For team health and team building, several Tucker Paving Inc. employees have been engaged in and enjoying a form of military-type training for the masses. The exercise — figuratively and literally — is called “rucking.”
You might have first been exposed to the term when we posted about it on our Facebook page and other social media sites way back in July. That was when sweating during robust outdoor exercise and weight shedding came much more easily in Central Florida.
Just what is rucking? From an authority on the subject, goruck.com, we learn this:
RUCK•ING [verb] Carrying a weighted pack on your back. It implies action, energy, and purpose.
“Rucking is the foundation of Special Forces training. Green Berets are well versed in shouldering heavy rucks through cities, mountains, jungles and deserts, in war and in peace — alone when they must, together whenever possible. Rucking requires strength, endurance, and character —and builds it, too.”
The website adds this note: “Hiking is rucking in the mountains, urban hiking is simply called rucking. Rucking can be done at any weight.”
One would be surprised to discover how much weight can be lost and how much physical strength and endurance can be built just by walking vigorously around the neighborhood with a weighted pack on the back.
Rucking can be done alone, but our Tucker Paving team members — the ones doing it on their own time (but with support and encouragement from management) — have discovered that it’s more enjoyable and uplifting to do it together. Camaraderie is a wonderful thing.
At the time of our rucking-related Facebook post, some of our rucking employees were working toward a big “Go Ruck” event in Florida. That one was held just recently, on Nov. 9 in Jacksonville Beach, and it was a long one — 50 miles long!
We’re proud of our co-workers who have gotten involved in this positive and healthful activity. Rucking is good for the body, and it’s good for the company team.
