
But of course, safety is important and mitigating risk is is an important aspect of doing any kind of training.

00:05:03.346 --> 00:05:08.386
But I think sometimes we undersell ourselves of what we can do.

00:05:08.701 --> 00:05:09.451
Quite frankly.

00:05:09.911 --> 00:05:21.810
Well, and, and to just the whole problem with women of thinking that if they pick up something heavier or really, really lift that they're going to get, and I'm going to put this in air quotes, get bulky, right?

00:05:22.870 --> 00:05:24.600
it's really hard to build muscle.

00:05:24.610 --> 00:05:34.990
Like, I mean, I don't want to undersell what we can do as far as strength and stuff, but just the idea that women are going to get bulky if they, you know, bench press a couple of times a week, it just isn't going to happen.

00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:35.870
Mm hmm.

00:05:36.161 --> 00:05:49.077
And even especially as you're again, kind of in this midlife and, and beyond category of folks, we have more muscle protein breakdown as opposed to muscle protein synthesis.

00:05:49.077 --> 00:05:52.137
So we tend to be breaking down tissue faster than we're building.

00:05:52.870 --> 00:06:00.988
We tend to have anabolic resistance, which means again, it's harder for us to build Tissue must be really intentional, even with the things that we're doing.

00:06:01.019 --> 00:06:11.288
And I think it kind of comes from this era of seeing bodybuilders and the folks at the extreme ends of weight training.

00:06:12.153 --> 00:06:14.053
There's kind of two extreme ends of weight training.

00:06:14.064 --> 00:06:28.553
We've got our bodybuilders who are just trying to absolutely maximize their muscle mass quite often with the assistance of performance enhancing substances, but very intentional training and dieting.

00:06:28.593 --> 00:06:29.994
And it's a whole thing.

00:06:30.004 --> 00:06:38.754
And it takes in some cases, several years for people to build to what we would consider a peak physique.

00:06:39.713 --> 00:06:41.803
They're also probably doing it full time.

00:06:42.264 --> 00:06:47.713
They have a staff helping them and they're cutting so much water weight at the end for

00:06:47.788 --> 00:06:48.408
Mm hmm.

00:06:48.944 --> 00:06:51.564
That's not how they look all the time.

00:06:51.574 --> 00:07:00.124
Even if they have that muscle development, that's not how they're walking around because they've cut in order to, to do that, to make them show up.

00:07:00.488 --> 00:07:01.009
For sure.

00:07:01.288 --> 00:07:01.629
Yeah.

00:07:01.629 --> 00:07:15.836
So then we had the opposite sort of end of the spectrum, which are, you know, our sort of power lifters, our Olympic lifters who are really in there just trying to maximize the amount of weight that you're lifting for truly, if we're talking about power lifting one repetition at a time.

00:07:17.192 --> 00:07:19.601
You get three chances at your lifts.

00:07:19.612 --> 00:07:20.262
So there you go.

00:07:20.701 --> 00:07:24.201
And that is a very different type of training.

00:07:24.291 --> 00:07:34.021
And I think most people have, you know, we kind of think of the strong, the strong men, the strong women, those types of exhibition type events.

00:07:34.372 --> 00:07:39.002
We see people lifting these superhuman amounts of weight or building these superhuman physiques.

00:07:39.091 --> 00:07:45.062
And we think either one of those is going to happen to it's what, you know, I don't, I want to lift, but I don't want.

00:07:45.466 --> 00:07:49.639
my body to change in a way that I feel is unusual to me.

00:07:49.709 --> 00:07:53.550
And the reality is I've been lifting for 13 years consistently.

00:07:54.149 --> 00:08:08.759
I have yet to achieve bulkiness and women don't have the same hormonal Male you that it's going to take for even someone who has more male hormones to, to achieve more muscle mass.

00:08:08.769 --> 00:08:24.100
So we can absolutely make a huge progression in terms of what we want to do, but you know that the extremes that we tend to see as representing almost these caricatures of what's possible in terms of human performance or human aesthetics.

00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:30.870
These things are not what most people who are incorporating a little bit of strength training into their week are doing.

00:08:31.889 --> 00:08:41.767
And so you're not gonna, like you said, accidentally do, you know, a few sets of squats or some accessory work and end up unrecognizable to yourself.

00:08:42.216 --> 00:08:50.157
It's just not going to happen in that way.

00:08:50.447 --> 00:08:56.626
that's what really is going to help our metabolism, especially in, in this age at that age, you know, in the forties.

00:08:56.706 --> 00:09:02.017
So, um, I want to shift gears though, cause I don't want to take up too much time on just the lifting aspect.

00:09:02.027 --> 00:09:04.966
Although maybe I'll have you back on to talk about that.

00:09:04.966 --> 00:09:09.177
But what I really invited Steph on to talk about is rucking.

00:09:09.517 --> 00:09:09.866
So.

00:09:10.241 --> 00:09:19.381
This was one of those things where like, I heard about it, and then I saw it again and all of a sudden it was like everywhere in my feed and I'm like, what's happening?

00:09:19.381 --> 00:09:22.761
Why is this like, why are all these random people showing me this?

00:09:23.162 --> 00:09:26.432
You had Michael Easter on who is the author of comfort crisis.

00:09:26.442 --> 00:09:27.871
So I listened to that.

00:09:27.902 --> 00:09:28.721
I read the book.

00:09:28.741 --> 00:09:29.692
I was like, I'm all in.

00:09:30.022 --> 00:09:32.231
So I threw on a backpack.

00:09:32.251 --> 00:09:36.721
I threw in one of my plates from my home gym, just a 10 pound plate, padded it up, you know?

00:09:37.091 --> 00:09:39.971
And so I've been doing that and, and I'm into it.

00:09:40.011 --> 00:09:42.172
I'm like, okay, I want to talk about this more.

00:09:42.182 --> 00:09:43.711
And I've recommended it to clients.

00:09:43.822 --> 00:09:53.892
It just kind of feels like the, the idea that it's kind of like strength training for people that hate lifting weights and it's cardio for people that just want to lift weights.

00:09:53.892 --> 00:09:59.981
Cause it's kind of like the best of both worlds, but I want to get all of this information from you as the authority.

00:09:59.981 --> 00:10:02.221
I know you also did an episode on this.

00:10:02.231 --> 00:10:05.322
So let's start with what exactly it is.

00:10:05.412 --> 00:10:05.922
Rucking.

00:10:05.922 --> 00:10:07.251
It's R U C K I N G.

00:10:07.251 --> 00:10:10.552
A lot of people are, are like, what word are you even saying?

00:10:11.767 --> 00:10:17.076
Yes, my autocorrect is obsessed with calling it rocking, which is very obnoxious.

00:10:17.157 --> 00:10:17.557
So

00:10:17.907 --> 00:10:18.157
Mm

00:10:18.996 --> 00:10:20.147
what is rucking?

00:10:20.197 --> 00:10:24.547
Rucking is simply the concept of carrying load for distance.

00:10:24.746 --> 00:10:26.817
So carrying some kind of weight over a distance.

00:10:27.371 --> 00:10:42.432
Some kind of distance, generally longer distances than we would see if we were doing something like a farmer's carry within a workout where we might be walking for 50 feet and carrying a,fairly heavy weight in our hands or or something of that nature, sandbags or something like that.

00:10:44.172 --> 00:10:52.631
The term comes from the military term rucksack, which is a large backpack with equipment that many branches of the military will carry.

00:10:53.001 --> 00:11:01.861
And those packs can get extremely heavy, 80 to 100 pounds, depending on what kind of operator you're talking about, what kind of branch of the military or service.

00:11:02.231 --> 00:11:09.532
So that's, that's sort of the genesis of what we see now as more of the recreational pursuit.

00:11:10.126 --> 00:11:29.126
Of rucking, which is generally going to be carrying some kind of weight, either in a backpack style pack or a weight vest, typically on your human person, typically for longer distances and really just trying to build up that endurance to carry load.

00:11:29.407 --> 00:11:31.907
That's kind of in a nutshell what it is.

00:11:32.236 --> 00:11:37.787
Um, but you know, people have explored all sorts of interesting things with rucking.

