I worked out with a weight vest for a week — and it's a game changer

I worked out with a weight vest for a week — and information technology'due south a game changer

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As a guy who essentially types and watches Tv set for a living, my workouts are pretty essential to my health. And so when I had the chance to review some weight vests every bit part of our growing fettle coverage, I jumped at the chance to permit my day chore join the boxing against middle-anile spread.

One tendency that'southward been creeping into my YouTube suggestions and reading lists is the employ of a weight vest to enhance different workouts. Whether it's a uncomplicated home workout routine or a CrossFit WOD, I've been seeing jacked men and women grinding out reps while wearing what looks similar trunk armor.

And then I actually had two questions going into this experiment. Get-go, I wanted to know what a weight vest could actually practise for me and how it would change my workouts. Sure, adding weight should make nigh exercises harder, simply would I unlock Dragon Brawl Z-way improvements when I cast off my weighted article of clothing?

2d, I also wanted to know whether the whole vest thought had any merit beyond making you look really intense while doing a regular conditioning. There are and then many other exercise fads, like face masks to limit oxygen intake and funky tourniquets to restrict blood flow, that it feels similar some of the nigh dubious claims get traction just because they make someone look a little more than farthermost. Are weight vests just a way to cosplay while working out, or do they impart real benefits?

One week in, and I recollect I've found some answers.

What is a weight vest?

A weight vest is a simple concept: An wear that weighs a lot, adding actress weight to a wide range of movements. Information technology's a simple style to add together resistance to a conditioning, and increase the intensity of otherwise simple activities.

At that place are a few dissimilar options out there for weight vests, ranging from uncomplicated weight-filled harnesses that are worn around the shoulders to crazy contraptions that permit you strap Olympic weight plates to your body. But the virtually mutual vest designs are actually a repurposed flake of military equipment, called a plate carrier.

In normal use, these are used to strap ballistic plates onto soldiers and cops, but in the gym, these vests are used to put extra weight onto your trunk. Various designs have different straps and elastics and Velcro closures for securing that weight, just the basic thought is simple: Strap one weight to your chest, and another to your back, and concur everything in place snugly plenty that y'all can comfortably workout with it on.

For this outset week of training, I tested the 5.eleven Tactical TacTec Plate Carrier, which is a prime number case of the repurposed war machine gear design. It's literally sold as protective gear and used by SWAT teams and the like to provide protection and bear equipment.

It's also i of the almost popular and well-regarded weight vests out there. It's been the official weight vest of the CrossFit games for several years running, and is sold through retailers similar Rogue Fitness and Dick'southward Sporting Goods.

But five.11 as well sent me the sleeker 5.11 TacTec Trainer, a fitness oriented product that ditches some of the tactical features and streamlines the vest for a less cumbersome workout. I'll be trying it out adjacent, likely to have similar results. Go along an centre out for our upcoming reviews.

Testing the belong: 1 vest, 4 workouts

There are all sorts of workout plans out in that location for people who want to try out a weight vest. From follow-along YouTube videos to intense CrossFit WODs, there'south a ton of options for working out with a vest.

I wanted to try the vest in a number of workout styles and motion patterns, to become a proficient feel for how the vest fits and handles all sorts of activity. For my testing, I settled on four workouts, each designed to have advantage of the benefits of vest training while fugitive some of the increased risks. (I love my job, only I'm not well-nigh to gamble a broken pes for it.)

I broke this down into four main workouts:

Basic calisthenics focused around primal movements, like button-ups, pull-ups and squats, with variations of each.
Core movements: mainly seated floor moves, like crunches and Russian twists, and hanging moves, similar leg raises and windshield wipers.
A few rounds of a heavy pocketbook battle session for cardio
A 30-minute walk, taking a brisk walk from my house to a nearby park and dorsum, with a route that takes me up and downwards a large hill.

These four workouts besides have the benefit of closely matching my regular weekly routine, giving me a proficient sense of how the weight-vest version of these exercises matches up with the unweighted variety.

Spoiler alarm: The weight vest kicked my barrel.

I tried working out with a weight vest for a week: Hither's what happened

Working out with 20 pounds of sand strapped to your torso will definitely modify the nature of your workouts. From making simple exercises harder (in a good way) to making simple movements more difficult (in a bad fashion), hither'southward what my calendar week of weight vest training looked like.

Workout #1 - Calisthenics

I'll regularly exercise a selection of basic calisthenics in my domicile part, which doubles equally my workout space. (Working from dwelling means that my office and practice equipment share that same room.) Whether it's consolidated into a unmarried workout or I'm sprinkling some sets into my daily schedule, it'southward helpful to have a pullup bar readily accessible.

Squats didn't get as well difficult, because I'll regularly work in weighted squats using dumbbells (exist sure to check out our picks for the all-time adaptable dumbbells). Pushups, on the other hand, got noticeably more difficult, and I had to cut my usual 100 pushups downwardly to l, and I had to stick to the basics, no fancy archer pushups or one-armed pushups. Sets were whittled down to 5 sets of x, instead of my usual iii or 4 sets of 25 or 30. And my form suddenly became vitally important, as the added weight drew my attention to my shoulders and slightly-also-flared elbows.

