what do you use to add weight to a pack for training hikes?

Want/need to be able to easily adjust the weight up or down easily.

Don't want water jugs moving around and making a heavy bottom.

Whats a good solution?

I’ve been pack training for a long time now like 15 years. Over time I’ve shanked how I do it. When I’m actually hiking with the pack like climbing mountains etc, I keep it from 30-45 to avoid injuries and just have some extra resistance for the workout.

When I do really heavy training, I prefer to do it in a more controlled environment like box steps or some sort of gym machine like a treadmill. That’s when I’ll throw in 75-90lbs.

That has worked really well for me over the past few years.

I use a couple of bulky and heavy old sleeping bags to fill up the bottom 2/3 of the pack and various bladders and water bottles in the top 1/3. I have a couple of MSR 6-liter bladders and a bunch of old bpa Nalgenes that I don't drink out of any more, easy to add or subtract weight and dump the weight if I ever need to.

I stay around 45 pounds for training weight. I use bags of birdseed taped to maintain their shape. I might go heavier once in a while but only in the treadmill where I can keep the elevation steady. I find it’s not the uphills that get me sore, those downhills get the knees.

MM

I use different sizes of plastic jugs filled with sand, and use old blankets for filler and space the jugs of sand out in the pack. Empty windshield washer jugs work great.

Jugs with water separated with bulky clothing usually...

I wrap kettlebells and/or dumbbells in old blankets and towels and duct tape them.

I would try to distribute the weight by using more, small items in order to train realistically.

Appreciate the answers. I’ve managed to maintain some semblance of shape (of which round is one, right?). I’m nowhere near mountain-hunt shape right now.

The spacers and wraps are something I just didn’t think of for some reason. I was trying to avoid having a 50# pendulum of water jugs bouncing off my ass.

This gives me ideas, hence my OP.

Thanks, all.

I use 2 liter pop bottles filled with water . Old blankets and shirts to separate and make up volume. They weigh about 5 lbs each which makes it easy to increase or decrease my training weight .

I have a 20lb and a 30lb slabs of ductile iron. I have light, medium, and heavy training days where one or the other, or both are in the backpack.

I use 25 or 40 lb. bags of water softener salt.

A couple of those 6 gallon water containers should be good enough for you, at least until you are back in shape.

Bunched/rolled up rain gear works well to take up some space, and keeps stuff from moving around. Plus, you probably have lots of it.

Thanks. I was thinking a blue 30 gal fuel barrel filled with wet sand for starters.

5-20# bags of rice, sewn into sleeves made of old BDU trouser legs.

Doubles as shooting bags.




GR

Don't neglect your arms. It will help with tightening straps.

I've used 5 and 10 lb bags of sugar. i usually put them in 2gal ziplocks in case they crack open.

The Southpark version is more better

I have a bunch of homemade sandbags. I used a piece of painters drop cloth from Home Depot and bought some bags of gravel. I made them in 5lb & 10lb sizes. I use these to condition not only me but my llamas so I have over 300lb of them. There are several ways to keep them up off the bottom of a pack. Put them in side pockets, for example, or stuff something else in the bottom of the pack.

A bag of pellets for a pellet stove weighs 40lbs and comes in a reasonably strong bag. They also take up a bit of space in your pack similar to a game bag filled with meat. Easy in and out.

Wow. So much help. Thanks fellers.

R/R plate works pretty good probably about 30lbs

I use a bag of salt for my water softener. I wrap it in a heavy duty trash bag and tape it shut. Works great inside my pack bag.

For training muscular endurance I will choose a 30-40 degree slope and carry 40 lbs of water ballast.

For overall fitness I will load 25lbs of water ballast and do much longer hikes with angles <20 degrees.

I place an old down bag in the bottom of the pack and use 1 gal. rectangular bottles. I choose up and back routes and dump the water ballast at the top to save my knees on the descent. Descending w/ a light pack will allow you to jog or move faster when terrain allows, this helps to keep your heart rate higher and gives a longer cardio workout.