00:11:37.797 --> 00:11:46.706
So, you know, training for events, training for backpacking, training for specifically going out and doing rucking competitions.

00:11:47.067 --> 00:11:49.876
There are other fitness, fitness competitions like.

00:11:50.211 --> 00:11:53.422
Decafit and High Rocks, which have rucking divisions.

00:11:53.772 --> 00:11:55.961
So it's become its own thing.

00:11:55.961 --> 00:11:59.042
You know, there are communities that have grown up around it, rucking clubs.

00:11:59.402 --> 00:12:03.032
So it's sort of that idea of like a running club, but you don't actually run.

00:12:03.091 --> 00:12:06.432
You typically get together and go for some kind of ruck together.

00:12:06.471 --> 00:12:14.351
So it's a nice, it's a nice way to get people together as a, as a group, usually locally and, and get out and have some fun.

00:12:14.881 --> 00:12:15.101
Yeah.

00:12:15.131 --> 00:12:15.701
Be social.

00:12:16.736 --> 00:12:26.386
I, I think I heard Peter, Peter at TSA too, that it's a nice,, like modulator among the group, because if you are more fit, you carry more weight.

00:12:26.427 --> 00:12:32.697
And I remember him saying like, he rocks like with his mom, I think it was, or some, uh, and so he's carrying a lot of weight.

00:12:32.706 --> 00:12:39.181
She's carrying a little bit of weight and then he's getting, the workout he needs as well as, you know, it's perfect for her.

00:12:39.181 --> 00:12:41.081
So I think that's kind of cool too.

00:12:41.100 --> 00:12:49.890
Cause like when I walk with my husband, he's significantly taller than me and walking with my older son is even more of a joke.

00:12:49.910 --> 00:12:52.350
I'm like, your legs go like up to my waist.

00:12:52.650 --> 00:12:56.331
And so they can just take much longer steps.

00:12:56.331 --> 00:12:58.270
They're just faster than I am.

00:12:58.270 --> 00:13:05.541
And so if we put on packs, I imagine we haven't done that, but I'm just imagining that that would kind of even it out a little bit.

00:13:05.551 --> 00:13:08.681
If they're carrying more weight, then they're going to be at my pace.

00:13:09.071 --> 00:13:09.711
Absolutely.

00:13:09.730 --> 00:13:11.110
I used to be a cyclist.

00:13:11.610 --> 00:13:16.081
I was a mountain biker and I would do a lot of road riding to train for mountain biking.

00:13:16.510 --> 00:13:19.171
And quite frequently I would go do group rides.

00:13:19.421 --> 00:13:28.778
And 95 percent of the people that I would go on group rides with were guys, and they were faster, they were bigger.

00:13:29.139 --> 00:13:36.438
And I had a heck of a time trying to hang on to the end of that, you know, you see lines of road cyclists, and there's slowest persons at the end.

00:13:36.798 --> 00:13:41.668
And that would be me trying so desperately to keep up with the pace that's set by the front of the pace line.

00:13:42.298 --> 00:13:45.259
And that was a really tough kind of.

00:13:45.653 --> 00:13:48.533
You know, training and experience running could be similar.

00:13:48.533 --> 00:13:52.024
So if you get together with friends, maybe you don't run at the same pace.

00:13:52.693 --> 00:13:53.624
So yeah, you're right.

00:13:53.714 --> 00:14:00.563
You could carry 10 pounds and somebody else could be carrying 45 pounds and it's relatively heavy, you know, a heavy weight for both of you.

00:14:00.953 --> 00:14:08.663
And you can still do this more social kind of group activity and be outside and enjoying your time together.

00:14:08.673 --> 00:14:11.803
So it is kind of a nice way to, to level the playing field there.

00:14:12.764 --> 00:14:15.333
So how much weight should you get started with?

00:14:15.374 --> 00:14:17.884
I, like I said, I just threw a 10 pound plate in a backpack.

00:14:17.884 --> 00:14:24.173
I already have, of course, anybody listening to this that wants to get me a GoRuck pack, free.

00:14:27.428 --> 00:14:28.849
Yeah, this is a good question.

00:14:28.869 --> 00:14:37.519
And you know, the way I think about this is typically I would say for most humans, 10 to 20 pounds is going to be that starting sweet spot.

00:14:38.178 --> 00:14:42.808
But some of that is going to depend on things like what is your strength level currently?

00:14:43.708 --> 00:14:45.448
How used to walking are you?

00:14:45.813 --> 00:14:48.653
If you don't have a walking habit yet, which is fine.

00:14:48.653 --> 00:14:50.474
I didn't until April of 2021.

00:14:50.474 --> 00:14:52.943
I didn't walk daily at all.

00:14:53.203 --> 00:14:59.317
So if you're not used to walking at all, now you're going to be walking with weight your.

00:14:59.326 --> 00:15:03.586
Level of cardiovascular conditioning can also factor in your body size.

00:15:03.807 --> 00:15:12.386
So if you're a small human who's relatively conditioned, maybe you haven't been strength training very much, I would start toward the lower end of that scale.

00:15:12.756 --> 00:15:17.017
And if you are, you know, it sounds like your husband's a tall, a tall human.

00:15:17.086 --> 00:15:18.677
Um, he may want to start with.

00:15:19.376 --> 00:15:20.537
a little bit more weight.

00:15:20.846 --> 00:15:24.826
And you can always scale up and do that very incrementally as well.

00:15:24.826 --> 00:15:37.606
So, you know, typically you want to start, I would say for most people in that range, if you're more conditioned, you've been lifting weights for longer, maybe you're a larger, taller human, you've got a bigger frame, then you might tend toward the higher end of that.

00:15:37.616 --> 00:15:41.456
But yeah, it's, it's amazing how quickly that weight will.

00:15:42.072 --> 00:15:46.192
Add up because again, we're not just walking down the end of the block and turning around and coming back.

00:15:46.251 --> 00:15:55.861
Typically, we're going for, you know, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, maybe you're walking three miles, maybe you build up to even further than that over time.

00:15:55.861 --> 00:16:02.471
So, you know, we're going to need to, I would say for most people start a little bit lower and then add up as you go.

00:16:03.126 --> 00:16:07.006
I think obviously always starting small is, is good.

00:16:07.517 --> 00:16:11.716
I notice with the pack that I'm using, the weight is pretty low.

00:16:11.866 --> 00:16:15.447
Um, it's kind of around my waist area, just kind of right above.

00:16:15.716 --> 00:16:16.897
my butt basically.

00:16:16.937 --> 00:16:21.567
And I wondered about the rucks, the like real rucksacks.

00:16:21.567 --> 00:16:29.106
I know you have a go ruck and which is the most popular brand that puts the weight kind of higher, a little bit more like between the shoulder blades.

00:16:29.177 --> 00:16:30.447
Can you carry more?

00:16:30.476 --> 00:16:35.726
If you have a proper pack that puts the weight where it's quote unquote supposed to be.

00:16:36.455 --> 00:16:37.855
Yeah, that's a really great question.

00:16:38.044 --> 00:16:43.345
I almost think about a pack that's designed for the purpose of rucking.

00:16:43.375 --> 00:16:50.664
Again, for the, the fitness pursuit of rucking, we're not talking about you're a member of the military maybe, and you're trying to carry an 80 pound, a hundred pound rucksack.

00:16:51.245 --> 00:16:55.024
Kind of a different situation, but let's say you're interested in something like this.

00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:59.649
the packs that are, purposely made for this have a sleeve.

00:16:59.658 --> 00:17:06.848
I wish I had mine here so I could do a show and tell, but it has a sleeve that goes along the entire back of the backpack.

00:17:07.578 --> 00:17:14.459
And you would slide a plate, typically that's made for the purpose, although you could probably slide a weight plate in there too.

00:17:14.999 --> 00:17:18.568
And that will keep the load against your spine.

00:17:18.588 --> 00:17:21.719
And it will also distribute the load from top to bottom.

00:17:22.269 --> 00:17:22.929
And you're right.

00:17:22.939 --> 00:17:28.703
Sometimes when people are starting out on I'm always somebody who's a slow adopter for new things.

00:17:29.243 --> 00:17:30.604
Sometimes I'll try things out.

