How a workout vest can help you build strength and power

What is a workout vest

This vest is made of durable artificial material, which is fastened to the body with slings or zippers. It is used to increase stress during exercise.

Most vests have special pockets for inserting weights, such as sandbags or metal cylinders. This allows you to adjust the weight according to your capabilities, as well as for different types of exercises.

Training vests are used in a variety of sports and fitness disciplines. With this equipment, you can run and climb stairs, do jumping exercises, do weightlifting, and increase the load in exercises with your body weight, such as pull-ups, dips, or squats.

What You Can Achieve With a Training Vest

Increase jump height

If you are involved in sports where jump height is important, training with a vest can improve your performance.

In an experiment with 14 adult sprinters, they found that three weeks of training in a 7–8% bodyweight vest significantly increased jump height and power in the lower extremities.

In other small studies, waistcoat training has helped improve jump test performance for jumpers and throwers, basketball players, weightlifters and rugby players, female track and field athletes, and unsportsmanlike young men who were not exercising but simply wore a vest all day.

Improve weightlifting performance

Since explosive leg strength is critical to weightlifting performance, it can be assumed that training in a vest will be beneficial for this sport as well.

So, one small study with the participation of 16 weightlifters showed that five weeks of training in a vest with 12% of body weight increased the one-rep max in the chest by 4, 2%, while exercises without a vest in the control group - only by 1, 8 %.

In addition, such workouts increased the speed of lifting the bar while working with 90% of 1RM and improved its trajectory when working with weights of 70 and 90% of 1RM.

Burn more calories in your workout

Dr. Len Kravitz of the University of New Mexico conducted the ACE Research: Improve Walking Workouts with Weighted Vests experiment in which low-exercise women walk in a weighted vest.

After measuring the maximum oxygen consumption while walking at a speed of 4 km / h, the doctor noted that weighting 15% of body weight increases calorie expenditure by 12% and does not significantly affect perceived effort.

A meta-analysis of studies on training with a vest also noted that weight increases significantly energy expenditure in any exercise, walking and running.

And even just wearing a vest can help you shed excess fat. So, in one study, 36 untrained obese people wore a vest with 10% of body weight for 8 hours a day and after three weeks reduced their body weight by an average of 1.61 kg, and the percentage of fat by 3.18% without any diets and exercise.

Older women also lost excess weight and fat in two small studies. Here, the participants no longer walked in vests all the time, but engaged in weights - they performed strength training, climbed the stairs.

Thus, it can be assumed that cardio and weight training in a vest will help you spend more energy in training (without increasing the time you exercise), create a significant calorie deficit and get rid of extra pounds faster.

Increase muscle strength and size without a gym

If you are doing calisthenics - doing exercises with your body weight at home or on a platform with horizontal bars, the increase in load often occurs only due to more repetitions.

While training to muscle failure does a good job of increasing muscle size over a wide rep range, the extra weight will provide the body with an unfamiliar load. And this can have a positive effect on progress.

Moreover, if your goal is to increase strength, not muscle size, a vest is a must. To develop this quality, short sets with a weight of 2-5 reps are best suited.

By working with the vest, you will reduce the number of repetitions in the set to muscle failure and provide the body with the necessary stimulus to develop strength.

Plus, by making it heavier, your workouts will be shortened in time without sacrificing efficiency.

What to look for when choosing a vest

Vests are not the cheapest equipment. The specific price depends on the model and can be either 3 or 16 thousand rubles. In order not to waste your money, pay attention to the following parameters.

The ability to change weight

In some models of vests, weights in the form of sand or metal weights are sewn into the product, so you cannot change the weight.

On the one hand, it is convenient, because you do not have to fiddle with sand and buy additional cargo. On the other hand, it will not be possible to regulate the load in different exercises and use the vest for people with different body weights and training levels.

Moreover, it is better to start training in a vest with small weights of 5% of body weight, so that the body gets used to the stress. And only then increase the weight to 10-15% or more, depending on the type of exercise.

So it is better to consider options with the ability to adjust weight. Just keep in mind that loads are often sold separately from the vest and you will have to pay extra for them.

What to buy

Vest with weighting Evergrip Weighted 10LB (4.5kg), 4,990 rubles →
Weighted vest Everlast "F. I. T. 40LB ". Weight 18 kg, 15 490 rubles →

Weights type

Cargoes can be presented in the form:

sandbags;
bags of shot;
steel bars or cylinders;
metal plates.

Sandy options are usually the cheapest. However, they have several disadvantages: they are quite voluminous, so doing push-ups, burpees and many other movements will be inconvenient.

In addition, over time, the sand starts to fall asleep, especially if you buy a model that is not of the highest quality.

