New GORUCK Heavy Standards Revealed

The GORUCK Heavy Standards were updated again in 2019. For more information on the new standards check out this post.

Cadre Dan has been placed in charge of all things GORUCK Heavy. One of the first things he did was announce that there were going to be a new set of standards at GORUCK Heavy events. He hasn’t released any official information on what these standards will be until this week. Two days ago he released the new weight requirement (ruck must be 35 lbs dry without food and water) and yesterday he released the rest of them. I’ve taken the liberty to extract out and format the information I view as being most important.

The Standards

The following are the new standards for GORUCK Heavy events. The push-ups and sit-ups are based off of the Army Physical Fitness Test (AFPT). Follow that link to see what your standards are based on age and gender.

• Minimum ruck weight dry (includes gear): 35 lbs
• Minimum event distance: 35 miles
• Starting PT Test:
  • 2 min push-ups (no ruck)
  • 2 min sit-ups (no ruck)
  • 12 mile road ruck march (3.5 hours max, does not count towards 35 miles)
  • Failure = Good Livin’ for the class or possibly performance drop

Other Changes

• Team Weight: 50 lbs
• If you try and gray man it (hide and don’t pull your weight) you will be performance dropped.
• Minimum 2 Cadre per GORUCK Heavy. More will come depending on numbers signed up.

Cadre Dan’s Complete Post

Here is the post made by Cadre Dan in its entirety:

Rucktards…….First off, I want to thank those of you that emailed me in reference to feedback for the GORUCK Heavy. Three individuals will be getting an email here in due time with a free pass for a GORUCK Heavy. This SOP is based off of your feedback and was bounced off of multiple Cadre. This SOP is actually twenty some pages long and takes about a full Bud Heavy to read. I shrank it down for you guys into the following: GORUCK Mission Statement-GORUCK Cadre through the GORUCK Heavy, challenge excellence and do right by people. GORUCK Heavy Cadre Intent-The intent of the GORUCK Heavy is to build better Americans, 24 hours at a time. Through the GORUCK Heavy, participants learn a different side of themselves from lessons learned from the Cadre. These lessons learned are either from the different backgrounds each Cadre has in their respective military or civilian careers and sharing experiences from overseas conducting kinetic and non-kinetic operations. These lessons learned are then applied in a 24 or more hour class through different events in a practical setting through shared misery, pushing each participant past their perceived mental, physical, and psychological breaking points. Key Objectives-1. GR Heavy will be the ultimate team event. 2. Conduct leadership under very stressful conditions. 3. Theme is built around AMERICA and why we are the greatest country in the world. 4. This is a GORUCK Selection prep course. 5. Earn your “individual” patch. 6. Heighten each participant’s sense of accomplishment. So what does this all mean? Well for starters you all know by now that the weight requirement is 35LBS dry for all. Cadre will weigh your rucks in their own special way. You will at the very beginning of the event conduct 2 MINS of Push-ups, 2 MINS of Sit-ups and a 12 Mile Road March. The Push-up and Sit-up standards are based off of the U.S. Army PT Test for your gender and age bracket. The 12 mile road march is done in less than 3 and half hours. Fail any of these and you or the class will be punished or possibly performance dropped. Then the real fun starts as outlined by the Key Objectives above. Minimum distance covered by each GORUCK Heavy is 35 miles, and that’s the minimum and overall distance will be determined by the Cadre. One 50LB team weight. The team weight needs to weigh 50 pounds at the beginning and at the end. No wheels will be attached to the team weight and it must be carried throughout the class. Team weights need to be in compliance with Special Forces Rule#1. Last but not least Performance Drops, in that Cadre can and will drop you if you are not in compliance with the above Key Objectives. So basically if you are trying to “gray man” it through the GORUCK Heavy, you will get dropped. You need to earn your seat at the table as this ladies and gentleman, is the ultimate team event. Good luck earning your Heavy Patch and this SOP is effective IMMEDIATELY for ALL GORUCK Heavies.