00:17:30.604 --> 00:17:32.163
I won't invest in stuff right away.

00:17:32.163 --> 00:17:33.384
I'll just see if I like it.

00:17:33.844 --> 00:17:34.663
So I totally get

00:17:34.864 --> 00:17:35.153
Right.

00:17:35.163 --> 00:17:36.403
That's totally what I'm doing.

00:17:36.413 --> 00:17:36.794
Yeah.

00:17:36.794 --> 00:17:37.094
Yeah.

00:17:37.094 --> 00:17:45.354
So if you sort of took a regular backpack and you put a weight in there, even if you had a dumbbell or something or something heavy, and you were able to put it in the bottom, you're right.

00:17:45.354 --> 00:17:48.743
That's going to hold all the weight down at the base of the pack.

00:17:49.114 --> 00:17:49.983
The idea with.

00:17:50.344 --> 00:17:54.513
The rucking backpacks that are made for this purpose is you can more evenly distribute the weight.

00:17:54.723 --> 00:18:00.433
It sits against your spine and it's less likely to shift and jostle around as you're walking.

00:18:01.243 --> 00:18:05.834
And it's almost like a compact turtle shell that you have on your back.

00:18:06.294 --> 00:18:17.394
So many people find that they're more comfortable because you're able to do things like, add a, you can have a hip belt, which helps to distribute the load, around your bottom part of your torso.

00:18:17.713 --> 00:18:27.009
As well as that chest strap and the way that the sleeve is positioned is made to take that weight and flatten it out against the back of the pack.

00:18:27.009 --> 00:18:32.099
So it's not all just sitting like a lump in the bottom of your bag and swinging about.

00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:37.404
And that's actually the opposite of what we want to see with The rock, we want the rock to be flush.

00:18:37.404 --> 00:18:42.575
We want it to be secure and not having that shifting side to side as we walk.

00:18:42.805 --> 00:18:54.684
I always make the joke, you know, we think about middle school kids in their backpacks and people think I make this up, but the other day yesterday I was out for a rock and I was walking by a school.

00:18:54.684 --> 00:18:58.615
There's a middle school near our house and kids are getting off the bus and their backpacks were.

00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:03.259
All those straps are all the way down and they're hanging by their hamstrings, basically.

00:19:03.779 --> 00:19:06.529
And that's the exact opposite of what we want to see.

00:19:06.529 --> 00:19:09.079
We want that pack to be, um, secure.

00:19:09.089 --> 00:19:10.170
We want it to be flush.

00:19:10.470 --> 00:19:16.500
And in that position, it makes it more comfortable, usually, for people to carry, again, for that longer distance.

00:19:17.055 --> 00:19:17.924
Okay, good.

00:19:18.644 --> 00:19:19.654
Yeah, definitely.

00:19:19.654 --> 00:19:21.355
I need to, I need to invest.

00:19:21.355 --> 00:19:22.815
It's time to get a real rucksack.

00:19:23.414 --> 00:19:31.079
Um, but so this is kind of all like the logistics, but I want to get into the why, why would we want to do this?

00:19:31.339 --> 00:19:34.039
What are the benefits specifically for women?

00:19:34.380 --> 00:19:36.099
Most of my listeners are women.

00:19:36.869 --> 00:19:38.009
What would be the point?

00:19:38.059 --> 00:19:39.519
We're not in the military.

00:19:39.670 --> 00:19:42.319
We're, you know, perimenopausal women.

00:19:42.329 --> 00:19:45.029
Why are we wanting to walk around our own neighborhoods?

00:19:45.299 --> 00:19:49.529
Sometimes I have to say I feel a little sheepish walking my dog with a pack on my back.

00:19:49.549 --> 00:19:51.269
Like, where does she think she's going?

00:19:51.650 --> 00:19:53.730
But, you know, why would we want to do this?

00:19:54.309 --> 00:19:55.789
Yeah, that's a great question.

00:19:56.269 --> 00:20:11.015
I think when we consider the benefits, You know, these benefits are universally applicable, but why they're more important for women who are perimenopausal or in their 40s, 50s, et cetera, it's because of the changes that we're experiencing in our bodies.

00:20:11.615 --> 00:20:24.325
As we have those shifting hormones during perimenopause and then postmenopausal, you know, we're really looking at estrogen and some of our other sex hormones are settling out to new levels and in particular estrogen settling out to that, that low level.

00:20:24.994 --> 00:20:27.595
We start to see things like more muscle loss.

00:20:27.684 --> 00:20:28.404
We can have.

00:20:28.750 --> 00:20:30.130
bone density issues.

00:20:30.140 --> 00:20:33.140
So low bone density, lower bone strength overall.

00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:36.630
And we also see challenges to our cardiovascular health.

00:20:36.630 --> 00:20:42.519
Quite frankly, our risk for cardiovascular disease goes up as women who go through menopause.

00:20:43.589 --> 00:20:48.089
We also see things potentially like an increased insulin resistance.

00:20:48.295 --> 00:20:49.694
In some folks, right?

00:20:49.694 --> 00:20:55.194
So we're, we have to be concerned about, about these changes to our health on multiple different levels.

00:20:55.454 --> 00:20:59.105
And as you said earlier, exercise is so, so important.

00:20:59.105 --> 00:21:05.115
It's one of those health promoting habits that is really hard to argue with because the evidence is so strong.

00:21:05.806 --> 00:21:08.164
So how can rucking help these things?

00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:38.519
Well, first and foremost, you know, if we're looking at building strength, especially in our lower body, in our postural muscles of our upper body in our core core stability, core strength, as we're aging, especially if we're not using those muscles, it becomes harder to keep our posture, it becomes more tiring to, you know, sit up straight to stand up straight, our muscles tend to lose strength As we get older, unless we do something to intervene, which is the great news.

00:21:38.569 --> 00:21:40.009
We can do something about this.

00:21:40.619 --> 00:21:44.730
So rucking is cool because we're adding extra weight to our body.

00:21:44.750 --> 00:21:55.839
And so that's going to build that muscular endurance in particularly our lower body in muscles, like our upper body, postural muscles that really forces us when you wear a ruck.

00:21:56.484 --> 00:22:00.095
It's not the same thing as carrying a load of groceries and you carry a load of groceries.

00:22:00.105 --> 00:22:03.214
Maybe you've got the old school grocery bag and you're hugging it in the front.

00:22:03.424 --> 00:22:04.964
You tend to get kind of rounded up.

00:22:05.515 --> 00:22:10.285
And when you carry a ruck in that weight is on your back, it helps you to stand up straighter.

00:22:10.305 --> 00:22:15.288
And so that builds up postural stability, that postural endurance of those upper body muscles.

00:22:15.288 --> 00:22:20.929
If you see, you know, sometimes older folks get very rounded over and we all live in a world where we're.

00:22:21.203 --> 00:22:26.294
We're texting, we're working, we're on our phones, we're driving, we're hunched over a lot.

00:22:26.314 --> 00:22:29.763
So building that back body strength is so key.

00:22:30.673 --> 00:22:49.913
When it comes to the cardiovascular element, getting some kind of low intensity cardiovascular exercise or moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise is certainly going to be A good idea so that we can get out there and experience those benefits and keep our cardiovascular system healthy.

00:22:50.604 --> 00:22:56.453
But there are some distinct benefits for types of exercise, say like more of a zone to cardio.

00:22:57.453 --> 00:22:58.604
And you mentioned Peter Atiyah.

00:22:58.683 --> 00:23:07.203
Um, I know he's talked about that quite a bit in recent, uh, the recent sort of year and it's become more of a new topic, but it's not a new, it's not a new thing at all.

00:23:07.489 --> 00:23:11.818
It feels like a buzzword kind of, but yeah, it's like, um, this isn't new people.

00:23:12.023 --> 00:23:13.653
Yeah, it's definitely not new.

00:23:13.864 --> 00:23:27.173
And again, I, you know, I think back to my cycling days, and this is we're going back to now 2005, four, three, you know, since a long time, and in zone two, cardio has been around for decades at this point.

00:23:27.173 --> 00:23:36.298
But the concept here is that we're able to see improvements in Our some, some of these aspects of our cardiovascular system.

