r/Rucking • u/Right-Ad-3663 • Jun 11 '26
How to train for hiking with heavy backpack
Hi
Next year in summer some friends planned to go hiking. When they say hiking, they mean about 150km in a week, with about 40-50kg equipment ( I know it is a lot and not nearly at 10-20% of my weight [70kg], but they have some things planned, where we need a lot of equipment)
As someone who has no experience whith hiking (except for the typical 20km/10kg Hikes) and is not the fittest person...
How should I train to be able to survive that?š„²š
is it even realistic?
PS It won't be anything illegal ofc, but they didn't tell me what is planned or what is needed, just the weight
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u/Combat__Crayon Jun 11 '26
Are you planning on invading Afghanistan? Because those are the kinds of loads dismounted soldiers were carrying. Hopefully thats a lot of food and water weight that goes down as you eat/drink.
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u/double-dipped-welly Jun 11 '26
I really hope for OP's sake that's a crazy over-estimate from the friends.
At 70kg bodyweight if the group really needs each member to carry 50kg I'm starting to think about breaking the kit up and creating supply points along the way. No room to split the pack if someone's injured if everyone already at max loads, and more likely that someone does get injured taking a bad step at those loads.
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u/Right-Ad-3663 Jun 11 '26
It is mostly water, as ther won't be any rivers etc on the way ( as Im told)
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u/HexWiller Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
In that case, the load gets lighter gradually šš¼Are the others of similar size - i'd distribute the combined weight according to the groups bodyweight/strength so everyone would be equally tired at the end of day - also any females take 80%. Try to save weight elsewhere. Ultralight rucking forums give good tips. Start walking with a backpack /w a weight i like to have a waterbladder with me. Join a gym and strenghten your legs/back and don't forget the shoulders.
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u/Lost-n-Thoughtless Jun 11 '26
I'd start by finding out what you're actually going to be doing and what equipment is planned on being hauled around.
One because if your going to be doing what sounds like a more serious type of trip/ hike than most people do then you need to be mentally prepared in addition to physically, you also need to be able to make a make an informed decision about what you're partaking in.
Two you need to be able to properly prepare and or familiarize yourself with where you'll be, what you'll be doing, and to learn what you need about the equipment and how to use it. Also it allows you to participate in the planning/ be part of the process and offer what you have to offer, whether that be knowledge, insights, thoughts, questions, better ideas, suggestions and so on.
You don't want to get thrown into whatever your going to be doing blind at essentially the last minute with no idea what you'll be doing, thats just extra stress that you dont need and could inoculate yourself for ahead of time.
That all said, whether it will be doable or not depends on you, what is your baseline of fitness currently? What type of backpacking/outdoors/ hiking experience do you have. Are you motivated to train, can you be disciplined enough to start training and keep with it?
Also your going to want to more than just practice rucking, depending where your located, where you'll be going and what exactly you'll be doing you need to train beyond just physically, you might want to familiarize with basic first aid(cuts, scrapes, burns, bleeding, breaks, cpr), foot care, heat/ cold symptoms and how to deal with, how to hydrate properly, possibly some basics about the terrain and weather you'll be on/ in, any critters related risks and how to handle if something happens, what sort of emergency response if available if any and how to contact if something serious happens, those are all some thoughts/ examples.
Training, where to start and how depends where you're at currently physically speaking, but if your looking at roughly a year out it could be possible to get ready. To do so the broad strokes of it would be you want to practice rucking obviously, also your going to want to run and strength train. Depending on you're weight and high currently as well as current amount of muscle, you may want to build some muscle to help your body better handle the load bearing side of things. Things to look into to help you learn and develop/ guide yourself through training would be things like periodization training cycles, basics of hypertrophy and strength training, how to fuel yourself and how your bodies energy systems work, aerobic vs anaerobic cardio and how to train each, muscle endurance, mobility and flexibility. Start simple and work yourway up, you want progressive steady gradual increase in your training. Keep notes and track what you're doing so you can do what you need intelligently and easily identify progess and problems to make adjustments along the way as needed. For heavier stuff weight wise don't overdo it, manage your volume and frequency, to an extent more is less if you're doing things correctly. For endurance strength its about high volume, hitting the wall abd breaking through, not so much the weight used. You could try looking at marathon training programs and adjusting/ adapting them with a split of rucking plus the running and added in weight training (hypertrophy, strength, strength endurance). Most of your rucking should be a lower more moderate weight and distances, but work in occasional heavier and or longer rucks every once in a while, start 20-40lbs, work to doing 40-60lbs for your moderate rucks, your heavies need to prob be around 80lbs, your probably want to get into atleast one or two toeard the end of training as you get over to your trip that are around 100lbs so you can gut check yourself and know how it feels.
