A weighted vest is a low-impact way to improve your fitness. It adds weight to body weight activities such as walking, jogging, and agility drills.
As a certified fitness trainer, I've seen clients and people employ weighted vests in their training regimen without knowing how to properly use them and their true benefits.
I went through extensive research and reviews of the weighted vest and used it for a couple of months to learn the benefits that come with it.
In this article, I will provide my expertise and findings on the benefits of a weighted vest, how to use it, considerations before buying it, and the best-weighted vest exercises.
Quick Summary
- The benefits of weighted vests include helping with strength and endurance training, improving cardiovascular capacity, bone health and density, losing weight faster, and increasing core strength and posture.
- Adding weight to your body is an excellent way to improve your fitness regimen, whether you want to grow stronger, run faster, or push yourself to the gym.
- The extra weight increases the power you push yourself, resulting in faster energy depletion, which can be beneficial.
The Benefits of Weighted Vest
Helps With Strength Training
A good weighted vest is an excellent alternative for anybody wishing to improve their strength in either athletics or daily life.
Getting acclimated to carrying ten to twenty pounds of additional weight (that isn't permanent and may be removed at any time) can significantly increase your overall strength.
Consider it this way: if you wish to jump higher, practice jumping with twenty pounds on.
As a result, when you remove the vest, your body is accustomed to producing enough force to push an even bigger individual.
This is a simple technique for quickly increasing your vertical, which depends on speed and strength.
Helps With Endurance Training
Any exercise you do while wearing weighted vests will be substantially more difficult than without.
Even a few more pounds may significantly improve the level of difficulty of your workout.
This resistance makes your muscles work harder, causing them to break down and rebuild.
You'll notice a significant gain in endurance and stamina when you work out with the vest if you add more weight during exercises — even with a small vest.
Improves Cardiovascular Capacity
When you wear a weight vest, don't be shocked if it seems difficult to breathe or if you're breathing heavier.
When wearing a weighted vest, your body needs to work more to travel at comparable distances, intensities, and speeds, as when you don't.
While initially difficult, this will enhance your cardiovascular capacity measures such as VO2 max (maximum rate of oxygen consumption) with time.
A recent study discovered that weighted vest exercise boosted runners' blood lactate thresholds. This implies they could withstand quicker speeds for longer periods before becoming fatigued [1].
"Moving the body with an extra pound is more difficult than moving the torso at its normal weight. You're essentially forcing your system to work out as though you were heavier."
- Seamus Sullivan, Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist
Improves Bone Density and Health
Wearing a weighted vest is comparable to weight lifting in that you make motions while carrying an external load.
Carrying this extra weight stimulates cells called osteoblasts, which produce new bone material called hydroxylapatite [2].
Your bones get denser and stronger over time to handle the added weight.
Because the musculoskeletal system is interconnected, the bone mineral density and connective tissues will strengthen as your muscles strengthen.
It Can Easily be Added to Body Weight Workouts
Walking or running with a quality weight vest is an easy addition to your everyday routine.
Resistance training using a weighted vest enables you to exercise in the same sized area your body normally takes up, making it a useful alternative if you live in a small place.
A weighted vest may supplement any activity, including jumping rope, squats, deadlifts, push-ups, squats, and sit-ups.
Helps Lose Weight Faster
Working out while wearing a weighted vest may significantly boost the number of calories burned while exercising.
The larger weight forces your muscles to work harder, requiring more energy to be expended in the form of burnt calories. More calories burnt in the same or less time leads to more weight loss.
Weight vests render your workout tougher. However, certain after-effects exist, such as enhanced EPOC (Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption).
This improved EPOC revs up your metabolism, making your body more efficient at burning calories after removing the weighted vest [3].
Increases Core Strength and Posture
Adding weight to the upper body forces the body to activate your core to maintain you upright.
By straightening up your back, the increased effort on your abdominal muscles can assist in improving your posture.
When using the weighted vest, maintain your back straight and the shoulders back.
What Is a Weighted Vest?
Weighted vests are vests with shoulder holsters that are weighted for exercises.
A weighted vest is durable and allows you to add or subtract weight, often in the shape of sandbags, bespoke steel bars, or other weighted things.
Weighted vest training adheres to the same fundamental idea as weight training, progressive overload, which refers to gradually increasing the tension exerted on your body to stimulate muscular growth.
Because it is a prevalent kind of fitness training in the military, they are occasionally called tactical vests.
How To Use the Weighted Vest
It is critical to adjust the vest for maximum comfort, irrespective of the type of vest used.
It should be tight enough to minimize bounce while allowing enough movement for the arms to swing.
Choose the Right Weight
If you're using an adjustable weight vest, change the weight to fit your activity.
Start with a lighter weight than you believe you need if you're new to weighted vests.
Fatigue will occur with lower intensities of aerobic activities, such as jogging, and with fewer repetitions of strength exercises.
Choose the Best Workout for You
Choose workouts that challenge you to move your body across space while working against the load of the vest to receive the most advantages.
For example, jogging with a 12-pound (5.4-kg) vest will provide more benefits than riding a stationary bicycle.
Furthermore, as compared to sitting workouts like the leg press or lat pulldowns, the vest will give the best resistance with exercises like squats and pull-ups.
It may be beneficial to avoid activities that create a higher degree of strain on the lower back, like bent-over rows and stiff-leg deadlifts, to reduce the excessive loads that raise the risk of injury.
Know Your Exercise History
Your exercise history will determine the frequency you utilize a weighted vest.
If you're new to exercising out, employing a weighted vest 1-2 times per week will help your torso to adjust to the weight loss.
However, if you've frequently been jogging or lifting, utilizing a weighted vest 2-3 times weekly may be OK.
