Are you looking to increase your health and fitness, add some endurance to your Low-intensity steady state (LISS) exercises, or add extra difficulty to your hikes or walking? Doing so with a weighted vest can bring a number of benefits to your cardiovascular health, weight management, and even stress reduction. With a variety of different vests available on the market, our blog will help you explore the benefits of walking with a weighted vest, as well as help you choose the right vest for you. 

Weight Vest Walking Benefits

There are several benefits to walking with a weighted vest, including;

• Increased calorie burn
• Improved muscle strength snd endurance
• Enhanced bone density
• improved posture and core stability

Lets take a look in more detail!

Increased Calorie Burn

Walking is a fantastic exercise for overall health, but adding a weighted vest increases the intensity significantly. Your body has to work harder to overcome the extra weight, burning more calories throughout your walk. Studies suggest that weighted vests can increase calorie burn by 12% [Source]. This translates to burning more calories in the same amount of time or burning the same amount of calories in a shorter walk. 

Improved muscle strength and endurance

Weighted vests provide resistance training throughout your walk. This helps to engage various muscle groups, including core, legs, glutes, and upper body muscles that work to maintain our posture. Over time, with consistent use of a weighted vest when walking, this can lead to increased muscle strength and endurance. Building a strong base will majorly improve your fitness level and make overall daily activities easier.

Enhanced Bone Density

The added mechanical load, particularly on your legs and lower back, provided by the weighted vest primes the body to produce bone-building cells and increase important hormonal productions that aid bone growth and help bone regeneration. These adoptions are especially important for preventing fracture and osteoporosis as we age. [Source]

Improved Posture and Core Stability

Walking with a weighted vest increases a person's core muscle activation (typically considered as 'engaging the core'). By maintaining proper posture with additional weight, the core is naturally more engaged, thus strengthening the muscles surrounding your lower back and abdominals, which are essential for maintaining balance and therefore reducing the risk of falls and injury as you get older.

It's important to consult with a medical professional before you start walking with a weighted vest. Remember to start off light and increase endurance slowly and safely. 

Getting started with walking with a weighted vest

Choosing the right weighted vest:

It's important to choose the right weighted vest before you start. We suggest a weighted vest with adjustable weights to help you gradually increase your difficulty as your fitness improves. 

Looking to push your limits and maximise your workouts?  Our tactical weighted vests, made with reinforced breathable materials, offer the perfect solution. The adjustable design allows for complete freedom of movement, making them ideal for bodyweight exercises and dynamic training.

Maintain proper form and technique:

To avoid any injury or doing more damage, it's essential to maintain proper form. Maintain a tall posture with an engaged core, taking shorter strides and a heel stride when walking. Always make sure to listen to your body. 

Sample Walking Workouts with Weighted Vests

Beginners walk:

To start off light, we recommend going for a slow and steady 30-minute walk, to get yourself used to maintaining correct posture, and not over-exerting yourself when implementing a weighted vest to your workout. 

Intermediate walk:

Here you could briefly pick up the pace, this will help to increase your heart rate without pushing yourself too much. If this is proving too easy, try adding some small inclines in to test your cardiovascular endurance further. 

Advanced walk:

Here you can really look into adding an incline, walking at an incline for 30 minutes gives you a real calorie burn. For an extra challenge, why not start to incorporate other exercises into your routine, such as lunges or even walking backward to test your leg muscles and challenge your balance. 

Weighted vests can be excellent pieces of equipment to add to your walking regimen. The extra load means a person has to work harder and use more energy, thus burning calories and helping muscles to become stronger over time. 

Browse our range of weighted vests today or contact a member of our expert team today for more information about our exercise equipment.