You have made the huge decision to sign up for a GORUCK Light event! Or, maybe you’re still on the fence and haven’t fully committed yet. Either way you still want to have an idea of how you are going to successfully train for your GORUCK Light and earn that patch.
How Do You Train For This?
The GORUCK Light is tough… there is no getting around that. We broke this page up into multiple sections to help you navigate the path to your event.
- The GORUCK Light: This section will explain the GORUCK Light event and give you some insight into what to expect. Read this section.
- GORUCK Light Advice: The second section features very important pieces of advice that are outside the scope of training. Read this section.
- All Day Ruckoff Articles: Valuable posts on All Day Ruckoff that will help you train and prepare for your GORUCK Light event. Read this section.
- GORUCK Light Training Plans: The third section is the meat of this page and features training plans which should help physically and mentally prepare you for the event. Choose a plan and follow it.
- What’s Next: The fourth, and final, section titled “what’s next” which provides some links to additional resources as well as final insight. Read this section.
The GORUCK Light
The GORUCK Light experience aims to be similar to the GORUCK Challenge (now called Tough) but with less weight, a shorter time frame, and more fun. Read through the GORUCK Light event page to make sure you understand everything about the event. GORUCK does a great job explaining the event, what you need to bring, and how to not look silly.
GORUCK Light Advice
Here are some random pieces of advice that are incredibly important. Read through these… even if you read nothing else on this page please read through these.
- Understand the GORUCK Light event. Read the page on the GORUCK website about it. Do some research (being on this page is a great start!) Don’t be the confused, lost person at the event.
- Join the Facebook Event page for your GORUCK Light. That page is how the Cadre (leader) of your GORUCK event will communicate with you. There is a chance that the start point will change. There is a chance that the Cadre will list additional required gear. All of that will happen on the Facebook Event page… so join it.
- Don’t train for the bare minimum. There is a chance that your event will run longer than 5 hours and travel more than 10 miles. There have been GORUCK Light events that lasted 8+ hours and traveled 13+ miles. Which leads us to…
- You will not want to make other plans on the day of your GORUCK Light. There is always the chance that your event will run long. Save yourself the trouble of stressing over other commitments on that day by keeping your calendar clear.
- Don’t be late to the event. If you are late your team will suffer because of you. Show up at least 25 minutes early.
All Day Ruckoff Training Articles
These articles are the important ones to read when training for your GORUCK Light event.
- Choose Your GORUCK Weight
- Ruck Plate: How To Secure GORUCK Ruck Plates
- Bricks: How To Wrap Bricks
- Sandbags: Revised Article Coming Soon
- Learn How to Ruck
- Figure Out Your Packing List
- Determine Your Service Component
GORUCK Light Training Plans
You are going to want to train for your GORUCK Light event. We’ve worked hard to aggregate a list of GORUCK Light training plans (as well as created our own guide) to assist you in completing your event. Check out the list, choose a plan, and start training for your event!
What’s Next?
So now that you have a training plan it’s time to do some research on what your event might be like. Read through some of the GORUCK Light AARs (event reviews) on All Day Ruckoff.
Hopefully this page gave you a great starting point to begin (or continue) your GORUCK Light training. We know there is a lot of information (and links) here so give it some time to digest. If you have any suggestions for additions or changes please let us know in a comment as we’re always looking for feedback. Train hard, smile often, crack some jokes, and you’ll have a great time at your event.
GORUCK Light Food
“Bring food… you’ll need it”
GORUCK Light Packing List
“Pack the essentials… nothing more, nothing less”
GORUCK Light Training Plan
“Train Like Your Next Event Depends On It.”
How much PT/calisthenics are done at a typical Light event? Is the rucking continuous miles, or broken up with PT sessions along the way?
Hello can one use a sling style Ruck/backpack for the GoRuck challenges?
There’s no rules against it however it’s generally nice to be able to distribute the weight over both shoulders. Is there a sling bag you had in mind?
I have the 5.11 RUSH MOAB 10 sling pack. It looks like it only holds 1.5 L bladder, though.
Is that acceptable or is minimum 2L bladder for challenges?
There’s no minimum on the bladder size so it depends on how much water you need when you’re out there. For a Light you’ll need between 10 lbs and 20 lbs of dead weight in the pack (not gear, food, water, etc.) which is what I’d be a little more worried about fitting in there since I haven’t seen a MOAB 10 in person. People do use the Bullet 10 (which is a 10L pack) at events so I’m guessing you could make the MOAB 10 work since apparently that’s an 18L pack. I would be worried about the comfort with a sling pack however.
Ok thanks for the info and advice
No problem! Let me know if you’ve got any other questions and if you end up using the MOAB 10 let me know how it works for you!
This might be a silly question, but is there actual running in the Light? If so, any idea how much?
Thx!
Rarely is there any running at all at a GORUCK Light. It really depends on the cadre… at the last Light I did with Cadre Shredder we had to do a little bit of jogging but nothing too crazy. I’ve had plenty of GORUCK Light events that had zero running components. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much for the reply. And yes, very helpful!
I am new to all of this and a little confused. A few friends and I are interested in doing a Light to start with. Is there only one team or several small teams? Would my friends and I be guaranteed to be on the same team?
Hey Todd! There is generally only one team. In some cases, when there are larger classes, the group will be split into 2 or 3 teams (depending on the number of people) but as long as you stay close to your friends you’ll all end up together. Hope that helps!
Are there gyms in Virginia Beach that provide go ruck light training for teams? Easier to train in groups!
GORUCK has a list of rucking clubs and training locations that you might find handy! If you don’t see anything there then Reddit and the Facebook event pages for any GORUCK events coming your way are great places to check.