Once reserved for military drills and CrossFit, weighted vests have found a new identity as the effortless way to add a hint of resistance to everyday movement. Their shift from hardcore gear to a staple for power walkers, pilates enthusiasts, and casual exercisers happened fast.
But now, as vests become a fixture on treadmills and hiking trails, the question is: How far beyond a little extra burn during the daily walk can this tool really take you—and does it deserve a spot in your holistic training regimen? While the hype is evident, there’s still a lot that fitness experts are not sure about. And the Internet might be a few steps ahead of the current science.
“Consumer excitement is outpacing what research can confirm through well-designed studies,” says Rachelle Reed, PhD, an exercise physiologist based in Athens, Georgia. Here, the rumors vs. the research when it comes to strapping in for strength, muscle, and other perks.
It could minimally improve muscular strength, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to muscle size.
While limited studies in the past have uncovered subtle benefits in muscular strength and improvements in balance, says Kristen Beavers, PhD, a research professor in the department of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University, these changes don’t necessarily lead to noticeable increases in muscle mass.
There’s a chance that someone just starting out could see a little growth in muscle strength and endurance (newbie gains!), Reed notes, given that the body is adapting to load for the first time.
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However, if you’ve been strength training for some time, don’t expect to see a big bump by adding, say, a five-pound vest to your workout. Your body, in this case, is adapted to more challenging weight, so the vest wouldn’t provide enough extra stimulus to induce growth.
For intermediate to advanced exercisers, though, a heavier vest can help slightly load movements without sacrificing form the way free weights might. Because the weight sits close to your center of mass and keeps your hands free, it makes it easier to dial up bodyweight moves like pushups, squats, or step-ups. To spark subtle change in strength and endurance, the vest should make those final reps of a set difficult, but still doable with good form.
Remember: This is just one way to progress load, Reed notes. Increasing training volume (the sets and reps), intensity of effort, and range of motion in lifts are others. “If wearing the vest negatively impacts form or distracts you from performing, remove it,” she says.
Weighted vests get a lot of credit for supporting bone health, but the evidence so far is limited and highly specific.
Before you count on a weighted vest to shore up your bones, it’s worth noting what the research actually shows, and what it doesn’t. A recent clinical trial from Wake Forest University looked at the effects of wearing a weighted vest on weight loss–associated bone loss (the weight you lose from bone and muscle as opposed to fat) in 150 older adults with a mean age of 66.4 years.
The group that wore the vests did see an uptick in bone formation, says Beavers, who oversaw the study. But participants wore the vests for eight hours a day for a year. That’s quite different from adding it to, say, an hour-long jaunt a few times a week. And this upside has only been seen in older adults, so we don’t yet know if it would produce the same results in other populations (or other workouts).
It could help with body recomposition—but only slightly.
More weight on your skeletal system means your muscles have to work harder, requiring more energy expenditure (and, therefore, calorie burn). But research hasn’t confirmed how much—and calorie burn is relative.
Compare a one-mile flat walk to a one-mile flat walk at the same pace with a 20-pound weighted vest, and yes, “you will burn more,” Reed says. But going on a steep one-mile hike with no added weight or following a traditional strength training program might be more effective.
If you’re tracking calories in an effort to lose weight or build definition, exercise can help you in that journey. But “it’s easier to move the needle by manipulating dietary intake than energy expenditure,” Reed notes.
It could help improve your posture, depending on placement.
Some proponents claim that slipping on a weighted vest helps them opes up the chest and pulls the shoulders into better alignment. And while that could happen anecdotally in some cases, it’s not necessarily a universal effect.
Posture perks aren’t guaranteed just by wearing one—it comes down to weight placement and body awareness. Different vests distribute load differently; weight in the chest area can pull your shoulders forward and round the back—the opposite of good posture.
Also true: It could throw off your center of gravity, increasing fall risk, Beavers says. With excess load, you have to engage the core and back to maintain a healthy posture—and not everyone will do this intuitively (and it’s tougher if you’re lifting heavy versus strolling).
Choose a vest with an even weight distribution (it should specify this in the description), and actively engage the core and back muscles when wearing it.
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