But the real challenge came when I grabbed the pullup bar. I realized in curt succession that the added weight not only increased the difficulty for my arms, shoulders and lats, simply that information technology also had a direct touch on on my grip. By the time I was half dozen reps in, my forearms were called-for, my whole upper torso was gassed out, and I was acutely enlightened of some minor crackles and pops in one shoulder. They've e'er been there, but I worried near them a lot more than nether the added weight.

Past the cease of the workout, I was trounce. I was more tired than almost any workout I've done in months, and this despite cutting my usual rep counts mostly in half.

Workout #two - Core movements

My second conditioning reminded me that weight is only useful when information technology can be properly loaded, with the right angles and motions to utilise that weight every bit resistance.

That meant that while basic cadre exercises similar sit ups and planks were marginally more difficult with the vest on, others, like hanging leg raises, were made harder. But not because the ab portion of the movement was harder – that was unchanged, since the weight is on my trunk and non my legs – simply it did brand the hanging aspects of the move a lot more challenging, adding xx pounds to a expressionless hang.

If annihilation, the biggest difference that the vest made for about ab workouts was that it added bulk that had to exist accounted for whenever I went to lay on the ground. Anything else could be hands replicated by doing crunches while belongings a dumbbell.

Workout #3 - Heavy Bag

The 3rd conditioning was a cardio session with the heavy bag. Calculation the weight vest to the mix did add a contraction to the process of gearing upwards – you definitely want to put on and adapt the vest earlier you go your gloves on. Am I an idiot? Probably.

Only once I had my vest on and my gloves, I found that the vest didn't make a huge difference in a strictly pocketbook-focused conditioning. The weight didn't burden my arms, though it did change how I put my newly-bulked upwardly weight behind punches, and other movements, like dodges and footwork, were impacted by my twenty-pound burden.

I volition note that, when wearing the vest, I approached the heavy bag differently. Instead of mixing in any kicks or knees, I opted to stick to a boxing-style workout. The heavy vest and changed weight distribution made me leery of movements that would throw my residue off or put unwanted stress on my knees and ankles.

But it'due south a good reminder that weight vests aren't slap-up for use during skill-based exercises. The actress weight may or may not increase the difficulty of a given activity, but the extra weight will mess upward your training, throwing off muscle retention. Skills preparation with a weight vest on will only railroad train you to exercise the skill with a weight vest on. Stick to exercises where the additional weight makes sense, and don't remember that simply wearing it for every activity is a shortcut to amend fitness.

Conditioning #4 - 30-minute walk

Considering the added weight of the vest can increment the risk of joint injuries and stress fractures, I opted not to wear the belong for a jog, or for my usual cardio option of jumping rope.

Walking, on the other manus, provides a practiced way to integrate the vest into activity and increase the intensity of information technology without those risks. So I strapped on the vest to go for a walk.

While walking with a weight vest on sounds simple enough – and it is – there is a real benefit from the added weight. Walking is fabricated more than difficult, and a brisk footstep with twenty pounds of actress weight will add a new conditioning element, more so if you lot plan a route that includes a lot of inclines.

So, I walked up a big hill. And down the colina again. My 30-minute walk was pretty much all hill.

Let's be clear, strapping on a weight vest won't make walking your next HIIT replacement. Information technology's amend for rest days, frankly. Only information technology is plenty to make a brisk walk a legitimate conditioning, one that will have you lot breathing a little harder, working but a lilliputian more than, and strengthening leg and torso muscles a chip more than walking alone would do.

One calendar week later: This is a game changer

One mutual theme throughout this week of weighted workouts was how every workout seemed to cease: In one case the terminal rep was done, and I knew I couldn't exercise another, all I wanted was to tear that vest off of me. Fumbling with flaps and straps and Velcro, I would finally go the beast off my back and throw it roughly to the floor. It'south a tough piece of equipment, I know it can accept it. The bigger question was whether I could.

I won't lie, that first calisthenics workout left me sore for days. But in one case I had some distance from the more humbling aspects of my new workout, I realized that the weight belong was giving me exactly what I wanted, making basic practise a claiming once more, and giving me a way to enhance my workouts without a lot of complicated techniques, expensive gear or extra time.

I'm going to keep using the weight vests in my routine – and non but because I have more of these to test. I went into this looking to detect out if weight vests were a gimmick for aggro gym bros, a piece of gear made to look aggressive more than annihilation else.

Instead I found a single, simple item that makes my strength workouts harder, my cardio workouts more than intense, and proved that my overall conditioning has plenty of room for comeback. If you desire a great mode to level up your workouts in the dwelling house or at the gym, this is a killer option.

Brian Westover is an Editor at Tom'southward Guide, covering everything from TVs to the latest PCs. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.