Do Weighted Vests Work?

October 30, 2020 3 min read

At Force Fitness we believe in hard work and solid results. How does this translate into using a weighted vest?

Simply put, using a weighted vest makes any movement harder. By making our workouts harder we challenge our cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems to work harder than before and, by progressive overload, accelerate our muscle growth and performance gains. Whether you are using your weighted vest in a cardiovascular movement or as part of hypertrophy training, the new dimension added by a higher body weight will push all of your stabilizers and core muscles to the next level.

But is it right for me?

Yes – whether you are a runner, a bodybuilder, or an all-round tactical athlete a weighted vest can be used in any of your workouts. Check out the below tips for each type of athlete:

Weighted Vests Workouts For Runners

- Week 1

5km run to benchmark your time
3x 3km runs in a weighted vest and 100 air squats afterwards
1x 1km weighted vest sprint and 100 air squats afterward

-Week 2

3x 3km runs in a weighted vest and 50 lunges each leg afterwards
1x 1km weighted vest sprint and 50 lunges each leg afterwards

- Week 3

5km ‘Run for your life’ without a weighted vest on

Tag us in your victory post on social! Wearing a vest when running will encourage muscular development in the legs and improve your aerobic performance under load. This is just a basic sample workout but you can incorporate hundreds of different combinations of strength work, range of motion work, and aerobic capacity work with a weighted vest.

Weighted Vest Benefits For Body Builders

Accelerate Your Progress With Targeted Training

Struggling to add size to your rear delts, your obliques, and calves? Find pull ups too easy and air squats a waste of time? Add a weighted vest. Force Fitness weight vests are built for this in that they can take up to 40kg of weight. This means you can add weight to pull ups, sit ups, press ups, air squats, and virtually any other movement to add resistance and keep the rep range within the hypertrophic zone.

Weighted Vests For Tactical Athletes

Be Ready For Anything

Tactical athletes perform under intense conditions with high levels of fatigue. Gruelling fartlek style training mixed with endurance hikes and loaded carries are the foundation of military style training and for good reason. Tactical athletes need to be able to perform in a variety of ways at a moments notice, be that with strength, speed, or stamina. Using a heavy weighted vest for endurance hiking and lowering the weights for sprinting work is just one example of how tactical athletes can utilise a weighted vest to accelerate their fitness capabilities. Often, pre-selection recruits will practice with weighted vests to get ready for real military training, and on the flip side we see a lot of veterans training in a weighted vest because they are accustomed to a higher level of performance and expect more from themselves. Whatever your ability, get a weighted vest today and get ready to move up a gear.

Are Weighted Vests For Everybody?

We are all capable of giving 110% and a weighted vest is exactly that. When you turn up to the gym with a weighted vest ready to perform, you’ll discover your true potential. Weighted vests are one of the most versatile pieces of gym equipment. Whether you are a novice or a professional athlete you can vary the weight and movements performed to ensure you take yourself past your limits.

Feeling ready to take the next step in your workout? Force Fitness weighted vests come in a selection of weights and colours so you can tailor your workout to your goals. Explore the collection of weighted vests today.