Long days on your feet w/ your hunting [not pack out] load will toughen your feet and work the accessory muscles as well as build cardio endurance. If you intend to hunt all day on your feet it is best to train for that and doing so lets you honestly test all your gear.

mike r

That'd work, that's what my wife uses.

Thanks for the LOLs and the helpful advice.

I have no problem finding weight to pack, what I inartfully asked was more about achieving a realistic backpack density and distribution. I’m lined out now. 👍

But what about the boots? And how about the rifle?

Boots in the other thread. Rifle GTG.

Sack of dog food

5# dumbbells wrapped in bubble wrap work pretty well and allow you to center the mass effectively.

I've tried water, dog food, sand, gravel, metal weights. I settled on sand bags. I buy play sand, empty the bag to about 30 lbs, duct tape the heck out of the bag. I then fill 1 gallon ziplock bags with sand, tape the heck out of them. You need to completely duct tape the plastic bags or they will wear and leak. The 1 gal bag will be 5-6-7 lbs each. I use the 30lber as the base, then add 5-6-7 lbers after that. I put a cheap sleeping in the bottom to lift the weight off the bottom, sand bags on top. That system works well. I normally start with 35 lbs about now and work up to 75 lbs by October. I start with 3 miles, flattish terrain, build to adding terrain to reach 75 lbs and 6 miles. And about August it starts to suck <G>

Assortment of ankle and wrist weights:

Link


Phil

Off season I use this;

https://www.roguefitness.com/alice-frame-and-load-trainer

Long hikes and walking the dog.

Pre-season I use my hunting pack with all the gear I will hunt with, sans rifle.

a great tool for special warfare / military preparation.


I’ll need a different mindset!

I've got a 5 mile hiking trail loop near my shack. I've got both a 20lb and a 30lb slabs of iron that I mix and match into my backpack and my 10lb Garand sans sling.

With said gear I hike the trail 6 days a week ( 1 day off for good behavior). Back at the trail head if the ground is dry or frozen I then drop for pushups, then shed the backpack for crunches.
If the ground is sloppy I head back to the shack for PT with then a final round of chin-ups.

Come October and those 1000 ft. elevation climbs I'm glad for the grunts and groans I've banked during the year...

I have used dumbells and water bottles. Never bad to have extra water on workouts and easy to adjust weight with DB's..

A cast iron stove.

A 50lb sack of potatoes does throw me off my stride when it shifts when jumping over streams.

do the same. sand bags, gal zip locks filled with sand duck taped.

Two x 2.5 gal. water suitcases, side-by side and spout up, in a MOLLE II Assault Pack.

~ 45 lbs all up.




GR

https://blog.goruck.com/rucking-training/wrapping-bricks-explained/

I bought a Run max 80lb vest 10 slots that hold 8lb cylinders made of slippery nylon works great, I had my wife sew on a strap with a buckle in front for doing push ups.

I like using sand bags. I Duck taped the bags to keep them kind of stuff so they hold their shape other wise it all settles down to the bottom of my pack and gets uncomfortable.

I use a fifty pound sack of flour. Generally do an eight mile hike through Ozark hill country on trail with it. For time, which averages about two and a half hours.

Sand bags. I used to use a concrete block but I am getting older.

I prefer jugs of water. That gives me the flexibility to drain them if a knee starts hurting or whatever. I used this method when training for a sheep hunt where my primary goal was to build climbing muscles, but I didn't want to strain my knees on the long downhill coming back.

sand bags here as well- bought three 60 # bags- have one at 30 #, one at 45 # and one fully intact @ 60 #; I just rolled the bags over a few times and then wrapped with Gorilla tape.

the bags (even the intact 60 # one) leaks some sand, not a problem with my pack as it has a meat shelf outside of the bag itself

also my weighted workouts are limited to the 6-8 weeks prior to hunting season (twice a week); I'm generally carrying a pack of some sort the rest of the year day hiking and backpacking and 6-8 weeks of a heavier pack has proven optimal for me; also found that 60 # of sand (and another ~ 15 # in pack/water/jacket/etc) is more than enough for training; too much weight (especially close to hunting season) is too much of a risk of jeopardizing hunting season with an injury

have never had any issues packing out 100-ish # loads; not overly pleasant, but very doable

50 pound bag of salt works, may have been said already.

