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It's not an exaggeration to say buying a weighted vest has been one of the best fitness investments of my life, no pun intended.
I'd been eyeing weighted vests for months, and researched different styles and prices, and finally jumped on the opportunity when my top pick from Rogue Fitness went on sale.
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The vest is modeled after military-style armor plate carriers. The plates come separately, and are sold in pairs, from five pounds each up to 20 pounds. I opted to wear 14 pounds worth of plates.
I wore it with three different styles of workout: running, standard body weight movements like squats, pull-ups, and push-ups, and HIIT circuits.
After working out with it for more than a month, I've noticed big improvements to my speed, endurance, and core strength, without making any other changes to my routine.
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I glammed up my vest with some patches I got online, since I wanted to avoid scaring the neighbors into thinking the world's tiniest SWAT team had arrived.
Gabby Landsverk
First, I wouldn't recommend investing in a weighted vest unless you're already fairly fit.
If you're daunted by the thought of running a few miles and doing dozens of burpees, push-ups, and pull-ups in a single workout, a weighted vest will likely be too challenging to use consistently, or you may need a lighter model.
Fourteen pounds may not sound like much, but it quickly takes a toll on your whole body.
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Running at my usual pace, I found myself breathing much harder than usual. Exercises that I don't normally consider to be cardio, like squats and push-ups, got my heart racing, too.
That meant I had a lot of options for workouts specifically designed to push my cardio capacity to the max, with lots of jumping squats and lunges (like this one from personal trainer Jay T. Maryniak, whose Instragram workouts are great).
As a result, I became significantly better at maintaining explosive power or keeping a good pace even when I was tired.
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Pictured: the reporter having a wonderful time and not suffering at all.
Gabby Landsverk
Even better, I noticed my running pace improved when I took off the vest. Without consciously trying to increase my pace, I shaved about 30 seconds off my casual mile time after a few weeks of using the vest regularly.
While I had done research into vests prior to buying one, one of the biggest benefits wasn't in any of the reviews I read.
No matter what you do while wearing it, the vest activates your core, shoulders, and back muscles. This makes it an amazing way to turn even simple exercises into a full body workout.
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Push-up variations like declines became newly challenging in a weight vest.
Gabby Landsverk
With the weighted vest, I could focus on bigger muscle groups, while still getting the benefits of a rock-solid core.
Despite everything I love about my weighted vest, my one complaint is that it doesn't fit quite as snugly as I'd like. I'm a small person (5'2") and the vest hangs rather loosely around my waist and shoulders, even with my best efforts to adjust it. As a result, it tends to bounce and jostle when I'm moving around.
For most exercises, this is easy to solve by simply holding on to the vest with one or both hands to stabilize it.
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Jumping movements are a great leg workout in a weight vest, but I sometimes had to hold onto it so it wouldn't jostle uncomfortably.
Gabby Landsverk
Burpees in particular were a challenge, since the back plate hitched up when I jumped from a plank into a squat, hitting the back of my head if I wasn't careful.
If you're also a smaller person, read the specs carefully to get a vest that works well for you.
Our expert staff answers frequently asked questions in their areas of expertise and defines common terms so you can be a smarter shopper. Read more here.
Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photos Getty Images
I came across weighted vests a few years ago &#; in the height of the COVID era &#; when my next-door neighbor started wearing a massive one during his daily workouts in our apartment-building stairwell. After a few months, he dropped what looked like 20 pounds.
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Then I started seeing them all over FitTok and Fitstagram &#; bulky sleeveless pullovers getting hoisted over shoulders and saddled onto torsos for long walks, hikes, and jogs. I watched videos of folks with ripped muscles doing squats while wearing a weighted vest. One midlife-health expert and gynecologist I follow, Mary Claire Haver, has been extolling their virtues &#; and showing off her startlingly expansive personal collection of vests &#; for a while. And now there&#;s a surge of interest in the garment among my friends, along with questions: Are these military-style vests overkill for the average jane or joe? Will I get a better workout wearing one or inevitably injure myself? Is this a fad or a brilliant health hack?
I spoke to experts in this burgeoning field (including researchers who have conducted studies on their use) for answers.
They are what they sound like &#; vests with added weight. They come in many sizes and forms &#; some go on like a slim, zip-up life jacket. Others go over your head like a leaden tank top. Some are more of an over-the-shoulder backpack design, with clips in the front. Some have sewn-in steel plates; others use very fine iron pellets (called iron sand) encased in nylon. Many have extra pouches for adding in more weight &#; either by sliding in new, heavier ingots or tucking additional beanbag-like weights into empty spots. The vests can range in weight from eight pounds up to 100 pounds or more.
