Introducing a strength training element into your walking can have major benefits, especially as a woman athlete. A way to make your walking a bit more challenging is through rucking. Rucking is a great opportunity to take the foundational movement pattern of carrying and incorporate it into your training routine easily. If You Want to Start Rucking, You Should: Find a backpack and fill it with a weight that does not exceed ⅓ of your total body weight Remember to carry your pack when going for your regular daytime walking Enjoy the benefits you will feel in your strength, ability, and overall fitness Understanding the Comfort Crisis with Michael Easter Michael Easter is an author, professor, and adventurer. He approaches movement and training from a scientific perspective, helping others to integrate modern science and evolutionary wisdom into their lives to expand their potential. He is the author of The Comfort Crisis and is personally a big fan of rucking and all of its benefits. Controlled Discomfort is a Good Thing Often we think about exercise as a 30 or 60-minute period of our day when we go hard. But being stagnant for the other 23 hours of the day has no benefit. Michael wants to challenge you to find ways in your daily routine to introduce some controlled discomfort into your life. As the world has become more comfortable over time, we have lost certain things that help to make us healthy. Lifting heavy things while in motion can have huge benefits, especially for women. Walking with weight on your body, or rucking, is usually the best option if you want to see big results. The Benefits of Rucking Scientific research shows that strength training is crucial to longevity, especially in women. Rucking works to put your spine in a better position while lifting, avoid intense pressure on your joints, and is uniquely good at improving bone density. If you struggle to integrate carrying into your fitness routine, which is an essential part of the seven functional movement patterns for building strength, rucking is a great option for you. Getting started is easy and incredibly simple. Are you ready to get started with rucking today? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page. In This Episode Why you should put more focus on carrying in your lifting routine (12:15) What is rucking and why you should know about it (13:34) The difference, pros, and cons between wearing a weight vast and rucking (15:19) Why rucking is great specifically for women athletes (19:37) How to be a 2-Percenter in order to see big changes (27:25) Tips for getting started with rucking and mitigating risk (29:15) Quotes “[Carrying] is kind of like the thing that most people aren't doing that would help them the most. Strength wise, fitness wise, cardio wise, and also just being protective against injuries.” (10:46) “I think that rucking is a great way to add a strength stimulus for women.” (20:22) “Women really were the people, as we have evolved, that kept us alive.” (22:48) “Only 2 percent of people, when they have the option of stairs or an escalator, will take the stairs. Now, if you back up, it's actually those very small decisions that we make every day, whether to take the stairs, parking farther away in the parking lot, picking your kid up and moving them, carrying your groceries. All these little ways of adding activity back into your life, those add up over the course of the day to a greater calorie burn and stimulus than a workout.” (28:01) “You know what is more risky than exercising? Not exercising at all.” (33:25) Featured on the Show Join Strength Nutrition Unlocked Here The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter Michael Easter Website Follow Michael on Instagram Find the full show notes here Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes! Podcast production & marketing support by the team at Counterweight