I Replaced Regular Walks With 'Rucking' for 2 Weeks & Saw My Endurance Skyrocket

Rucking, the act of walking with a weighted backpack, has been gaining much popularity as an effective way to enhance one's walking workout and overall fitness regimen. Intrigued by its potential benefits, I replaced my regular walks with rucking for two weeks. My goal was to see if adding weight to my daily walks could improve my physical strength and endurance and if it would deliver any notable mental health benefits.

Multiple studies have shown that load-carrying exercises like rucking can increase oxygen uptake (VO2) and muscle mass, so I thought I would track my results and see how I felt after just two weeks. The idea of rucking seemed like a low-cost and easy-to-implement solution to spicing up my current walking routine, and I wondered how much more difficulty it would add to my morning workout sessions. (I also recently discovered that I lived near some great hiking trails, and I want to explore them!)

Each day during the two-week span, I walked for a minimum of 45 minutes arou...