Wearing a weighted vest differs from rucking &#; which is popular with an outdoorsy, often military-adjacent crowd &#; in that the vests allow the weight to be distributed very uniformly. For rucking, you wear a weighted pack. &#;Weighted vests are ergonomically designed to add mass but keep it close to the body,&#; says Christopher Gaffney, Ph.D., an exercise scientist at Lancaster University, who studied the effects of weighted vests in the journal Ergonomics. &#;The weight is also front and back. It&#;s very similar to body armor worn in the military. This distribution means the stress applied to muscles is distributed across both front and back similarly.&#; They&#;re also less awkward than wearing a backpack and don&#;t leave you as unbalanced when you&#;re working out.
For people who struggle to fit in exercise &#; or hate the gym &#; vests can be an especially great thing, says Rachelle Reed, Ph.D., a trainer with a doctorate in exercise physiology. For example, &#;a brisk walk with the dog with the addition of a weighted vest can give you a reasonably good cardiovascular workout without the need to find time to attend the gym,&#; says Dr. Gaffney. We know that just plain old walking decreases the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and dementia and improves emotional well-being and increases longevity. A weighted vest increases your body weight, making the muscles you use to walk work harder &#; from your feet and ankles to your knees, hips, and spine. &#;You&#;re basically working every single muscle of your body a bit harder, except for your arms,&#; says Claire Morrow, D.P.T., a physical therapist at Hinge Health. (Unless, of course, you wear the vest while doing push-ups, she notes.) The added weight simply increases the intensity of the walking effort, &#;making it a bigger challenge for your cardiorespiratory system and musculoskeletal system,&#; says Reed.
People with weak bones &#; for example, someone with osteoporosis or osteopenia &#; probably shouldn&#;t wear one due to the consequences if they were to trip or fall, says Morrow. What might be a bruised hip for someone with strong bones could be a broken one for someone with osteoporosis. Plus, if you&#;re already a bit unsteady, adding weight might increase your risk of falling.
In addition, if you&#;ve had multiple past lower-body injuries &#; say, really tweaky knees or an ankle that has never healed from a sprain &#; a weighted vest might not be a great idea, says Gaffney. He also notes that he only studied how weighted vests affect people without a history of injuries, and mentioned that in one study, some people reported that wearing a weighted vest caused lower-back pain or soreness. (All the participants in that study were over age 65.)
Finally, if you are pregnant, you may want to consider how you feel and avoid putting any undue, direct pressure &#; like a super-heavy-weighted vest &#; on the growing belly, says Reed.
As a rule, most experts suggest that you begin with no more than 10 percent of your body weight, says Reed. So if you&#;re 150 pounds, don&#;t go higher than 15 pounds to start. If you pick a vest that allows you to add more weight later, then you can start low and carry more weight over time.
First, be sure to pick one that feels comfortable on your body and doesn&#;t leave you chafed because it&#;s too small or large. Adjustability is the biggest consideration, both in terms of how much you can tighten or loosen it to suit your frame, as well as whether you can add in more weight later on, says Reed. The more points of adjustability &#; shoulders, waist &#; the better. If you know you&#;re going to walk in low light or at night, look for a vest with reflective strips, for safety. And if going hands-free is important to you, you&#;ll want one with a slot for your and keys.
There are three types of vests on the market, each with plenty of merits.
Intro-level holster vests: Many of these are fixed weight but available in a range of measurements. They go over the shoulders like a hydration vest, with a buckle in the front around the sternum. They are typically made of scuba-like neoprene, and the weight is distributed along the upper back and all down the shoulder straps. Holster vests are relatively cheap and may be a good place to start for most walks or runs, says Gaffney, but they don&#;t offer the same adjustability as more expensive options; most can only be tweaked by one small chest strap.
Full-torso vests: These cover most of the torso and can be adjusted with Velcro straps and sometimes drawstring cords along the sides. They typically have multiple slots for weight ingots that can be removable. Some come filled with iron sand and have additional slots for small weight bags.
Plate vests: These are also full-torso vests and wearing one can make you look a little like you&#;re in the police or military. They have large steel plates that fit into the front and back pocket.
TRX Duraballistic Vest
From $260
From $260
&#;This type of vest is very adjustable &#; both at the waist and shoulders &#; and comes at different weight sizes, so that you can progress over time,&#; says Rachelle Reed, Ph.D., a trainer with a doctorate in exercise physiology.
From $260
at TRX TrainingRogue Echo Weighted Vest
$125
$125
&#;If you&#;re an avid gymgoer, then it may be worth the further investment in something like a plate-carrier vest. These allow a good amount of adjustment, good comfort, and you can use multiple weight combinations,&#; says Gaffney. &#;It&#;s also the type of vest used in our study.&#;
$125
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