What are some of the ways to improve your ruck marching skills for SFAS? What methods can be used to make rucking easier and how can I tough my feet up? Any advice on ruck marching will help. thanks.

Well what worked for me might not work for you. What I did was start out at 35lbs and 4 miles then it was 4-6-6-8-8-10-10-12-12-14-14-16-16-18-18-20-20-22-22-24-24. Once I was done with the 24 miles, I moved up to 50 lbs and started at 10 miles. It took a lot of time, but it worked for me. I also used the old ruck sack, not that MOLLE crap. Most importantly, get some very comfortable boots, mole skin, foot powder, and baby powder.

Like I said, this worked for me. For you it might be different.

Toughen up your feet by walking around barefoot. Once you get some callouses on 'em, you'll never blister again.

Also... don't run up hills. It'll only hurt you in the long run. Range walk the uphills, coast the downhills, and run the level parts. If you need to take it down a notch or if you're starting to tire out, you can alternate running and walking. Run 100 meters, walk 50; walk to every other telephone pole or tree... things like that.

LOL, drink water.

Wear the ruck properly. The weight should be supported on your hips; the shoulder straps are just there to keep it from falling over. Take a sideways look in a mirror when wearing it. The shoulder straps between the top of your shoulder and the ruck frame should be roughly parallel to the marching surface.

Pack your ruck in a balanced manner; you don't want it leaning. Pack it with heavy items on top and light items on the bottom.

Wear nylon socks under your boot socks to prevent blisters.

Step around obstacles (rocks, logs, etc) rather than over them. Don't ever step on top of them.

ruck marching is the only way to improve your ruck march. When I was at Bragg, we rucked with 55lbs, that was the least they would allow for PT. At SFAS you're gonna be walking on all kinds of terrain, usually with a 35lbs or heavier pack. You just gotta start rucking as often as you can. Good luck.

Go ordnance has a great plan- distance is the key
Smittaayy has a great point also- without tough feet, ur toast.

It's gonna hurt, but you just gotta get out and do it.

I wouldn't rely on it, but an ipod will help pass the time and keeping ur head down works great for me......

quote:

Originally posted by SGT. T:
ruck marching is the only way to improve your ruck march. When I was at Bragg, we rucked with 55lbs, that was the least they would allow for PT. At SFAS you're gonna be walking on all kinds of terrain, usually with a 35lbs or heavier pack. You just gotta start rucking as often as you can. Good luck.

At SFAS your ruck is a lot heavier than 35lbs. Minimum weight is 45lbs of gear, and you usually have at least 50lbs in there, just to make sure you don't come up light on the weigh-in. You also have two full 2quart canteens strapped on your ruck - thats another 10lbs. 5 MREs in the ruck - 10 more lbs. I also had a camelback strapped on to my ruck, which is another 8 or so lbs. So your ruck will actually be 70lbs+.

As others have mentioned, toughen up your feet, and make sure you have a pair of well broken in boots for marching, you will be glad you did. Blisters are a killer at SFAS, try to keep your feet as healthy as possible. Biggest thing is to get your body used to rucking without much of a recovery period - at SFAS your recovery time will be minimal, and sometimes just nonexistent.
So when you're training, don't just ruckmarch a couple of times a week - ruck a couple of times a day.

Good luck