Experience a whole new way of training with a weighted vest
Experience a whole new way of training with a weighted vest
Do you need to increase your speed on the football field? Increase your vertical jump? Or maybe you’re looking to lose weight or strengthen your heart. Whatever your goal, the weighted vest is perfect for you. It can help you improve lateral and vertical acceleration, improve your body’s metabolic rate, and burn a ton of calories. It’s a great way to work on your endurance.
Whether you’re a body builder, professional athlete, a Crossfit nut, or just want to get in shape, a weighted vest is the most important part of your workout routine. It transforms your body. The added weight actually becomes a part of your core. Every movement you perform is now affected by the weight of the vest. Whether you’re working on your legs, shoulders, chest, or aerobic exercise, you now have this continuous weight to deal with.
The benefits of weighted vest training are more about what you cannot see, rather than what you can. It’s not about building huge muscles or just burning a ton of calories. Below are some of the top benefits of the weighted vest.
Benefits include:
- A stronger, denser musculoskeletal system
- Increased metabolic rate, building a stronger heart
- Improve your vertical and lateral acceleration; speed & agility
- Explosive power
- Improve your stamina and lung health
- Burn more calories even when just sitting or walking.
- Increase your overall strength
When training with a weighted vest, it is like any other type of training. Start off slow. Find out what weight you should be using. You don’t want to overextend yourself and risk an injury to your back, joints, or tendons. Start off with a light weight, like 10 - 15 lbs. When you feel yourself growing stronger, increase the weight of the vest.
The weighted vest is simply an addition to your current workout routine. Some exercises you can perform with just the vest on are:
- Lunges
- Step ups
- Push ups
- Pull ups
- Squats
- Lateral Dips and ring dips
- Plyometric jumps on a cushion plyo box
- Planks
- Agility training
- Burpees
- Side planks
- Walking, jogging, running
- Stepmill or Stairclimber
- Elliptical
- Spinning
- Muscle ups
- Hiking
- Ring push ups
As your workouts get more advanced, the weighted vest can be used in addition to weights and other training tools. Some exercise ideas for this would include:
- Thrusters with either dumbbells or a barbell
- Shadow boxing with hand weights
- Renegade rows
- Wood choppers with a weighted medicine ball
- Wall balls
- Slam Ball workout
- Kettlebell swings
- Weighted lunges with either an Olympic hex bar, dumbbells, or kettlebells
- Farmer walks
- Weighted Sled Push
Weighted vest training can also be used in rehabilitation of the injured. In a study by the Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation, combining the use of a weighted vest into a paraplegic patient’s rehab, proved to be beneficial.
In another study by the “Journal of Athletic Training,” it was determined, “A dynamic warm-up performed with a vest weighted with 2% of the individual's body weight may be the most effective warm-up protocol for enhancing jumping performance in high school female athletes” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1748418/
Avery D Faigenbaum,* James E McFarland,† Jeff A Schwerdtman,* Nicholas A Ratamess,* Jie Kang,* and Jay R Hoffman*)
In a third study, involving 16 male high school football players ages 14 – 18, found that the players who performed a dynamic warm up with a 5% body weight increase showed improved results over when they did not have the additional weight.
Weighted vest training is a great way to supercharge a dynamic warm up, your workout, or your rehabilitation. Though the weighted vest can be combined with other training tools like weights, strength equipment, or agility training, by itself, you can get an incredible workout. The main reason weighted vest training is so beneficial is that once it’s on, it is part of your core. This extends its benefits outward to your extremities, making it one of the few pieces of gym equipment that can work your entire body.
CFF PERFORMANCE SERIES WEIGHTED VEST