00:23:36.298 --> 00:23:44.959
So we become better at, for example, managing lactate, which is one of the byproducts of different types of exercise.

00:23:45.159 --> 00:23:46.808
We are building more mitochondria.

00:23:46.818 --> 00:23:48.618
We're having better vascularization.

00:23:48.929 --> 00:23:57.189
And so we become more cardiovascularly efficient when we are, we're, we're doing this like mod low to moderate intensity.

00:23:57.489 --> 00:24:19.013
We're not doing what most people think of when they think of cardio, which is A little too easy to be hard but too hard to be easy, which is that kind of middle zone, which is fine to train that middle zone, but we need to establish that lower intensity proficiency first, or in a large part of our training so

00:24:19.388 --> 00:24:22.924
So zone two is a little lower than what we kind of think of as cardio.

00:24:22.924 --> 00:24:23.755
Is that correct?

00:24:23.884 --> 00:24:24.565
Is that what you're saying?

00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:25.920
Yes.

00:24:25.980 --> 00:24:36.835
And, you know, I think When we think about going out for a run or a jog, we think about we're just gonna it when you push it too hard, then you know that you've gone too hard.

00:24:36.845 --> 00:24:39.275
And most people tend to just go hard enough.

00:24:40.075 --> 00:24:48.484
And, like I said, that middle sort of heart rate zone is it's fine to train there, especially if you're going to be doing things like races and you want to know what that feels like.

00:24:49.035 --> 00:24:50.174
But the problem is.

00:24:50.555 --> 00:25:02.394
If we're not building a good aerobic base, which is basically what zone two helps us do, we are less efficient at those higher intensities and walking though.

00:25:02.394 --> 00:25:03.434
It's wonderful.

00:25:03.890 --> 00:25:18.099
tends to not be brisk enough to get you into that zone to, um, people love to slice and dice and argue about what exactly is the heart rate and the heart rate is really the byproduct of this.

00:25:18.109 --> 00:25:19.670
It's like kind of how we can measure it.

00:25:19.940 --> 00:25:21.230
I like to use the talk test.

00:25:21.569 --> 00:25:32.819
If I'm out and I'm, I can still speak in complete sentences, but I'm not just going along at like a slow leisurely pace, then I'm kind of in the sweet spot.

00:25:33.134 --> 00:25:34.515
Then that would be zone two

00:25:35.154 --> 00:25:50.234
Yeah, so the bottom line I like to remind people here is, it's fine to go for a walk, walk the dog, do your thing, but sometimes we need a little bit more, a little bit more speed, a little bit more intensity, or maybe we could even walk up some hills just to challenge ourselves a bit in that way.

00:25:50.234 --> 00:25:50.250
Yeah.

00:25:50.650 --> 00:25:53.916
zone to cardiovascular heart rate zone.

00:25:53.916 --> 00:25:54.426
So

00:25:54.951 --> 00:25:57.882
and adding weight is one way to add that challenge.

00:25:58.176 --> 00:25:58.576
yes.

00:25:58.586 --> 00:26:03.076
So if you're finding that once you get more proficient, you can go out for longer walks.

00:26:03.136 --> 00:26:14.501
I, even for myself sometimes find I really have to hoof it when I'm walking just without a pack to get my heart rate to, to kind of Start going up a little bit more.

00:26:15.071 --> 00:26:24.632
And so, yeah, carrying a pack is adding an external load that makes your body work harder, but it's lower impact than something like running.

00:26:25.251 --> 00:26:27.201
So if people are looking for that.

00:26:27.582 --> 00:26:28.781
little extra oomph.

00:26:28.801 --> 00:26:32.565
You know, you want a little extra challenge to the walking that you're already doing.

00:26:33.434 --> 00:26:35.515
Maybe you've already established that walking habit.

00:26:35.515 --> 00:26:37.255
You don't want to add a whole new thing.

00:26:37.845 --> 00:26:43.244
Then putting on the pack means you keep your habit, but you're just making it a little bit more challenging.

00:26:43.767 --> 00:26:46.116
It's giving you the benefit also of.

00:26:46.128 --> 00:26:55.519
Having that external load, you are weight bearing, which we know is important for bone health, and we're loading the skeleton again, thinking about bone health.

00:26:55.618 --> 00:26:57.729
So we need that extra resistance.

00:26:58.439 --> 00:26:59.598
Cycling is great.

00:26:59.608 --> 00:27:03.278
Swimming is great, but those are not weight bearing exercises.

00:27:03.934 --> 00:27:09.305
And so it's important that we're, we're trying to find ways to load the skeleton.

00:27:09.994 --> 00:27:16.974
There's a reason why with astronauts, they have to make them work out because they're, they're in a zero gravity environment.

00:27:16.974 --> 00:27:22.558
And of course we're not in, we're not in zero gravity, but if we're never on our feet, we're never weight bearing.

00:27:22.939 --> 00:27:27.868
It's fine if running doesn't work for people and Maybe they have a past injury or it's just not for them.

00:27:27.868 --> 00:27:29.648
They don't, they don't enjoy it.

00:27:30.689 --> 00:27:44.547
Then rucking is a nice option for still maintaining a walking pace, not as much impact, but yet getting some of these cardiovascular, skeletal, muscle benefits.

00:27:45.096 --> 00:27:51.446
And then of course, you know, anytime we go out walking or we're working our muscles a little bit more, we're helping with things like insulin sensitivity.

00:27:51.457 --> 00:27:54.457
You mentioned, you know, metabolism, all of these things.

00:27:54.457 --> 00:28:03.326
It's a nice way to, to add something new to your routine to make it a little bit more challenging, but yet not make it so uncomfortable.

00:28:04.871 --> 00:28:06.030
People don't want to do it again.

00:28:06.030 --> 00:28:20.661
So I think that's one of the, one of the ways that rucking is a nice intermediate is it slots pretty easily into some of those existing things without it having to be, Oh, I have to go to the gym and find a trainer.

00:28:20.661 --> 00:28:21.090
And,

00:28:21.471 --> 00:28:21.901
Yeah.

00:28:22.161 --> 00:28:26.500
you know, I had to pick up a running habit and, Oh my gosh, I haven't done that in 20 years.

00:28:26.500 --> 00:28:27.830
And it's not something I want to do.

00:28:28.401 --> 00:28:35.310
Um, so it, it, it's a nice way for people to start seeing some of those benefits without having to go down these other routes.

00:28:36.111 --> 00:28:55.611
I feel like when you touched on this a while back, but the postural benefits as I sit here, hunched over my podcast, Mike, but I really have noticed that mostly in my other walking, when I'm doing errands, you know, at the grocery store that I tend to have better posture since I have been doing this.

00:28:55.631 --> 00:29:03.621
And it has made me go back to, you know, those things that just stick from random classes in college in my functional anatomy class.

00:29:04.201 --> 00:29:07.171
He talked about if you have on one side of the body.

00:29:07.526 --> 00:29:10.266
You'll have muscles that are long, loose and weak.

00:29:10.516 --> 00:29:13.625
And on the other side, they're going to be short, tight, and strong.

00:29:14.046 --> 00:29:25.576
And so if you think about the muscles on the front, like in your chest, pulling your shoulders forward are short, tight, and strong because we've hunched over for so long and it's created these long, loose, weak muscles in the back.

00:29:25.885 --> 00:29:33.259
And when you're wearing that pack and really strengthening that side, it's really making things more even and.

00:29:33.594 --> 00:29:35.973
Equalizing the strength front and back.

00:29:35.983 --> 00:29:37.713
And I think I've really noticed that.

00:29:38.659 --> 00:29:39.189
hmm.

00:29:39.308 --> 00:29:40.469
Yeah, that's a good point.

00:29:40.759 --> 00:29:40.979
I think.

00:29:41.126 --> 00:29:56.709
Of all the people I've ever worked with, both in person and virtually, I've never run across a single human, including myself, where it was a situation of You know, you've got lots of strength in your back body.

00:29:56.729 --> 00:29:57.709
It's your front body.

00:29:57.709 --> 00:30:01.828
We really need to strengthen it's, it's, it's always the reverse.