.

when i was young and much tuffer i used to carry my 5 year old son in the back pack with a metal frame he loved it hang`n on and sometimes yelling like Tarzan

For training purposes only (cardio/strength) I use this;

https://www.roguefitness.com/alice-frame-and-load-trainer

Every time I walk the dog it's on my back.

I just put the Alice frame back in the closet. It hurt so bad with a heavy load. Killing my hips. Was not wide enough for my body.

Just got in a pack frame and bag from Barneys. Starting with 80 pounds in it and it carries very nicely for me not having picked up a pack since September.

caveat I've not read the whole post yet. Since in Texas we feed corn to the deer, my training weight has best been bags of feed. Its buiky enough to work good. One bag of corn that I bag is about 65 pounds. Then get a bag of about 20 sealed and a bag of about 30 or so. Just ad as needed. It adds height to the weight. The only thing thats not realistic to me is it doesn't replicate the bag of moose trimmings depending on what meat bags we have any given kill.

For packing a bear hide or etc... that gets wadded up and the weight is all up and down or for carrying quarters so far the bags of feed work pretty easy.

A lot of people didn’t read the OP. ‘Tis the way of the ‘fire.

Ironbender, I read the OP and I've gotta say, don't blame your heavy bottom on water jugs, you just need to get out more.

Other than that, the .30-06 is way better for elk than the .270, and Leupold scopes suck.

Thanks me later.

Sonuva….

Have you been doxxing me? How'd you know my middle name?

Ridiculous. With like bullet weights, the 270 has higher sectional density!

Speaking of like bullet weights, which bullet weights do you like?

When you get the bottom weights squared away,,,do you have any preferences for jugs????

But I read your post. Thats why I said feed. Bulky weight rather than compact weight. Did the compact weight. Didn't care for all the weight at the bottom of the bag. Did small, didn't care for them moving around.

I can pick up feed in different types and manage to move around. Part bag of this or that. foam pad in-between if I wanted etc...

as you should know per your iron bending, some feed bags are bulkier than others, yet all are to be 50 pounds of weight.

As always YMMV but did think you were asking for all ideas.

The joy of asking. 99 percent of answers may not fit but one might be the magic answer for you.

I can't speak for weekendbender, but I prefer jugs to big bottoms.

Not a fan of plastic jugs (ir)regardless of size.

My OP was more about how to add/subtract weight in smaller than 50# increments, and be able to position it to not be concentrated. Not so much about how to have weight, e.g. water, sand, feed, concrete blocks, etc.

Perhaps I didn’t make that clear.

It was pretty clear that you don't want a big heavy bottom.

And he has nothing against jugs, as long as they are not plastic....

Although, as i get older it seems more difficult to find good jugs that are not plastic....Wonder why????

It's just like ironbender said, they sag down toward the bottom.

Honestly, who does?

Some think it does have something to do with making the world go round.

I need to read more battue posts on Fridays....actually every day....

I sure hope they're better than his Saturday through Thursday posts.....

^^^ solid.

Been rucking in various capacities for years and GoRuck might be spendy but has high quality ruck related items. I started with 5 duct-taped bricks and moved to a ruck plate. So nice to have the weight cinched close to the spine.

The website shared above has lots of info.

Get some!

$6 in bricks, and $40 in duct tape!

The old guys have always been jealous of us who are younger....

Haha, younger than what?

I guess I wasn't clear either. I break up feed bags. My base one is usually about 60 pounds or so. I have access to feed to do this.

Then I break up 50 pound bags into smaller weights. 10. 15. 20. 30. They are bulky enough I don't get that feeling of having diving belt weights all at the bottom. I move various weight bags in and out as needed.

And a look at a feed store can answer a lot of questions. 50 pounds of milo is smaller than 50 pounds of cotton seed or horse and mule etc...

I'll leave you alone now I suppose. But I've tried quite a few ways and so far feed bags is where I'm at.

Gotcha.

Damn electrons…..