Some vests use plates as weighting - such weights provide a more even distribution of the load over the body, in contrast to the same bars with which the weight can be concentrated only in the lower or upper parts of the product.

However, with slabs, you won't be able to flexibly change the weight of the equipment. While the bars allow you to add 500-900 g, the slabs have a mass of 2.5-10 kg or more.

So if you want to add weight gradually, you might want to consider adding weights in the form of bars or bags of shot.

What to buy

Iron Star weight vest 10 kg, 5 990 rubles →
Vest with weights Original FitTools SWAT 14 kg, 13 190 rubles →
Vest-weighting Iron Star S4 Professional, 9 990 rubles →

Type of fasteners

The type of fixing elements determines how tight the vest will sit during the load and whether it will not unfasten from your movements.

If you're going to be doing low-intensity cardio or strength training in the vest, the strap and plastic buckle options are fine.

And for running, jumping or interval complexes with a wide range of motion, it is better to consider models with double Velcro. They provide reliable fixation of the equipment and are unlikely to break under heavy load.

How to wear a workout vest

Do cardio workouts

If you've never jogged, don't start with a vest workout, no matter how strong your motivation is. Weighting puts an unusual strain on joints and connective tissues, so overdoing it with intensity can result in injury.

For beginners, you can try walking with a vest. Choose a weight of 5-10% of your body weight and start walking at 4 km / h. When your body gets used to the load, you can increase your walking speed to 6 km / h or experiment with the incline of the treadmill.

You can wear a vest every cardio session, but don't go running until you've mastered it without a vest.

If you are well prepared and have been running for a long time, start by walking anyway. For the first workout, put on a vest with 10% of your body weight and walk at a speed of about 6 km / h, getting used to the load.

If you feel comfortable, you can switch to light jogging at a speed of no more than 8 km / h. Even after getting used to the vest, you should not carry out long-term, as well as interval and high-speed training in it, since the risk of injury increases greatly.

Use vest running on short, easy 3–5 km runs or cross training days. For example, you can combine a short run in a vest with a strength block. And do it at the beginning of the season - when there is a lot of time left before the competition and you can arrange a small test for your body without consequences.

Do jumping exercises

As with running, vest jumping should only be used by long-term plyometric practitioners looking for ways to increase jump height, lower-limb power, and explosive strength.

If plyometrics are not new to you, try the following vest movements with 5-10% of your body weight:

jumping to the dais;
jump squats;
alternating legs in a lunge with a jump;
jumping from a height followed by jumping up;
long jump from a place.

Choose 3-5 exercises and do 2-3 sets of 5 reps. Rest no more than 30 seconds between sets, 1-2 minutes between exercises.

Do this workout 1-2 times a week on light-duty days. Avoid combining plyometric movements with heavy training as this increases the risk of injury.

Do strength exercises

The vest can provide additional load in various movements with the weight of your body. But before you try it, make sure you can do 3 sets of 10 repetitions without weight without any problems.

If you are ready, try the following movements with the 10% bodyweight vest:

pull-ups;
inclined pull-ups;
pushups;
push-ups on the uneven bars;
split squats;
lunges;
jump squats;
squat pistols;
plank.

As you get used to the load, you can gradually increase the weight of the vest up to 25% of your body weight. This is especially true for movements for pumping legs, since the muscles there are difficult to load without weights.

You can also compose an interval set of exercises and perform it in a vest. Remember, however, that your heart rate will be higher than if you were exercising without weights. Adjust the rest time between intervals so that you can catch your breath, and include in the complex only those movements that you can perform technically correctly, even if you are tired.

What to consider for those who train in a vest

Warm up well

Any workout requires a good warm-up, and training in a vest especially. As your body weight increases, joints and connective tissues are stressed more, so warming up your muscles is imperative.

Dedicate at least 10 minutes to warm-up: do joint exercises, five minutes of light cardio - walking, light jogging, jump rope, ellipse, dynamic stretching exercises.

Rate your technique

You should not make movements with additional weight if you are not completely familiar with the correct execution technique.

The vest provides an unfamiliar load on the muscles, so all your technical mistakes will manifest themselves much brighter and earlier, increasing the risk of injury. Therefore, only wear a vest if you are doing the movement perfectly.

Monitor your condition

Training in a vest, especially at first, requires attention to your body. If your pulse rises sharply, there is severe shortness of breath or nausea, relieve the weight. Most likely, you overestimated your capabilities and took on the weight too early.

Also monitor the condition of the joints and spine. If exercising with the vest causes pain during or after exercise, don't continue hoping your body will get used to it.

And be sure to follow the technique. If during training you cannot perform the exercise technically correctly, take off the vest and finish the approach without it.