The benefits of training with a weight vest

Lose weight

Using a weighted vest is a quick way to lose weight. In other words, by exercising with extra weight, you'll actually lose weight. Wearing a weighted vest forces your body to work harder than usual, and you'll burn more calories than you normally would during the same activities. For example, you can wear a weighted vest while walking or cycling. If you're not very athletic, you can also wear the weighted vest while doing daily housework or gardening.

Increase in strength and muscle mass

Most of us won't wear a weight vest to lose weight, but rather to build strength and muscle mass. Imagine you're well-trained and can effortlessly crank out a large number of push-ups and pull- ups. You could, of course, keep doing these exercises until you're blue in the face, but at some point, you'll only be building your endurance, not developing any additional strength or muscle mass.

Do you recognize yourself in the above? Then it's time to (significantly) increase your workout intensity and start doing your push-ups and pull-ups with a weighted vest. You'll be able to do fewer reps, but the intensity of the workout will increase significantly. After doing this for a while, try training without a weighted vest again for fun. You'll notice you're much stronger than before! Your lean muscle mass will also have increased and your fat mass decreased .

Improving cardio

Do you enjoy running? Your cardiovascular endurance can also improve significantly with a weighted vest . Many distance runners already use a weighted vest. Of course, it's advisable not to carry too many kilos, otherwise it will not only be very heavy but can also increase the risk of injury. For example, start with a few kilos and run a few kilometers with that. Of course, you can gradually increase the weight you carry. Once you finally run without weights, you'll feel as light as a feather and you'll notice the enormous improvement you've made!

Helps with (preventing) Osteoporosis

A slightly less obvious benefit of a weighted vest has been discovered by researchers at the University of Oregon. They found that exercising with a weighted vest helps maintain bone density, which is positive news for anyone with osteoporosis or a predisposition to it.