This week brought the unveiling of a brand new Garmin that you probably haven’t heard of before.
Garmin’s tactix range is a line of tactical smartwatches with military application in mind. The new tactix 8 features an AMOLED display, a rugged design, and Applied Ballistics Solver tech offering customized aiming solutions for shooting a rifle.
As you can see, the tactix 8 is military in both grade and purpose, which also explains the inclusion of a brand new feature to track an exercise that’s taking the world by storm.
Ruck and roll
Rucking is an exercise trend that’s growing in popularity. It involves exercising while carrying a weighted rucksack or backpack (hence the name) and naturally has its roots in military training, which explains the tactix 8 link.
Enthusiast outfit GORUCK describes it as a staple of military training. Infantry recruits in the United States Army (and in militaries the world over) must undertake hours-long ruck marches carrying heavy equipment.
Because of the potential to increase calorie burn and improve fitness, rucking is now taking off as a fitness trend beyond military application, and is now so popular that Garmin feels compelled to offer a dedicated workout profile to support it.
Rucking: What are the benefits?
Rucking is an increasingly popular exercise because it’s really easy to do. All you need is a rucksack or backpack and some heavy weight. You don’t even need to use actual dumbbells or kettlebells either, some old books or water will do just fine.
Multiple studies have highlighted the benefits of load-carrying exercises. This 2019 study found that 10 weeks of training by rucking drastically increases a person’s squat jump maximal force, push-ups, sit-ups, and estimated oxygen uptake. This 2021 study found similar improvements in both male and female participants, including a 5.4% increase in aerobic capacity in males.
Even in older participants (65-74 years), training at home involving weighted step exercises improved stair climbing speed and power, helping prolong independence and stave off age-related health conditions.
Rucking on Garmin
We’d heard reports late last year that Garmin was planning to add support for rucking, possibly alongside the new Garmin Instinct 3. While it didn’t materialize with that launch, we’ve now got rucking a few weeks later.
As mentioned, it’s currently limited to the tactix 8, but there’s every chance that Garmin is planning to increase support, bringing rucking to more devices in the future. We’ve reached out to Garmin to see if we can confirm any future support, and will report back accordingly.
Using the rucking activity on the tactix 8 appears straightforward. The only key metric you need is pack weight, which you can input before you start your exercise. Then, Garmin will calculate all the usual health and fitness metrics as you go, presumably taking into account the weight you’re lugging around.
Another string to Garmin’s bow
It has been a choppy start to 2025 for Garmin, with the company’s Instinct 3 launch overshadowed somewhat by a global outage that saw thousands of devices rendered useless by a blue triangle of death.
While the company’s infrastructure has taken a pounding, its commitment to industry-leading health and fitness tracking is undeniable, and this new support for rucking is another great reason why Garmin always places highly amongst the best smartwatches, best running watches, and beyond.
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stephen.warwick@futurenet.com (Stephen Warwick)
