"Rucking", or walking about while wearing a backpack, is one of those trendy, bleeding-edge things that the young, cool-kids are doing.
I hate to say this, but those cool-kids might be on to something. Being able to carry heavy cargo moderate distances on your back is functional in a primal way that lifting up a perfectly balanced weight or pedaling an exercise machine in a climate-controlled gym is not.
The conversation bounced around quite a bit. That is the nature of that kind of exercise. Being able to converse is a good marker that you aren't working too hard. Being motivated to keep the sentences short and on-topic is evidence that you are exercising that you are not coasting.
One topic we talked about was the non-linear nature of your body's feedback when we are working. Our perception of the amount of physical work we are doing is linear up to a certain threshold and then small increases in actual work past that threshold are perceived as HUGE increases in effort.
Another topic involved how some people do not have a clutch between their brain and their mouth. Whatever is passing through their head is spilling out of their mouth. There is nothing inherently wrong with that as long as the people around that person are calibrated to that fact and know to discount accordingly.
Twenty hours a week
With regard to the venue where we were walking, it is heavily infested with assorted, invasive plants like Asian Bush Honeysuckles, Asian Bittersweet, Multiflora Rose and Autumn Olive.
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| Not where we walked but it gives you a sense of what it is like. Cut Asian Honeysuckle stacked for removal. |
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| The ground that had been cleared of brush. |
Removing those bushes would be labor intensive and would be a good "sink" for large amounts of low-quality labor. To minimize damage to valuable trees, the stems need to be cut and then dragged out of the woods by hand. Then a licensed pesticide applicator must "paint" the cut stumps with an appropriate herbicide.
One great thing about a job like that is that it makes the new worker eager to acquire skills so they can be promoted out of it. It doesn't involve interacting with customers. There is very low risk of disgruntled employees "destroying the brand". WHile any tool can be used as a weapon, these tools are lower risk than power-tools or impact tools like axes and picks.
This work looks like great work for the people receiving EBT benefits and must join the work-force to continue getting those benefits. If I understand the issue, they must work 20 hours-per-week. Realistically, it makes sense to me to knock the requirements down to 16 hours a week for the first two weeks (2 mornings a week in the woods and 2 afternoons in "training") and then ramp-up the work-hours as their bodies acclimate to physical labor.
If it comes to be it will surely prove to be an interesting time in history. If I were being honest, I don't think it will. The looting mobs will get out of hand at 12:01 November first. These people aren't 'down on their luck', they are lifers. They're not about to change who and what they are because some politicians can't do their job. They'll just take, as they've been doing their entire lives. That's all they know. The very notion of 'working' for what one has might as well be oil and water. Hunger would be an emulsifier for you and me, but not these people. They'll riot and pillage 40 hours per week before they get a job and work.
ReplyDeletePlaying to a weakness is a helluva way to build oneself.
DeleteAs to ERJ's suggestion of knocking back to 16 hours, I think asking 20 hours out of every 168 hours is already lenient.
If it were up to me, I'd have them fall in and call it boot camp for layabouts.
Section 8 is hereby known as barracks. Lights out at 2100.
Just as criminal conviction may render suspension of rights, work detail results in loss of privileges. Zero allowance for weak minds and weak bodies to dictate terms. There's the bar, reach for it.
On one of the local online gardening forums, the mods decreed that Asian bittersweet must be called "round-leaf bittersweet" because racism. Using the traditional name gets you banned.
ReplyDeleteOK, Round-eye human. Whatever you say.
DeleteSaid with a smile.
Why is autumn olive considered invasive? I have a few around the yard here. It seems to spread slowly, maybe due to weather. It’s nicer than the mountain laurel, which is so thick you can’t walk through it, and spreads everywhere.
ReplyDeleteSouthern NH
A few factors:
Delete-It is not native to North America so it has relatively few pests that coevolved to keep the population in check.
-It fixes nitrogen which gives it a huge advantage in less fertile soils.
-It produces huge amounts of berries
-It is drought tolerant and can out-compete nearly every other bush on dry sites
-Juvenile shoots are thorny. And since birds eat the berries and poop before leaving the bush, they are septic.
In my area of NH the deer eat it so much that it stays under fair control. Looking it up it's actually awesome for feeding livestock as "tree fodder". It is however not recommended for domestic rabbits.
DeleteAnother southern NH view: I like the autumn olive, as my sheep eat it eagerly. Mountain laurel is poisonous to them.
DeleteAnother method of "rucking" is a weight vest. Disadvantage is that it is not as convenient as a "ruck" as a weight vest is a thing you have to buy (versus a backpack and something for weight). Advantage is that it distributes the load equally across the torso.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that I had to lean forward and that my situational awareness suffered.
DeleteI was using an ALICE pack/frame ballasted with zip-lock bags filled with sand. I think that I would not have leaned as far forward if the weight was closer to my spine.
ERJ, this is similar to my experience with hiking. It is actually a bit of a thing on descents: overbalance too much and over you go, overbalance too little and you fall back.
DeleteI've used 20 lb. bags of pinto beans as rucksack ballast. Also carried a 10 pound barbell in one hand to simulate a rifle's weight. Switch hands when you tire.
DeleteI've been rucking with a "weighted exercise vest" aka plate carrier for several years. I highly recommend it.
ReplyDelete