Pro Advice For Your First Ruck Race

Fitness alone won't cut it when you're toeing the line at your first ruck race—the veterans know there's a massive gap between being in great shape and being ruck-race ready. We sat down with two elite ruckers to extract the hard-won lessons that separate first-timers who crush it from those who hit the wall, covering everything from race-day tactics to gear strategy that your training routine never taught you. Get ready to learn what Mark Jones and Ronald Tortola wish they'd known before their first ruck, so you don't have to learn it the hard way.

You can just "wing it" at your first ruck race. We prefer tapping into wisdom that only comes from experience. Dustin Merrell is taking on his first ruck race at the Tejas Trails Cactus Rose in Texas. His fitness is on point, but there are so many things he needs to know ASAP. So, we asked veteran ruckers, Mark Jones and Ronald Tortola to come share some wisdom with the first timer.

Good luck to Dustin competing at Tejas Trails; to Mark competing at Rucking World Championship; and to Ronald competing in GORUCK Selection - all in October.

Eager to throw a ruck on and start moving? Check out one of Ronald's favorite but brutal Ruck Run workouts.