The UK's Fittest Woman uses rucking to get fitter and stronger. Here's how she's training for the CrossFit Games.
- CrossFit athlete Aimee Cringle is the UK's Fittest Woman for 2024.
- She's been using a ruck (weighted backpack) to train for the 2024 CrossFit Games.
The UK's Fittest Woman has been training hard ahead of the 2024 CrossFit Games on August 8, and rucking is a key part of her arsenal.
Rucking — wearing a backpack containing a weight plate while walking or performing exercises — originated as a military training tool but has soared in popularity among people hoping to get more out of their walks, including founders and VCs in Silicon Valley.
Aimee Cringle, 25, earned the title of UK's Fittest Woman after finishing first in the her country's CrossFit semi-finals. She told Business Insider that wearing a ruck while training makes exercises more challenging. So when she competes without a ruck at the games, exercises should feel easier.
Cringle broke down her intense training regime and shared how she uses rucking to build strength and fitness.
Rucking helps to build strength
Cringle, whose background is in athletics, trains six days a week. Since moving to mainland England in 2023 to work with a new coach, her training has become a lot more structured, she said, and features less steady-state cardio like cycling, running, and swimming.
Instead, she's concentrated more on strength-building. In addition to classic weight lifting, Cringle has been using a ruck to make exercises such as legless rope climbs, tricep dips, and chest-to-bar pull-ups, more challenging, she said.
"I guess if you can do stuff with a ruck on, you can do it better without," Cringle said. "It makes everything harder."
After performing an exercise wearing a ruck, it suddenly feels a lot easier once you take it off, which is "quite cool," Cringle said.
She's never done the same workout twice
No two days are the same in Cringle's training regime, however, an average week might include the following:
- Monday morning: two 20-minute AMRAPs (as many rounds or reps as possible) including rope climbs, sled work, running, and rowing
- Monday afternoon: rope climbs, dips, and handstand push-ups wearing a ruck
- Tuesday morning: 400-calorie assault bike, five-kilometer row, 400-calorie assault bike
- Tuesday afternoon: strength training including squats and snatches, shorter high-intensity workout, and accessory movements
- Wednesday morning: interval training
- Wednesday afternoon: gymnastic work such as hand-stand walks, ring muscle-ups, and GHD sit-ups
- Thursday: active recovery such as swimming or cycling
- Friday morning: running
- Friday afternoon: strength training
- Saturday morning: strength work such as bench press, plus conditioning
- Saturday afternoon: gymnastic-focused group training, such as rope climbs, handstand push-ups, and handstand walks
- Sunday: full rest day or gentle walk or cycle
"I haven't done the same workout twice ever," Cringle said.
Cringle's priority is performance
As Cringle has improved her CrossFit skills, she has built muscle, and she previously told BI that accepting her growing body wasn't always easy.
However, she's focused on performance rather than aesthetics.
"If I can reach my goal then I'll do what needs to be done, and if that was to put on some weight…" Cringle paused mid-thought. "With CrossFit, we're athletes, so we are bound to look stronger and larger than the average human. It seems to have worked anyway."
Cringle continued: "Some of the stuff we can do, it's so impressive. Maybe not even me, but the weights some girls can lift — and a lot of girls aren't even that big and they can lift so much and do so much. So I think I'd rather do that, maybe weigh a bit more and just lift so much."
Despite being the third British woman to ever qualify for the CrossFit Games in the individual elite category, Cringle struggles to feel proud of herself. But it's this constant drive to do better and achieve more that is seeing Cringle's star rise.