Rucking: benefits, gear, FAQs, and the journey from Special Forces to founding GORUCK | Jason McCarthy

**Peter Attia** (0:11)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Drive podcast. I'm your host, Peter Attia. This podcast, my website, and my weekly newsletter all focus on the goal of translating the science of longevity into something accessible for everyone.
Our goal is to provide the best content in health and wellness, and we've established a great team of analysts to make this happen. It is extremely important to me to provide all of this content without relying on paid ads. To do this, our work is made entirely possible by our members, and in return, we offer exclusive member-only content and benefits above and beyond what is available for free. If you want to take your knowledge of this space to the next level, it's our goal to ensure members get back much more than the price of the subscription. If you want to learn more about the benefits of our premium membership, head over to peterattiamd.com forward slash subscribe.
My guest this week is Jason McCarthy. Jason served in the US Special Forces from 2003 to 2008, serving in Iraq in 2007, where he was awarded a Bronze Star and an Army Commendation Medal, as well as serving in Europe and West Africa in 2008
Jason currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Green Beret Foundation. He is also the founder of Goruck, which makes rucking equipment. And if you've been listening to this podcast at all lately or followed me on social media over the past couple of years, you probably are aware of how much I enjoy rucking and how much I speak about it. I wanted to have Jason on this podcast to talk a little bit about his story. And Jason is not unique or alone in someone who has trained extensively using rucking. Of course, anybody in the Special Forces has done that. And I think that's part of the point. It's really, how did Jason think about bringing this as something to the masses?
We'll talk a lot about Jason's background and his decision to join the military after 9-11. We talk about the training in the Special Forces and how rucking has been used for many years in the military and how frankly brutal some of the rucking training sessions are and how when Jason left the military and kind of felt a little directionless, this idea of creating a company that does what Goruck now does became part of his salvation. So from there, we answer some of the more frequently asked questions about rucking. And this includes whether or not you need a special ruck sack or whether you can just use a backpack, the difference between a ruck sack and a weight vest, how to think about how much weight to use, whether you should use a chest strap or a hip belt, differences in types of footwear and what the pros and cons are around those things, common injuries and how to avoid them, and the frequency that you should be doing it when you're starting out, and how to train for longer rucking events. So in many ways, this is both a story of Jason and rucking, but it's also a very practical how-to guide. And I've wanted to do this for a long time now because I get so many questions about rucking. And first of all, I don't consider myself an expert at all. And secondly, I thought it would be really great to have it all in one place. And my clear hope at the end of this is that everybody decides to do some form of rucking at least once in a while. So without further delay, please enjoy my conversation with Jason McCarthy.
Jason, thanks so much for making time. I know you're here in Austin for some awesome stuff that maybe we'll get to, but always great to be with you in person again.

**Jason McCarthy** (3:32)
Thanks for having me out to your podcast studio.

**Peter Attia** (3:35)
So people who listen to this podcast, especially for the past year or two years now, have heard me talk about rucking a lot.
And I point back a lot to you and to Michael Easter. Of course, you and Michael are friends. In fact, I met you through Michael. So clearly we're gonna talk a lot about rucking today. But I think for people to kind of understand what it is and all of the how-tos, I mean, I've got a list of all these questions that I know you're so facile in.
I think maybe to put in context kind of your broader mission, it makes sense a little bit to kind of understand your journey. So maybe we can start with some of that.

**Jason McCarthy** (4:12)