00:30:02.229 --> 00:30:07.648
And so most people that I, I work with, you know, they need strength in their upper back.

00:30:07.679 --> 00:30:13.999
They need to be able to retract their shoulder blades to keep the shoulder blades from dumping forward all the time.

00:30:14.159 --> 00:30:16.348
And of course we move in and out of positions in life.

00:30:16.348 --> 00:30:19.429
I don't want anyone to think that our goal is to have you walk around like a.

00:30:19.689 --> 00:30:27.368
a stiff mummy or a robot and, and be like only holding these quote unquote correct.

00:30:27.788 --> 00:30:28.048
Yeah.

00:30:28.048 --> 00:30:37.419
Perfect posture, correct positions, because we've seen how that's influenced people and also made people very afraid to move through different ranges of motion.

00:30:37.739 --> 00:30:39.669
But exactly to what you're saying, you're right.

00:30:39.909 --> 00:30:47.939
This is a nice compliment to some of the other strength training that someone might do, for example, in the gym to help them.

00:30:48.638 --> 00:30:52.798
achieve a better position and develop those postural muscles.

00:30:52.798 --> 00:31:01.618
So it's less of a conscious choice to stay stiff and rigid and robotic, but you're able to move through daily life a little bit easier.

00:31:01.788 --> 00:31:06.659
Maybe you have a little bit less, um, aches and pains and those sorts of things.

00:31:06.689 --> 00:31:13.179
And it's so easy when we start to develop those aches and pains and the disuse that oftentimes is.

00:31:13.489 --> 00:31:20.919
What those aches and pains are resulting from, it can kind of create a bit of a positive feedback loop where we think, Oh, now I'm so I'm more sore.

00:31:20.929 --> 00:31:22.088
My back hurts more.

00:31:22.088 --> 00:31:23.538
So I shouldn't do things.

00:31:24.528 --> 00:31:28.769
And then that continues that cycle forward instead of the reverse.

00:31:28.798 --> 00:31:35.249
And certainly, I don't want people to think that rucking is a cure for back pain because back pain can have so many different reasons,

00:31:35.534 --> 00:31:36.513
We're not doctors.

00:31:37.314 --> 00:31:37.554
Yeah.

00:31:37.903 --> 00:31:38.163
Yeah.

00:31:38.163 --> 00:31:52.243
I always feel like I had to say that as a caveat, you know, we're not saying that, Oh, rucking cured my back pain, but if, if you're somebody who realizes that you need a little bit more of that postural strength, it is one way that you can challenge that postural strength as you're out for a walk.

00:31:52.253 --> 00:32:06.733
And I just went out, uh, yesterday, I usually rock a few times a week and I went out yesterday and I, I was noticing, you know, how was I shifting the weight around in the backpack and I was kind of resetting and, and just seeing what my body was doing.

00:32:07.058 --> 00:32:17.249
on that day when I went out and just noticing was I feeling more fatigued or less fatigued in my upper body and, um, you know, how, how light did the weight feel to me?

00:32:17.249 --> 00:32:18.338
I think that's another one.

00:32:18.709 --> 00:32:22.979
Sometimes I'll take my, my usual weight out and it feels so light and great.

00:32:22.989 --> 00:32:26.278
And then other times I think I'm a little bit more tired today.

00:32:26.328 --> 00:32:31.858
I can, I can feel maybe from the workout I did the day before, or just because I didn't sleep as well.

00:32:32.388 --> 00:32:34.358
That it's just feeling a bit heavier.

00:32:34.358 --> 00:32:39.098
So it's an interesting litmus test, I think, for just, just checking in with your body.

00:32:39.153 --> 00:32:39.544
Yeah.

00:32:40.294 --> 00:32:43.723
Which I preach all the time, mostly with hunger, checking in with your body.

00:32:43.723 --> 00:32:44.023
But

00:32:44.128 --> 00:32:45.949
Oh, yes, absolutely.

00:32:45.989 --> 00:32:50.459
know, there's all kinds of ways that our body can send us information.

00:32:50.638 --> 00:32:56.878
So not just with our hunger signals, but also with our muscular signals and what kinds of things that we need.

00:32:57.179 --> 00:33:06.795
In fact, this morning I woke up with a slight sore throat and I thought, Hmm, do I want to do a cardio workout today and make this worse?

00:33:06.805 --> 00:33:08.325
And what am I getting from my body?

00:33:08.345 --> 00:33:09.295
Am I more tired?

00:33:09.295 --> 00:33:10.785
I woke up at like 5 AM, which is.

00:33:11.109 --> 00:33:12.960
It's quite a bit before I normally do.

00:33:12.990 --> 00:33:21.730
So, you know, I made adjustments and I think it's so important just to listen to your body and be super aware and not just carry the same weight, do the same thing every single day.

00:33:22.388 --> 00:33:26.659
And that's the cool part about rucking is you can scale it up or down.

00:33:26.659 --> 00:33:32.298
And I think that's a huge message for people who are going through this perimenopausal period of life.

00:33:32.298 --> 00:33:32.538
Or.

00:33:33.398 --> 00:33:38.378
Just as we're aging and we're experiencing, our body may feel a bit more unpredictable from day to day.

00:33:39.509 --> 00:33:40.898
It's giving yourself options.

00:33:41.038 --> 00:33:43.278
So maybe you're feeling on fire.

00:33:43.278 --> 00:33:44.308
You're feeling great.

00:33:44.778 --> 00:33:48.669
Maybe you put a little extra weight in the pack today and you just see what happens.

00:33:49.239 --> 00:33:54.788
If you're kind of feeling about your usual, maybe it's just the weight you usually carry and maybe you're feeling a bit more tired.

00:33:54.818 --> 00:33:56.608
So you'll take a little bit of weight out.

00:33:57.229 --> 00:34:00.838
Maybe you go completely unloaded and you don't carry a pack at all.

00:34:01.749 --> 00:34:20.644
Or maybe it truly is a rest day for you, or you're going to do something like mobility work or stretching or something, but I think the point is, as often as we can, is to look for ways to engage our bodies to move them to get the benefits of different types of movement, but also to give ourselves.

00:34:21.184 --> 00:34:22.034
choices.

00:34:22.755 --> 00:34:31.032
And that can be a challenge because many people have come into exercise and it was very rigid or it was only do this.

00:34:31.052 --> 00:34:32.202
This is the right way.

00:34:32.202 --> 00:34:33.353
This is the only way.

00:34:33.965 --> 00:34:38.965
Or we just didn't know that we had more availability, more variety.

00:34:39.766 --> 00:34:42.126
And so I think the more you can.

00:34:42.221 --> 00:34:47.027
Tune things up or down, depending on how you feel on that day, you're still doing something.

00:34:47.807 --> 00:34:59.088
And of course, I always say this too, if you're, if you're fried crispy around the edges, you got three hours of sleep, you're sick, you're, you know, something really shocking and stressful happened.

00:34:59.487 --> 00:35:08.423
Maybe today's not the day to train or exercise, but you'd be surprised at when you give yourself that leeway to make it a little bit more.

00:35:09.119 --> 00:35:12.079
easy, a little bit harder to adjust things.

00:35:12.579 --> 00:35:15.958
You'll find something that typically feels right for today.

00:35:16.778 --> 00:35:21.369
Instead of saying, no, no, I was going to take a, I was going to do a 30 pound rock core.

00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:24.498
I was going to go to the gym and do this really hard workout.

00:35:24.528 --> 00:35:26.728
And I just don't have it in me today.

00:35:26.728 --> 00:35:31.163
So, you know, I'm just going to Netflix it for four hours.

00:35:31.807 --> 00:35:38.391
Which quite honestly doesn't make a lot of people feel that good either, but you know, maybe it is what you need today.

00:35:38.431 --> 00:35:48.987
Um, I always think about at the beginning of the pandemic when a lot of people who never worked from home were suddenly in a position where they could wear pajamas at work all day.

00:35:49.438 --> 00:35:52.251
And it felt great! It felt great.

00:35:52.251 --> 00:35:54.101
You're like, this is amazing.

00:35:54.121 --> 00:35:59.110
And then a few weeks in, you're, you're thinking this feels, this doesn't feel good anymore.