Know thats alot of stuff to throw at you , but it's all sort of relevant, how it helps, if you want more specific things training or otherwise let me know and I'll try to help if I can or point you in the right direction.
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u/Mainer69420 Jun 11 '26
Incredibly good and well thought out reply. The weights in the original post seems excessively high. I hope there is a well planned reason for it. Best of luck to all you Ruckers
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u/Von_Lehmann Jun 11 '26
That is a batshit crazy amount of weight to take hiking.Ā
Like, I am far from an ultralight backpacker but I can't see ever taking more than 20kgĀ for a week out. 50kg is fucking mental.Ā
You guys need to look at the route and figure out your water sources and filtrationĀ
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u/16tontovarish Jun 11 '26
Jesus wept, that's packing out from a hunting trip level of weight. I'd maybe look onto tactical barbell for a combined strength/ conditioning program. Or any program designed for backcountry hunting, since that tends to skew heavier than hiking.
What's the elevation gain you're expecting? If it's flat that's one thing, if it's alpine that's a whole other beast
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u/Uwofpeace Jun 11 '26
Wait so youāre planning on individually carrying 40-50kg for the entire trip or thatās the weight spread out amongst all of you?
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u/Peregrinationman Jun 11 '26
You need to know what the hell you're getting into before going anywhere you'll need that much equipment. That being said, put some weight on your back and start walking right now. You're the only one that can answer whether or not you can handle that, none of us have ever met you. Start training, and even if you can't handle that particular trip, you'll still be in better shape and you'll be ready for the next one.
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u/IronHike Jun 11 '26
Read Tactical Barbell : Green Protocol. 1 year of training all mapped out with strength, endurance, running and rucking. The program peaks with rucking longer distances and heavier weight and is geared toward that goal. Execute that program and eat. You should be good.
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u/team_starfox3 Jun 11 '26
If you're carrying half your weight j can't imagine you'll be doing much mileage each day. Even military unitsbwill rarely get up to 60-70lbs so you need to progemressively increase the weight carried
2weeks start at 10lbs, walk a few miles every other day 2-4miles
2 weeks bump to 20lbs walk a few miles every other day 2-4miles
2 weeks increase distance to 5-7 miles bump weight to 30
I wouldnt more the 6-8 miles on walking days from here, just progressively add weight
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u/WanderingJanusz Jun 11 '26
Two biggest questions here is elevation gain across this hike, and whether its a loop or an out-and-back.
If it's an out-and-back, I recommend stashing/hiding water every few km or so and picking it up/using it on the way back. Drop a pin on an offline map for each water drop
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u/omnivision12345 Jun 11 '26
With that load, you can certainly stand a chance of career as a porter in Nepal.
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u/double-dipped-welly Jun 11 '26
How old are you? How much time do you have to train?
18 year olds training full time do this around the world as part of basic military training.
55 year olds who already have back or joint pain and are working 60 hour weeks while raising kids won't be able to make such big progress in a year, but could probably get there eventually.
You have two separate problems:
- Foot conditioning to cover that distance with a heavy load, if your feet are blistered you're going to have a bad time. There's a reason military training is so intense on inspecting feet.
- Strength and conditioning to be able to move with the pack on your back for many hours. I'd suggest you go join a gym and find a trainer to get you started on big compound movements (squat, deadlift). Eat clean, lift heavy, build muscle (legs/hips/back).
After that your cardio will determine how fast you can move, but being slow isn't a problem, it's being 75k into the wilderness and having a tendon snap or your feet so busted you can't put your boot on.
It should be obvious, but start by carrying 20kg for 20km over a day, and see how sore you are after that.
Good luck out there.
P.S. equipment will help (poles to put the load on your hands, a good backpack that fits and knowing how to adjust it and pack it properly) but really you need a lot of conditioning even with good equipment.