Best Weighted Vest Workouts

There are two general categories when it comes to exercise – cardio and strength training – and a weighted vest can be a great addition to either type. If fat loss is your goal, adding extra weight to your body will allow you to burn more calories in a shorter amount of time.

Trying to build muscle? The vest allows you to apply progressive overload to bodyweight exercises. The best weighted vest workouts are those in which the vest will add to the intensity of the exercise.

Related Reading: Top 10 Weighted Vests for Cardio or Strength Training

Why Use a Weighted Vest?

The ultimate goal of any type of exercise is to force the body to adapt. If you’re trying to lose weight, you might go for a run, a walk, or attend a workout class. You’re trying to burn extra calories. That forces your body to adapt by using stored calories, aka bodyfat, and you become slimmer. If you’re trying to build muscle, you lift weights. That forces your body to adapt by building bigger, stronger muscles to support the weight you’re lifting. In the beginning, you may get quick results. You lose a few pounds or start to see some better muscle development. #CrushingIt.

Eventually, though, you reach a point where results begin to diminish – what some people like to call the “workout plateau”. Why? Because your body has adapted. You weigh less now and your heart and lungs are in better shape so your body is actually more efficient – you aren’t burning as many calories when you run. Or in the case of the weightlifter, you’ve built the required amount of strength and muscle needed to successfully perform all your lifts.

Now what?

How It Works

This is where a weighted vest is most beneficial. Your body is operating more efficiently now, so to burn the same amount of calories as you were previously, you’d have to run faster in the same amount of time, run at the same pace for a longer period of time, or intensify your effort in some other way. What’s a simple way to do that? Add weight back to your body via the vest, it’s now required to work harder when you run. The muscles in your legs have to support the additional weight, they require more oxygen to do so, etc. You’re now burning calories at the same rate that you were when you started (before you lost those few pounds). And what happens in a month or two when you hit another plateau? You simply add more weight to the vest and the process continues.

Related Reading: Benefits of Running with a Weighted Vest

This same principle applies to building muscle, although it’s application is slightly different. It’s what’s known in the world of bodybuilding as progressive overload. To give you a general overview – once you can lift X amount of weight X number of times (let’s say you can bench press 135lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps), you add more weight. Work with the new weight until you can lift it the same amount of times (140lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps). Rinse and repeat. Your body is continually forced to adapt by building strength and muscle to support the increasingly heavy weight.

If you don’t want to pay for a gym membership, you can target all the major muscle groups with bodyweight exercises that can be done almost anywhere. Push-ups work your chest, triceps, shoulders, and core. Pull-ups will hit your back and biceps. Squats and lunges target all the major muscles in your lower body. Once you can perform 3 sets of each with just your bodyweight, it’s time to put the vest on and start building some serious mass.

The Workouts

• Fat Loss

The best workouts to burn through fat quickly are what’s known as HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training. Short bursts of intense, all-out effort followed by longer periods of active rest.

Perform an exercise from the list below for 30 seconds at your maximum effort – do as many as you can as fast as you can, go all out! Follow that with 60 seconds of active rest – jogging in place or simply pacing back and forth. That’s one round. Perform 10 rounds and you’ll find yourself in a puddle of sweat on the floor in just 15 minutes.

Some good options for high intensity intervals include:

• Squat Jumps
• Jumping Jacks
• Burpees
• Jump Knee-Tucks
• Sprints
• Hill Sprints
• Push Ups
• Squats

If you can’t maintain maximum effort for a full 30 seconds, start with 10 to 15 and work your way up. You don’t have to do the same exercise every round, and it doesn’t have to be on this list. Any explosive or intense movement can be used. Once you can perform the routine easily, it’s time to add weight to your vest.

• Building Muscle

Target all the major muscle groups in your body with the following routine:

Perform 3 sets of 10 reps per exercise. Rest 60-90 seconds between each set.

Push-ups:

Position your hands on the floor shoulder-width apart, or slightly wider. Extend your legs and hold yourself off the floor so that only your hands and toes are touching. Keep your core engaged so that your body is in a straight line from your heels to your head throughout the movement. Bend your elbows and lower your body toward the ground. Your elbows should be at about a 45-degree angle to your body. Lower until your nose almost touches the floor, then push to return to the starting position.

Pull-ups:

You’ll need something sturdy enough to support your weight for pull-ups. Some at-home ideas include backyard swingset/playgrounds, exposed rafters or 2x4s, garage door opener tracks (if they’re supported strongly enough) you can get creative here. If you can’t find anything, consider a door-mounted pull-up bar. They’re safe, they work, and they don’t damage your home! The ProsourceFit Multi-Grip Bar is simple, affordable, and effective. Or try this pink one from Sotastic if you prefer a little…flare.

Grab the bar with an overhand grip just wider than shoulder width. Pull your body up until the bar almost touches your chest. Control the movement when lowering back to the starting position, do not just let your body fall.

Squats: 

Position your feet just wider than shoulder width, toes pointed slightly out. Bend at the knees and ankles while driving your hips back. Your knees should open just slightly. Squat down until your thighs are parallel with the floor. Keep your chest up, shoulders back, and lower back straight (don’t round or arch). Press with your heels to straighten your body and return to the stating position.

Perform each exercise and set in order. Do ten push-ups, rest, ten more, rest, ten more. Then move on and repeat the process with pull-ups and then squats. Once you’re able to easily complete the routine with your bodyweight, up the intensity with a weight vest. Now you have the ability to add more and more weight to these exercises and apply the principle of progressive overload, forcing your muscles to adapt and grow bigger and stronger.

Variety Keeps It Interesting

Now that you’ve got an idea of how a weighted vest can be beneficial, use it to your advantage. Modify your routine. Apply these principles to new and different exercises. The goal is to continually challenge your body and challenge it in different ways. Force your body to adapt and you’ll create the look and physique you’ve always wished you had.