What Does A Weighted Vest Do?
What Is A Weighted Vest?
Firstly, let's get to the basics - what exactly is a weighted vest?
As the name suggests, a weighted vest is simply a specially created vest that has the benefit of including weights in order to increase the overall mass. Generally, these are used to add extra weight to the body for activities such as exercise, training, running, walking, agility drills and more.
A weighted vest sits over your shoulders with adjustable elasticated sides to fit snug to your body, allowing you to easily and conveniently throw on for a workout to really push yourself to the limits.
What Does A Weighted Vest Do?
Training with a weighted vest has the desired impact of making you both stronger and faster. But what does a weighted vest do to your body, and how does it help you achieve your fitness goals?
1. Add Load to Your Body
As stated, a weighted vest is simply a piece of kit which adds load to your body and increases the amount of energy needed to perform each exercise. A burpee with added weight is harder than one without, right?
2. Challenge Core Stabiliser Muscles In A Unique Way
Weighted vests challenge your core stabiliser muscles in a unique way, as your body has not had to adapt to being outright heavier. This gives you a superior workout in the same amount of time, improving your gains from each and every session.
3. Challenge Cardiovascular System
Not only does this improve muscular development but it creates an additional demand on your cardiovascular system, improving your fitness. Adding additional weight to your body requires extra energy in order to carry out your training. This increased need for energy sends the cardiovascular system into overdrive. This has the added bonus of strengthening your heart and lungs.
4. Bust Plateaus
Ever trained for something and hit ‘a wall’? Can’t seem to get past that weight on the bar? Can’t quite break that time? When you start training in a weighted vest, you command your body to reach the next level in everything it does. From stabilising and breathing, to movement and power. When you train in a weighted vest you are progressing, and when you take that vest off and try to beat that time or lift that weight, you’ll discover new power at your bodyweight. Imagine you’re going into a competition – one competitor trains in a vest, one doesn’t, who do you think will do better or is more dedicated?
5. Burn Calories, Fast
Just wearing a weighted vest burns calories. It affects everything – your breathing, the weight on your legs, and your movement. It is safe to say that someone doing 100 press-ups in a weighted vest burns many more calories than someone who does not. They’d get more chest gains, too. Whether you’re at home, or in the gym, there is plenty you can do with a weight vest to burn calories. Think running up and down the stairs or completing the Cindy workout.
6. Offer Versatility To Your Workout
If you want to progress pull-ups, press-ups, or any other bodyweight movement it gets harder as you get fitter. The effort required each week goes down as you improve, and it becomes harder to push yourself without doing obscene amounts of repetitions. Force Fitness weighted vests start at 7kg and go right up to 40kg. This allows you to hit those bodyweight movements at a higher weight, reducing the amount of reps needed. This means you can stay in an ideal rep range for your goals, be that hypertrophy or aerobic capacity, and train more effectively.
7. Develop Mindset
Training in a weighted vest is hard. But sometimes have to do the things that are hard to get the results we want! If you can push yourself to train at such a level and really drive toward your goals, what else could you do? What’s stopping you? When you put your weighted vest on you are switching into that mindset and you are ready to attack your workout. The only thing holding you back is yourself.
See how a weighted vest can impact your training and push your results. Shop the full range of weighted vests today and feel the Force.