00:35:59.800 --> 00:36:08.400
You know, sometimes it feels good to take that afternoon off and snuggle up on, on the couch with a cozy blanket and watch a movie.

00:36:08.800 --> 00:36:11.760
And that feels like exactly what you needed at that time.

00:36:11.760 --> 00:36:14.331
But sometimes we get into a little bit of that rut where.

00:36:14.880 --> 00:36:19.001
We just think, well, I'm not able to do this workout today at this level 10.

00:36:19.173 --> 00:36:22.054
Might as well just wait till tomorrow or the next day or the next day.

00:36:22.054 --> 00:36:24.384
And then sometimes we can get into a bit of a loop with that too.

00:36:24.384 --> 00:36:27.603
So it's, it's all about what is something I could do today?

00:36:27.603 --> 00:36:33.568
What is something that will help me feel better in my body or, you know, help me with my energy or help me with my mood.

00:36:33.577 --> 00:36:36.838
You know, we have those mental health benefits of movement as well.

00:36:36.838 --> 00:36:40.478
And I don't think, I don't think we appreciate that as much.

00:36:40.681 --> 00:36:43.574
You know, we tend to think it's only about the physical body, but it's amazing.

00:36:43.583 --> 00:36:46.625
What Some movement can do for your mood for how you feel.

00:36:46.724 --> 00:36:47.135
Yeah.

00:36:47.775 --> 00:36:53.635
I think the other thing about this, like a variety, I kind of, I feel like started into exercise.

00:36:54.500 --> 00:37:02.039
In an era where it was like, this is the program you do and not to like people have had good success with these types of programs.

00:37:02.039 --> 00:37:07.615
But, I'm just thinking of a particular, uh, a company that would sell you DVDs.

00:37:07.655 --> 00:37:11.056
And so I would do that program and only that program.

00:37:11.065 --> 00:37:15.456
Like I would follow her, you know, six weeks slim down P 90 X.

00:37:15.516 --> 00:37:17.016
You know what I'm talking about, right?

00:37:17.606 --> 00:37:21.916
And I thought like, well, I have to do, they, they said, this is day one and this is day two.

00:37:21.945 --> 00:37:27.065
And I didn't ever allow myself to be like, I don't really want to do that one today.

00:37:27.096 --> 00:37:31.615
I, what I really need as a walk or instead of cardio, what I need is strength.

00:37:31.626 --> 00:37:35.315
Like I just got into these, like, I have to do this whole program.

00:37:35.346 --> 00:37:39.585
And now I'm like, sometimes I lift and I follow so and so's program for lifting.

00:37:39.585 --> 00:37:46.806
And sometimes I ride my bike and sometimes I rock and just mixing it all up and giving myself that permission to.

00:37:47.081 --> 00:37:47.601
Just...

00:37:47.853 --> 00:37:49.313
Create my own program.

00:37:49.322 --> 00:37:58.713
Basically, based on what my body is needing has been really, really helpful and more fun, by the way,

00:37:59.016 --> 00:38:00.675
Yeah, absolutely.

00:38:01.376 --> 00:38:08.826
I, I have definitely, I guess this sort of the era that we grew up in, I can definitely relate to that idea of the DVDs.

00:38:08.835 --> 00:38:10.945
And it was like, this is day one and this is day two.

00:38:10.945 --> 00:38:20.615
And, you know, I think it's fine for people to have a routine to have a schedule, especially for people who feel like that's the thing that keeps them.

00:38:21.170 --> 00:38:26.030
Showing up, they've created the schedule that works for them, that sort of thing, a hundred percent.

00:38:26.541 --> 00:38:35.291
Um, but you know, within that, you might have your, your morning is your workout time because you just know you'll get it done.

00:38:35.291 --> 00:38:38.451
And the day is not going to steal that away from you.

00:38:38.831 --> 00:38:45.280
Or the likelihood of that happening is fairly low, which I know a lot of people like to try to get their movement done in the morning for that reason.

00:38:45.280 --> 00:38:50.411
Myself included, I, I prefer to get some, get something done in the morning if I can.

00:38:51.481 --> 00:39:10.688
And at the same time, it, you know, like you said, it can be where we give ourselves latitude and choice and autonomy is such a key factor in any kind of, health habit change in just behavior change in general is that idea of I have autonomy, I have choice and I can exercise that choice.

00:39:10.697 --> 00:39:12.208
So no pun intended.

00:39:12.338 --> 00:39:16.248
So maybe it's, I sort of have that time of my day that tends to work best for me.

00:39:16.248 --> 00:39:18.998
And that's the, that's, what's more routine about.

00:39:19.007 --> 00:39:31.907
That then I have to do this exact thing at this exact time in this exact way, or I've somehow failed the system, you know, for me, I try to do two times a week of lifting, but those days can sometimes vary.

00:39:31.907 --> 00:39:34.047
So that's one thing I tend to.

00:39:34.364 --> 00:39:40.954
Stick by because that works really well for me is like I can work that in, you know, I can say, all right, I know, Tuesday, I'm going to lift.

00:39:41.735 --> 00:39:45.005
I'm already at the gym anyway, so I'm going to make sure I get that done there.

00:39:45.275 --> 00:39:50.215
But honestly, the composition of the things I'm doing can change and.

00:39:50.525 --> 00:39:52.594
And that's okay, right?

00:39:53.144 --> 00:39:57.074
So structure is great, but giving yourself flexibility within that is.

00:39:58.940 --> 00:39:59.420
Well said.

00:39:59.610 --> 00:40:05.420
so one more question on rocking back to that specifically, is there anything else we need?

00:40:05.675 --> 00:40:05.974
I I.

00:40:06.215 --> 00:40:09.065
'cause one of the benefits of walking is just like, put your shoes on and go.

00:40:09.594 --> 00:40:13.795
when I'm walking unweighted, I don't really pay much attention to my footwear.

00:40:13.795 --> 00:40:20.215
Do you think that is the other piece of equipment that is essential for rucking and do we need something in particular?

00:40:20.920 --> 00:40:21.280
Hmm.

00:40:21.449 --> 00:40:22.260
Good question.

00:40:22.619 --> 00:40:29.139
Again, I think if people are first starting out, just wear your normal fitness type footwear.

00:40:30.690 --> 00:40:31.900
I know that can even vary.

00:40:31.900 --> 00:40:33.780
That could be pretty wide, but.

00:40:33.789 --> 00:40:50.250
When you really start to increase the weight, when you really start to increase the distance, there could be a case made depending on the person and their anatomy and how you just feel when you're walking with weight for a bit of a, a bit more of a sturdy shoe.

00:40:50.789 --> 00:40:58.530
So I'm imagining there are going to be some folks who have running sneakers, which are more cushioned, but may not have.

00:40:59.204 --> 00:41:00.855
The exact support that you need

00:41:00.965 --> 00:41:04.565
They're a little more flexible than more of that like rigid sole.

00:41:04.570 --> 00:41:04.889
Mm-Hmm.

00:41:05.114 --> 00:41:08.135
they tend to be a little bit more squishy to absorb the impact.

00:41:08.385 --> 00:41:14.835
This is one of the reasons why I would not lift heavy in running sneakers.

00:41:15.295 --> 00:41:24.684
Maybe if you're doing some accessory work or something, that's fine, but the thicker and more squashy the soul is, and I don't want to name any brands, but you know what I'm talking about?

00:41:24.695 --> 00:41:25.695
Everybody knows

00:41:25.699 --> 00:41:26.550
I'll Hoka

00:41:27.144 --> 00:41:31.914
Yeah, no, actually, you know, it's interesting because.

00:41:32.965 --> 00:41:47.125
Again, I think, you know, footwear is pretty personal, but I would tend to think that as, especially as the weight gets heavier, if you don't have the support in the sole, that that can be a little bit harder on the feet.

00:41:47.135 --> 00:41:49.085
And I'll give you a really great example of this.

00:41:49.844 --> 00:41:55.605
I normally ruck with one of GoRuck's purpose designed shoes for rocking.

00:41:55.605 --> 00:41:57.135
And it has a, a more.

00:41:57.764 --> 00:42:04.670
Stable, less rigid soul for this reason, because you're wearing more weight on your body.

