Weighted training vests are fast becoming the serious fitness trainer’s essential item. Used for years in the military and professional training organizations they are now available in the consumer market and are making a great impact on the training scheme. Don’t think weighted training vests are just for the pros. Nothing could be further from the truth. Modern weighted vests come in all sizes and are suitable for the serious athlete to the steady walker, however they are used they are guaranteed to enhance your performance and improve your fitness. Here’s a quick rundown about them.
What exactly is a weighted training vest
Basically it’s a sleeveless shirt, similar to a body warmer, think of a padded body warmer, a sleeveless vest has pockets which contain weights, the weights are in the form of smooth metal plates which slot into pockets in the vest. This is a great feature because you can choose how heavy you would like the vest to be. The weights range from 5lbs plus.
They work by increasing the intensity of your exercises. You are carrying extra body weight so you have to work harder to get the same results as you would without the additional weight. It doesn’t matter what your activity is whether you like walking, cycling, martial arts or weight training. By increasing your body weight you will increase your training intensity. I use mine for cycling. After training with a weighted training vest, once I take it off I notice a real difference in my performance.
The beauty of the modern vests is that you can adjust the weight you would like it to be. This wasn’t possible with the old heavy vests of the past, which were rigid in construction and didn’t feel very comfortable to wear.
The benefits of wearing a weighted vest while training are enormous you will:
Improve your endurance
Improve your strength
Increase torso strength
Reduce fat
Increase your speed
The list goes on and on and on. Like I’ve already mentioned I wear my vest for cycling and the improvement in my performance is amazing. I cycle with the vest on while training and aim to reach a certain speed over a certain distance. Once I achieve this I take off the vest and I do it even faster and feel a whole lot lighter. Runners experience the same improvement.
With the vest on you have to work harder to reach the same performance level without the vest. So when you take it off you feel like you have wings. Body builders will find the intensity of their training increases with a vest, meaning they don’t have to perform as many reps to achieve their training target.
For fat burning a weighted training vest is perfect. Just going for a walk with the vest on makes you use more energy and push yourself harder which will burn fat off in no time.
Today’s weighted training vests are very comfortable to wear and the beauty of them is you can remove weights to determine how heavy you want the vest to be. Start with low weights and increase slowly as you get stronger and fitter. You’ll notice a difference in no time.
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