Weighted Vest Workouts

I have a 50lb vest that I wear for a few things…

Vest + 3L Camelbak bag + 25 mile bicycle rides avg ~15mph

burpees
narrow/wide pushup’s
narrow/wide arm pullups
24" jumps(onto concrete curb)
sprints, short distance across tennis courts
walking lunges, “”
running up stairs, 3 flights(I live on 3rd floor)

This vest came from a local fitness supply store, not the best quality, it is starting to rip in a few places from general use. I plan on replacing it with a better quality vest of 75lb or maybe 100lb variable.

My experience with my x-vest is good for push-ups, chins, and stuff like box jumps. My advice is to be careful when doing a box jump and then jumping down off the box/wall. I screwed my back up jumping down. Instead step down instead of jumping down. Obviously the more weight the more careful you need to be. I have 50lb’s in the vest now and it can hold 84lb’s. It is very difficult to carry. I bought a piece of wood 2x2 to slide through the arm loops to carry it. The best way to carry it is to wear it. People look at me very strange, why is this scary man wearing a bullet proof vest.

[quote]jj-dude wrote:
Big_Boss wrote:
Well…I ordered a MiR 50lb short weighted vest…should be here middle of next week. Anyways,I was curious to the experience of others who have(or currently) use weighted vests for conditioning. What kind of workouts do you use your vest for? Running/Walking? Bodyweight exercises? Etc??

I know Google could be my friend right now…but I want feedback. Thanks.

Things a vest is good for:

  • pushups (dive bombers rock), dips, pullups, rows (put a barbell low, lie underneath it and pull yourself up) and squats (there are lots of these, probably more variations than any other exercise). Single-legged squats work better since the vest balances the free leg. Single-legged deads are pretty good too, but be able to do them without a load first.

  • whole body exercises, like burps (a burpee is where you stand up, a burp is where you stay on all 4’s and just contract/expand), jump squats, jumping jacks and the like.

  • some types of plyo leg work, e.g. box jumps, hops. Plyo upper body work is a no-no with a vest on, e.g., hand-clap pushups (Boxers and MA-ers love these because they make your hand fast.) The higher load means your hands have to be in a very specific location and being off a bit can be very bad for you, as in faceplant + shoulder dislocation.

  • tabatas! I love squat tabatas with a vest on, as well as pullup or pushup tabatas. Be seriously prepared to toss your cookies the first time through if you’ve never done tabatas before.

  • walking. Very good for walking. Backpacks put the load in the wrong place for a longer walk, so a vest is better.

Things I would not use a vest for

  • Anything that requires genuine agility, e.g., footwork drills. My direct experience with doing a whole bunch of these with my Xvest topped out at 40 lbs. is that they threw my timing way off. I certainly felt more powerful, but agility has a timing component and if you mistrain this it is very bad. Same reason I don’t practice punching with weights. Your body learns to put the foot down to support the weight, so when the weight comes off, the floor effectively can avoid you. Argh!

  • Swimming. (Srsly!) Maybe if I was more dedicated, but…

  • Biking. In the case of biking, just stick stuff on the frame. All I found was that my palms got sore and I got a backache because, again, I had to support a load that was not in an anatomically good position.

  • Running. Sprints with one on would be great as a total body exercise, as long as you make sure you have a very nice, straight level place to do it, because with the load higher on your body, what would be a minor mis-step can end up putting you down hard with a faceplant. I tried jogging with it lightly loaded and definitely noticed ankle and knee pain. So endurance cardio is a no-no. Treadmill sprints are not a viable substitute since you posterior chain mostly shuts off as the belt pulls you through the motion.

  • Rolling and falling (I am a martial artist). Oh doing it with a plate held at the hip is good training, but with a vest on, ouch on rolling over the weights. Got nicely black and blue first 9and only) time I tried it.

– jj[/quote]

Good stuff…thanks. Yeah,I’ve pretty much found out on my own what the vest is not best for. I definitely don’t use it during my technique-oriented stuff(muay thai)…only for conditioning aspects…as I intended.

JJ hit it on the head, just be careful doing any sprinting or jogging whether it be outside or on a treadmill. The impact on the lower back, hips, knees, and ankles is , IMO, not worth the trade off related to the possibility of injury. I use a Mir that adjusts to 80lb, I got it while training for the firefighter agility test, and I continue to use it still. It is a great training tool. Best of luck.