I Added a Weight Vest to My Workouts — Here's What Happened

You're ready to add some intensity to your nightly walk, or maybe you're itching for a way to increase your speed, vertical, or heart rate. Whatever the reason, a weight vest can help you add resistance to your workouts, challenge your cardiovascular system, and boost overall strength and endurance.

I'll walk you through everything I learned as a woman training with a weight vest, and how you can add this equipment to your routine — whether you're looking to increase the heat when you're walking or working out, or to up the intensity through treadmill sprints.

My Experience With Weight Vests Over Three Months

I tossed on a 10lb weight vest to supercharge my workouts and daily walks. Instantly, my sprint sessions felt tougher, and my evening strolls around the neighborhood became noticeably more challenging. After about five weeks, though, I was ready to push further. The only problem? The vest I was using didn't allow me to adjust the weight.

By the end of three months, I hadn't lost any body weight — not that that was my goal. However, my legs felt stronger and I got less winded during nightly strolls.

Walking Workouts with a Weight Vest

Typically, I'll walk a mile at the end of the day. Before I started using a weight vest, my mile would take me about 25 minutes, burn 60 calories, and keep my average heart rate around 90 beats per minute.

When I started walking with a weighted vest, my pace slowed, but my calorie burn and average heart rate increased — to about 65 calories and between 100 and 110 BPM.

By week five, my mile walk with the vest had returned close to baseline: burning roughly the same number of calories and keeping my heart rate near what it had been before. My body had adapted to the added weight, and my cardiovascular system had become more efficient under load. If I had wanted to continue seeing gains, I would have needed to add more weight to my vest.

Running Workouts with a Weight Vest

As a 5'5" beach volleyball player, I'm always looking for ways to increase my vertical, so, adding a weight vest to my sprint workouts was a no-brainer. Sprint intervals with a vest quickly became my favorite way to train.

At first, my prints slowed under extra load — but the moment I took the vest off, it felt like I was flying. Like my own personal drag suit, but instead of wind holding me back, it was the weight I was carrying. After about two months, though, my plantar fasciitis flared up, so I scaled back the frequency of vest workouts and moved my sprint training to sand instead of hard surfaces.

[Read More: Go Next Level with a Weighted Vest Workout]

Benefits of Weighted Vest for Women

Tossing on a weighted vest is a great way to increase the challenge of your workouts. Here are some benefits you can expect:

Improved Cardiovascular Health: Providing your body with an elevated challenge, whether you're using this while you walk, run, spint, or workout, helps strengthen your heart and lungs, increase endurance, and improve overal cardiovascular efficiency.

Increased Calorie Burn: Wearing a weight vest gives me a new appreciation for how hard athletes with extra body weight work every day. Moving you body alone takes effort, and adding extra pounds makes each step, sprint, or workout even more challenging. That added resistance means your muscles work harder, your heart rate rises, and you burn more calories — not just during the activity, but sometimes for hours afterwards (afterburn) as your body recovers.

However, while a weight vest can modestly increase calorie burn, it is unlikely to make a significant difference if weight loss is your goal.

Stronger Muscles: Research has shown that adding a weight vest increases the load for you legs, glutes, and core. To continue gaining strength over time, it's important to apply progressive overload — gradually increasing the stress on your muscles. This can be done by adding weight, performing more reps or sets, adjusting tempo, shortening rest periods, or incorporating more challenging exercise variations. A weight vest that allows you to adjust resistance gives you the flexibility to safely and effectively contine progressing. 

Increased Sprint Speed: Studies have shown that adding a weight vest to your sprint workout can build explosive strength and acceleration. Plus, when you remove the vest, your sprints feel faster and more effortless.

Stronger Bones: As we age, we lose muscle mass and bone mineral content. The use of a weight vest and/or a high protein diet, as shown in studies, can help limit this, especially when in a caloric deficit.

A weighted vest menopause program can be especially beneficial, as aging women face an increased risk of bone loss and osteoporosis — risks that can be delayed and reduced with the added resistance of a weighted vest.

Elevated Vertical Jump: Studies show that users who tackled jump training in a weight vest improved their vertical height more than users who did the same training without a weight vest.

How Heavy Should My Weight Vest Be?

You find yourself searching, "weighted vest for women, how heavy?" because you want to get in on the fun, but there are just so many weight vest sizes to choose from. 

Walking, Sprinting, and Beginners: It may be tempting to grab the heaviest weight vest and get moving, but to help reduce the risk of injury, start with a weight vest that's between 5-10 percent of your body weight. For example, for someone who weighs 120lbs, start off with a weight vest that's between 6 and 12lbs. For sprinting and walking, anything heavier than this may affect your gait or technique.

Advanced Athletes: Experienced female athletes may aim for a load of 10-15 percent (or slightly more) of body weight, with careful progression and specific training goals. As vest weight increases, fit becomes critical — choose a vest with proper weight distribution and fit adjustment straps to keep the vest secure and support your comfort (don't want to crush the boobies).

Weight Training and Conditioning Workouts: For users with more experience with resistance training, a weight vest in the 10-20 percent of body weight range can be appropriate for strength-focused workouts, controlled movements, and conditioning circuits. These heavier loads should be used thoughfully and paired with proper technique. If your form starts to suffer, it may be time to rest or take the weight vest off.

Strata™ Weight Vest: The Best Weighted Vest for Women

If you made it this far, first of all — thank you. Second, I know I've said "you need an adjustable weight vest" approximately 58 times. But it's true! You do!

The Strata™ Weight Vest features front and rear pouches that can hold your choice of adjustable weight plates — from 5 to 10lb pairs — so you can upgrade the intensity from as little as 5lbs up to 20lbs depending on what you're ready for. The padded interior helps keep you comfortable through long sessions, a phone pouch and lash points keep your gear stowed nearby, while adjustment straps allow you to find the perfect tailored fit for your body, curves and all.

Takeaway

If you're ready to add resistance to your efforts — working through circuit training, strength training, runs, or walks — a weight vest is your ticket. Just be sure to invest in one that allows you to adjust the weight, so you can continue adding resistance as your heart, lungs, muscles, and bones get stronger.

FAQs

Are there any safety tips for using a weighted vest during workouts?

Yes! If you're new to training with a weighted vest, find one that provides between 5 to 10 percent of your body weight in added resistance. This can help limit the risk of injury as you increase your workout load.

What's the best weight vest for women?

The Strata™ Weight Vest and Plates gives you the ability to adjust your resistance, features multiple adjustment points for a tailored fit, and a comfortable padded interior that cushions your shoulders, chest, and back.