What To Consider Before Purchasing a Weighted Vest
Weighted vests do not come in one size fits all. They are accessible in various sizes, weight capacities, and styles.
Finding a vest that you are at ease wearing is critical to increasing effectiveness and minimizing injuries.
When selecting a weighted vest, you must examine your fitness level, objectives, and interests. This will aid in determining the best style, weight capacity, and size for you.
Weighted Vest Comfort
When selecting a weighted vest, the fit is critical, especially if you intend to use it for aerobic and endurance weighted vest training.
Weighted vests should include the following features:
- Fit snugly for optimal compression.
- Have adequate chest mobility to allow for easy breathing and unrestricted movement of your arms.
Many vests have shoulder padding to reduce friction, breathable fabric to drain away sweat, and ventilation to minimize overheating. Consider the activities you'll perform and how these qualities will aid you.
Weighted Vest Cost
Weighted vests can range in price from $40 to $400, depending on their weight capacity and quality.
If you aren't quite prepared for that spending, you may experiment with various weight-bearing exercise options to see if a weighted vest is suited for you.
Try practicing your activity while carrying a medicine ball, a hefty backpack, or wrist or ankle weights.
While the weight will not be as uniformly distributed as while wearing a vest, and you may want to avoid some workouts that you may do using the weighted vest, the benefits may be comparable.
Weighted Vest Type
Weighted vests are classified into shoulder holsters, torso-covering, and tactical.
Each has a distinct set of benefits and drawbacks to consider before making a purchase.
Tactical Weighted Vest
These weighted vests, originally employed by the military and law enforcement to contain ballistic plates, include pockets on the front and back to properly distribute weight throughout the upper body.
Tactical vests frequently have replaceable plates, allowing you to vary the weight burden based on the activity.
Shoulder Holster Weighted Vest
These vests are designed to be worn like a bag, with a buckle at the front and weight dispersed around the upper back and straps.
The basic design is ideal if you value movement and want something comfy to wear for extended periods.
However, shoulder holster-style vests are frequently fixed-weight, so if you wish to continue progressive overloading, you'll need to replace the vest with a heavier one over time.
If back discomfort is an issue, these weighted vests may not be the best option.
Torso-Covering Weighted Vest
As the name implies, these vests disperse weight across your whole back and torso. Adding a load to your core adds resistance to almost every motion your body performs.
Furthermore, spreading the weight across a broader torso region allows for a smaller design, giving you more movement and a more comfortable fit.
These are excellent choices for cardio enthusiasts and weightlifters and are adjustable.
Weighted Vest Safety
When using a weighted vest for the first time, beginners often start too heavy. Overexertion, joint problems, and back ailments can all result from this.
A weighted vest can also raise the danger of overtraining syndrome, which can cause a performance plateau or decrease, muscular heaviness or stiffness, an elevated resting heart rate, and other symptoms [4].
Working out with a weighted vest makes it easy to start with heavier weights than you can manage.
"Whatever you want to practice while wearing a vest, be sure you can do it well without the weighted vest, and then start gently."
- Aaron Guyett, Education Director at Living Fit
Best Weighted Vest Exercises
Weighted vests work to help level up your activities and expedite your development, whether you're working out for speed, strength, endurance, or gains.
Learn More: Best Weighted Vests For CrossFit: 2023 Updated
Walking or Running
Weighted vests work to improve stamina, strength, and endurance.
However, you don't have to put on the vest for the duration of the activity to reap its results.
Research that looked at the impact of wearing a weighted vest throughout running warmups discovered that it significantly increased peak sprint speeds and decreased leg stiffness [5].
Body Weight Exercises
When performing body weight workouts, it's easy to reach a plateau — you only weigh a certain amount, and adding additional reps may not make as big of a difference in your program as it did when you initially started.
Weighted vests work to improve the intensity and gives you the extra push you need to grow muscle without dealing with cumbersome free loads and barbells.
Some of these exercises include:
- Squats
- Lunges
- Pull-ups or chin-ups
- Bear crawls
- Step-ups or jump box
- Planks or push-ups
Agility Exercises
Weighted vests are excellent for improving balance, coordination, and explosive force, all required for agility workouts.
Because the added weight imposes more strain on the entire body, performing the activities without the weighted vest after training for a long period with it on becomes considerably easier.
The following agility workouts perform well with a weighted vest:
- Lateral jumps
- Lateral shuffles
- Shuttle runs
- Plank jacks
- Dot drills
FAQs
Do Weighted Vests Help Build Muscle?
Yes, weighted vests help build muscle. The additional weight makes your muscles work harder, which may improve strength and muscular growth.
Are Weighted Vests Healthy?
Yes, weighted vests are healthy. Unlike ankle or wrist weights, a weighted vest can be useful on a walk by applying pressure to your bones to encourage the formation of new bone cells, which aids in preventing bone loss.
Does a Weighted Vest Help Lose Belly Fat?
Yes, weighted vests help lose belly fat. The increased resistance will cause you to burn more calories, resulting in weight reduction over time. Furthermore, the vest can improve your posture and activate your core muscles, reducing belly fat.
Supplementing Your Weighted Vest Workouts
Many activities can benefit from the addition of weighted vests. They are an excellent technique to boost calorie burn, power, and endurance.
Many types of vests are accessible, so select the one that best fits your needs.
To enjoy a demanding yet injury-free weighted vest workout, start easy and increase as your body allows, and employ these top-rated pre-workout supplements.
They have proven effective upon testing by increasing our endurance, focus, energy, and pump that we require to complete our repetitions and sets.
References:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31070108/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK45504/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8439678/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22266642/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24462560/
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