People ask me why do soldiers seem to do the opposite - with the bulk of their kit lower down their backs - it’s because if your kit is high up you can’t raise your head to look up when you’re lying down.
I also think it’s strange to have your heavy kit up high even in a civilian context when you aren’t lying down - you don’t put the heaviest things on a top shelf normally. I tend to put my heaviest stuff supported by my hips, either on belt kit or lower down in my daysack or bergen.
Deuter being an outdoor brand, they probably expect people to be leaning slightly forward when hiking most of the time, and strongly forward in hard slopes.
Putting the weight higher balances better under that assumption. It works with messenger bags as well: you'll want them at different positions depending on how hard you're leaning or if you're walking.
Honestly I don’t think Deuter’s advice and yours differ that much. You’re not going to carry weight below your belt line, because if you do you’re wasting energy moving it back and forth as you walk. You’re not going to carry weight above your shoulders, because it’s pretty damn dangerous in anything approaching technical terrain (throws off your center of gravity too much, and risks causing uncontrolled head first falls). So you’re left with how you distribute weight along your back. Deuter’s advice doesn’t distinguish, but the usual thing is heavy, dense things go on the lower back, and as you move up the back you put still-heavy but less dense things, and then lighter but dense, etc. Your sleep system goes at the very bottom, usually in its own compartment, and you put lighter stuff along the outside. This means when you rotate your body, the heavy stuff is close into your center of mass and easily controlled. You reserve the top of the pack for heavily accessed, light stuff.
They don’t say this explicitly, but the entire logic of the system revolves around having things that will throw you off your stance as close to your body as possible, so that you remain stable as you move.
Their difficult terrain advice is to put the bulk of your load above your sleeping bag close to your back which puts it near your center of mass where you have the best support.
I agree with you that I don’t get their easy terrain advice. Anyone who has ever tried to turn back suddenly while top heavy know it’s a bad idea.
> Heavy stuff up top makes you top-heavy, which isn’t good.
Why isn't it good? It does make you less stable, but it makes you nimbler. I think it all depends on the terrain, weight of the backpack, and personal preferences. I've hiked a fair bit and by far prefer heavy stuff up top.
If it tips in any direction it’s taking your back with it - and potentially your neck if it’s as high as they picture! I regularly run with 30 kg, and fast-walk with 45 kg.
That is a _lot_ of weight to run with, and I don’t think their advice is aimed at or, as you say, relevant to your use case.
Speaking as a highly experienced backpacker, with typical loads (10-20% body weight), the point of having weight distributed along your lower and upper back is to conform to the spine and somewhat match our natural weight distribution. Putting weight higher is awful, and putting it lower —- while it lowers your center of gravity — is awful for actually moving down the trail. Even day hike fanny packs with a few liters of water in them are annoying enough that I very often just take my regular pack on day hikes vs putting weight directly around my waist. The issue, just in case it isn’t clear, is that as you move back and forth you’re moving the weight with you. It’s much better for it to be held relatively stable against your back.
Finally, I’m trying to work out what you do that you run with 30kg on your back. Trail runners carry significantly less than I do, and even people trying to set through-hike records and who therefore are trail running things like the entire PCT don’t carry anywhere near that weight. Are you in the military? Honestly running with 30kg is pretty damn hard on your body. My knees hurt just imagining it.
Keeping weight at shoulder height is substantially easier on smooth terrain. It’s a biomechanical fact that I also didn’t believe at first. The best way to illustrate this is to think about balancing a stick on end, its significantly easier to balance a yardstick than a ruler, likewise, it is much more difficult for your body to balance weight at your hips than at your neck because you get the advantage of leverage. The higher the weight is, the easier it is to stay “underneath” it.
Agreed. Heavy stuff up high has a greater turning couple with any movement of the spine, putting uneven stresses on the back. Heavy stuff around the hips is much better.
I also think it’s strange to have your heavy kit up high even in a civilian context when you aren’t lying down - you don’t put the heaviest things on a top shelf normally. I tend to put my heaviest stuff supported by my hips, either on belt kit or lower down in my daysack or bergen.