00:42:04.771 --> 00:42:14.101
These shoes, by the way, interesting side note, if anybody remembers the Reebok pump from a hundred years ago from the, I don't know, when did those come out, the eighties maybe?

00:42:14.490 --> 00:42:20.110
The guy who developed the Reebok pump footwear.

00:42:20.771 --> 00:42:21.960
Um, he's Paul.

00:42:21.960 --> 00:42:22.931
He's a really nice guy.

00:42:23.021 --> 00:42:23.590
I've met him.

00:42:23.690 --> 00:42:27.141
Um, but you know, recently I did a GORUCK event.

00:42:27.800 --> 00:42:30.597
Where most of it took place on the beach.

00:42:31.307 --> 00:42:32.407
Sounds great, right?

00:42:33.438 --> 00:42:34.297
That's terrible.

00:42:35.237 --> 00:42:37.538
It's the beach, it's Southern California.

00:42:37.588 --> 00:42:39.648
It was warm, but it was all

00:42:39.737 --> 00:42:41.527
Oh, I'm just like thinking the sand.

00:42:41.878 --> 00:42:44.318
All of that sounds good, but the sand sounds terrible.

00:42:44.472 --> 00:42:49.512
It's all in the soft sand, not even on the, you know, where the waves break and it's kind of compacted.

00:42:49.762 --> 00:42:50.472
There was none of that.

00:42:50.472 --> 00:42:51.463
It was all soft sand.

00:42:52.123 --> 00:43:03.362
So normally I would wear my regular sort of, um, go rock shoes, but I decided on this event to wear a pair of trail running shoes because it had a little bit more traction and they were, they're wider.

00:43:03.393 --> 00:43:07.452
And I just wanted a little bit more, if you think about it, it's like snowshoes, right?

00:43:07.463 --> 00:43:09.610
So they're a bit of a wider base.

00:43:09.610 --> 00:43:12.719
And so I wore those, but they don't have as much support.

00:43:13.009 --> 00:43:26.369
And during that event, I was carrying upwards of 90 to 95 pounds at some junctures for some distances and my feet were so tired by the end of this event.

00:43:26.378 --> 00:43:34.079
They were almost a little bit sore and I'm a barefoot, you know, like work your feet kind of person.

00:43:34.079 --> 00:43:35.398
I don't feel like I have weak feet.

00:43:35.918 --> 00:43:44.528
at all, but they were just really taxed from the softness of the sand and the way your muscles have to work in those environments.

00:43:44.909 --> 00:43:53.748
And then also just wearing a shoe that was less supportive, but that was a trade off that I made for the other things that the shoe gave me in that event.

00:43:53.759 --> 00:44:09.378
So, you know, I think for most people, it's probably not That much of an issue when they're starting out, you may not want to wear the most ultra minimalist footwear if you're especially if you're not used to carrying weight and your feet maybe aren't as strong yet.

00:44:10.068 --> 00:44:18.079
I'm thinking those the five fingers and those like extremely low profile shoes, you might want some little bit of extra support there.

00:44:18.079 --> 00:44:20.902
But yeah, I think those are some things to consider, especially if you.

00:44:20.911 --> 00:44:29.708
End up going heavier, you end up going for longer miles when I'm out and I've done some training rucks that were 9 miles, 10 miles.

00:44:29.717 --> 00:44:30.577
At a time.

00:44:30.896 --> 00:44:34.376
I wore my more supportive footwear for that reason.

00:44:34.856 --> 00:44:42.806
But if people have foot issues, foot problems, I mean, you also kind of need to take into consideration your own challenges in, in the footwear that works for you.

00:44:42.806 --> 00:44:46.036
But I would generally say you wanna stay away from the extremes.

00:44:46.786 --> 00:44:54.797
which is the huge cloud-like super soft and squishy, or the incredibly minimalist, like almost no soul.

00:44:55.306 --> 00:44:57.617
You probably want something that's a bit more in between.

00:44:58.431 --> 00:45:06.431
But basically, whatever you're currently wearing walking, if you are comfortable in that, that'll be fine until you carry more weight.

00:45:06.431 --> 00:45:07.146
Yeah,

00:45:07.572 --> 00:45:08.601
I, would say so.

00:45:08.675 --> 00:45:09.014
Yeah.

00:45:09.014 --> 00:45:13.425
If you're just starting out, you probably will do well with whatever shoes sneakers are used to wearing.

00:45:13.635 --> 00:45:18.164
I will say recently Michael Easter, um, had a newsletter.

00:45:18.164 --> 00:45:26.442
He puts out a weekly newsletter and he was talking about the headline was something like the number one, most common rucking related injury.

00:45:26.452 --> 00:45:27.911
And I was like, Oh, I got to read this.

00:45:27.942 --> 00:45:32.632
Cause quite oftentimes he'll dig into some of the literature around rucking, which just.

00:45:32.731 --> 00:45:36.521
I have to read enough papers about nutrition and stuff as it is.

00:45:36.521 --> 00:45:48.431
I don't always get to look at the, the literature around rucking, although there is some interesting, albeit not a huge sampling of literature around, especially women and older individuals and carrying weight, which is cool.

00:45:49.001 --> 00:45:53.242
But the number one, most common rucking injury deal.

00:45:53.282 --> 00:45:54.001
Did you see this?

00:45:54.001 --> 00:45:54.871
Do you know what it is?

00:45:55.211 --> 00:45:55.692
Yeah, okay.

00:45:55.692 --> 00:45:56.762
This is blisters.

00:45:57.242 --> 00:45:57.672
Yeah.

00:45:58.282 --> 00:46:01.461
So, and like, look, blisters are not to be trifled with.

00:46:01.492 --> 00:46:09.461
You can get infections, you know, it can make walking incredibly painful, but that comes down to generally the fit of your shoes.

00:46:09.764 --> 00:46:13.293
And keeping your feet dry, so it's

00:46:13.353 --> 00:46:15.414
like in the, in the Forrest Gump movie,

00:46:15.923 --> 00:46:16.324
Yeah,

00:46:16.903 --> 00:46:17.313
change your

00:46:17.333 --> 00:46:22.664
to do with less to do with rocking itself and a little bit more to do with a type of material.

00:46:22.664 --> 00:46:26.204
Your socks are made out of the fit of the shoe.

00:46:26.693 --> 00:46:31.554
when we did the go rock challenge in October, we walked for 17 miles.

00:46:32.268 --> 00:46:36.748
Over the course of 12 hours, and I did get a, a bit of a blister on my toe.

00:46:36.759 --> 00:46:45.498
I knew this was likely to happen because in my training walks that were longer, I did develop a hotspot there and it's just the way my feet are.

00:46:45.704 --> 00:46:47.074
There's just the anatomy of my feet.

00:46:47.074 --> 00:46:52.175
I have pretty wide feet and my little toe just sticks out in all the, all the wrong ways.

00:46:52.195 --> 00:47:11.059
Anyway, so, um, I knew I was likely to get a blister and I tried to do what I could to mitigate that and I ended, did end up getting a blister at the end of the day, um, but it's because My shoes are probably a tiny bit on the small side for my feet, but I'm sort of in between sizes.

00:47:11.809 --> 00:47:18.340
So, you know, the tightness of your shoes, especially if you're on your feet for a long period of time, your feet will swell to some degree.

00:47:18.349 --> 00:47:20.800
For most people, they're going to expand because you're just.

00:47:21.260 --> 00:47:24.179
Standing up and gravity does what gravity does.

00:47:25.010 --> 00:47:30.170
So yeah, proper, properly sized footwear and sort of keeping your feet as dry as humanly possible.

00:47:30.170 --> 00:47:32.789
Although in that event, we got them wet within the first five minutes.

00:47:32.860 --> 00:47:33.230
Um,

00:47:33.519 --> 00:47:34.570
because again, the beach,

00:47:35.559 --> 00:47:44.284
yeah, the beach and, um, you know, for that, I wear wool socks because going to give you the best shot at keeping your feet, comfortable if they're wet and it's cold.

00:47:45.599 --> 00:47:48.108
I would say that's probably an extreme situation.

