It’s a crazy, busy, multitasking world and time is at a premium. If you’re looking for ways to make your workouts more efficient, you may be tempted to wear a weighted vest. Weighted vests can help you burn more calories and increase muscle and bone strength, but if used incorrectly, they could hurt your back. Make sure you follow safety guidelines to minimize your risk when using a weighted vest.

Your weighted vest should fit snugly and conform to your body. It will rest on your shoulders but, as with a backpack, the weight shouldn’t be carried by your shoulders. If it doesn’t fit well, the vest will bind, shift or hang from your shoulders. This can pull your spine out of alignment and strain your muscles and joints. When you wear a weighted vest, you should be able to stand upright with good posture and move your shoulders and waist freely. Distribute the weights evenly around your torso — between the front and back, right and left.

Good posture is just physics. Think about stacking a tower of blocks — the center of gravity has to be balanced over the base of support. When you have good posture, your center of gravity, located just below your belly button, is aligned over your feet. This way your muscles don’t have to work hard to keep you upright and balanced. Adding weights changes your center of gravity. But, unlike hand or ankle weights, a weighted vest keeps the weight close to the center of your body so you don’t need to adjust your posture as much to maintain good alignment. The key is to develop your core muscles so you can keep your blocks stacked, regardless of the additional weight.

If you’re just getting started, build strength and good form by doing your exercise routine using just your bodyweight. Make sure you can walk comfortably, balance, and easily perform 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions of the exercises you plan to do with the weighted vest.

When you’re ready for the vest, place the weights in the vest around your waist, near your center of gravity. As you get stronger, you can add weight up near your shoulders, making sure to load it evenly around your torso. Adding weight up higher in the vest will challenge you to adapt to a higher center of gravity. This will affect your balance.

A weighted vest can load the muscles and bones in your spine and hips, making them stronger. But if you add too much weight before your muscles are strong enough to support good posture and perform the movements easily without added loads, you will incorrectly load your joints. This can damage the connective tissue, cause muscle strain, or damage a fragile spine. A good weighted vest will allow you to adjust the amount and position of the weight. When you start using a weighted vest, add only 2 percent of your body weight. As you continue, you can increase the load by 1/2 to 1 pound every other week. If you miss a week of workouts, maintain the weight for a couple of weeks.

Much of the load in a weighted vest is carried by your spine. Too much weight can lead to compression of your intervertebral discs and back pain. The compressive forces can also fracture a fragile vertebrae.

The muscles in your torso, shoulders and legs must work harder and more effectively when you wear a weighted vest in order to support your spine. A physical therapist or personal trainer can help you develop a progressive workout that will use your weighted vest to safely strengthen your bones and muscles. If you have a chronic condition that affects your muscles, joints or bones — such as fibromyalgia, a herniated disc, arthritis, osteoporosis or osteopenia — ask your doctor or physical therapist if it’s safe to wear a weighted vest. In cases like these, a properly fitting weighted belt may be more appropriate.

References

•  The Fitness Walking Guide: Use a Walking Vest to Burn More Calories and Fat on Every Walk!
•  American Council on Exercise: Hyper Vest® PRO Product Review
•  The Journals of Gerontology: Long-term exercise using weighted vests prevents hip bone loss in postmenopausal women