00:47:48.108 --> 00:47:53.668
You're probably not going to go stand in a puddle or in a pond or something like that when

00:47:53.764 --> 00:47:54.523
you go rucking.

00:47:54.858 --> 00:47:59.849
Yeah, so make sure your, your shoes fit well, you know, they're not too tight.

00:48:00.139 --> 00:48:01.958
That sort of thing is probably.

00:48:02.864 --> 00:48:09.693
Again, if you're not used to walking, even walking for a few miles, your feet might hurt a little bit.

00:48:09.704 --> 00:48:10.994
They might just be tired.

00:48:10.994 --> 00:48:18.643
So, or if your footwear doesn't fit particularly well, you might get a blister toes or, or heels or something like that.

00:48:18.653 --> 00:48:25.934
So it's less, I think though, a function of the rucking itself and just more a function of being up on your feet and, and covering distance.

00:48:25.934 --> 00:48:27.224
If you're not accustomed to that.

00:48:27.704 --> 00:48:28.134
Okay.

00:48:28.244 --> 00:48:29.764
That's really helpful.

00:48:30.543 --> 00:48:32.643
I think we've covered everything.

00:48:32.733 --> 00:48:46.304
Um, well, no, there's not, we can't cover everything about rucking, but there are, like you said, some good literature out there, some good data and other people that are talking about this, that you can find out more, but really there's, yeah.

00:48:46.954 --> 00:48:52.233
I, I found sometimes the more I, like, look for information, it's kind of all the same thing.

00:48:52.244 --> 00:48:55.773
Like, just put a pack on, put some shoes on, get going.

00:48:55.853 --> 00:48:56.773
Like, it's not hard.

00:48:56.864 --> 00:48:58.574
Let's, like, don't overcomplicate it.

00:48:58.603 --> 00:49:01.713
So, I think anyone could get started today.

00:49:01.764 --> 00:49:07.333
So, um, just like I always tell people, you can start eating.

00:49:07.744 --> 00:49:11.664
What you want to eat on your very next meal, your very next bite can be right on plan.

00:49:11.704 --> 00:49:14.454
So you don't need a Monday morning or a new year's day.

00:49:14.454 --> 00:49:16.713
You can just start on any random Thursday afternoon.

00:49:16.713 --> 00:49:20.063
And the same goes for including rucking in your routine.

00:49:20.063 --> 00:49:23.324
So you don't need any special permission or equipment.

00:49:23.333 --> 00:49:25.494
You just get to get started whenever you want.

00:49:25.764 --> 00:49:26.173
So,

00:49:26.724 --> 00:49:26.983
Yep.

00:49:27.764 --> 00:49:33.733
all right, well, Steph, why don't you tell people where they can find you in the world and, um, if you have anything to offer.

00:49:34.534 --> 00:49:34.954
Yeah.

00:49:35.003 --> 00:49:38.284
So you can find me at Stephgaudreau.Com, which is my website.

00:49:38.793 --> 00:49:42.083
I'm probably most active on Instagram in terms of social media.

00:49:42.083 --> 00:49:44.443
And then also my podcast, which is Fuel your strength.

00:49:45.233 --> 00:49:49.313
I do have a, a free strength workout sample on my website.

00:49:49.313 --> 00:49:55.403
If people are interested in that and I can share the URL with you, if you'd like, um, and we can put it in show notes or wherever that might show up.

00:49:55.943 --> 00:49:59.173
And yeah, I, you know, I just, I, I really love what you said there.

00:49:59.204 --> 00:50:00.733
I echo that so much.

00:50:00.923 --> 00:50:02.313
I always think about, you know.

00:50:02.713 --> 00:50:03.114
Thanks.

00:50:03.224 --> 00:50:05.684
Thanks to Pope Gregory from the 1500s.

00:50:05.684 --> 00:50:08.623
That's why we start our calendar where we start our calendar.

00:50:08.974 --> 00:50:10.864
It's completely arbitrary.

00:50:11.253 --> 00:50:17.443
Um, you know, we still have something like, I don't know, 40, some 45 days in the year or something like that.

00:50:17.463 --> 00:50:20.204
I mean, there's so much that can change.

00:50:20.853 --> 00:50:28.420
Right now, even in an instant, you don't have to have a special ceremonious day or a special, you know, fresh start.

00:50:28.440 --> 00:50:30.311
Any, any moment could be a fresh start.

00:50:30.320 --> 00:50:35.561
And I'm a huge proponent of just starting where you are, starting with what you have.

00:50:36.021 --> 00:50:38.231
You can always trust me.

00:50:38.891 --> 00:50:45.400
If you want to spend the most on fitness equipment and all that fancy stuff, you can definitely do that in time.

00:50:45.641 --> 00:50:50.751
But don't set the bar higher for yourself and put more obstacles in your way.

00:50:50.751 --> 00:50:56.380
So yes, getting a rucking backpack makes sense for a lot of people.

00:50:56.380 --> 00:51:03.561
Eventually it's a great investment, but if you've never done it and you think, I don't even know if I'm going to like this and just go out with what you have.

00:51:03.570 --> 00:51:08.690
I'm sure most people have a backpack in your closet somewhere or that you use on a daily basis.

00:51:08.710 --> 00:51:12.280
Like you said, put a pair of sneakers on, put something relatively heavy in there and

00:51:12.311 --> 00:51:13.920
You can even start with a bag of rice.

00:51:14.090 --> 00:51:14.831
Like really?

00:51:15.521 --> 00:51:15.940
Yes.

00:51:17.505 --> 00:51:18.266
That's a great one.

00:51:18.275 --> 00:51:18.726
Books.

00:51:19.146 --> 00:51:26.766
Um, recently I was on vacation visiting my family and I could only find wine bottles that were like the heaviest thing in the house.

00:51:26.766 --> 00:51:29.606
I put five wine bottles in my backpack and went for a walk.

00:51:29.940 --> 00:51:30.471
I love it.

00:51:31.025 --> 00:51:31.346
Yeah.

00:51:31.635 --> 00:51:33.045
So start, start where you are.

00:51:33.045 --> 00:51:34.206
Start, start now.

00:51:34.536 --> 00:51:42.085
You'll be glad you did in a couple months and you don't need to wait for a specific day or time to, to make a change.

00:51:43.141 --> 00:51:43.440
All right.

00:51:43.440 --> 00:51:44.010
Well, thanks Steph.

00:51:44.010 --> 00:51:44.731
It's been a pleasure.

00:51:45.405 --> 00:51:45.985
Thank you.

00:51:46.485 --> 00:51:50.954
If this episode has helped you in any way, all I ask is for you to share it.

00:51:51.164 --> 00:51:54.644
Share it with one friend or share it on your social media tag me.

00:51:54.974 --> 00:51:56.655
And I'll give you a shout out as well.

00:51:56.985 --> 00:52:05.655
I have been getting a lot of comments lately about how beneficial the free content is that I have been putting out in the world and sharing it can really help someone else.

00:52:05.954 --> 00:52:12.405
You can also leave a five star rating on apple and Spotify and review the show on apple podcasts.

00:52:12.614 --> 00:52:19.125
That also really makes it easier for other people to find it because apple loves that and then they push it out to more people.

00:52:19.125 --> 00:52:21.824
So your review actually helps other women.

00:52:22.215 --> 00:52:27.045
Have a great week and as always, thanks for listening to the Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well podcast.
Steph Gaudreau Profile Photo

Steph Gaudreau

Certified Sports Nutritionist, Certified Personal Trainer

Steph Gaudreau, CISSN, NASM-CPT (she/her/hers) helps athletic women over 40 fuel themselves better, get stronger, increase their energy, and perform better in the gym. She’s a sports nutritionist and lifting coach.

In her best-selling book, The Core 4, she details a four pillar approach to getting stronger, embracing your body, and owning your power. Steph has a degree in biology – human physiology. She is a Certified Sports Nutritionist from the International Society for Sports Nutrition (CISSN), Certified Personal Trainer (National Academy of Sports Medicine), and Menopause Coaching Specialist (Girls Gone Strong).

Her podcast, Fuel Your Strength, started in 2015 and has over 5 million downloads. She’s an international speaker and has been featured in Outside, SELF, and ESPN Radio.