Many people have various goals when they begin a lifestyle of exercise, whether to keep fit, burn fat, or build muscles. In realizing these goals, people take different approaches, including weightlifting, cardio, intermittent fasting, and many more. However, a peculiar approach is wearing a weight vest all day. This article will help you answer whether wearing a weight vest all day is an excellent approach to weightlifting.
A weight vest is a peculiar piece of equipment that carries additional weight, adding to your body weight while you wear it. It is typically made from canvas or any other comfortable and durable material. Ideally, you wear the weighted vest to increase body resistance while you perform exercises like pullups, pushups, squats, and many more. Nevertheless, more and more people are opting to wear it every day.
💡 Quick Tip: Weight vests don’t come with permanent weight plates, so it is up to you to ensure that you get good weight plates that fit into your vest. As a result, I recommend the Rogue USA Cast Weight Vest Plates.
Rogue USA Cast Weight Vest Plates
Weight vests are essential for providing more resistance while you work out. However, there may be better approaches than wearing it all day, especially if your goal is weightlifting. Wearing a weight vest for extended periods can tire you out more easily while also increasing the chances of muscle soreness and burns in several body parts.
This may not be worth the gains you naturally expect from traditional weightlifting. Bodybuilding – through traditional weightlifting – involves steps like progressive overload, volume, reps and sets, and many more, all of which are more challenging to achieve with weighted vests.
However, if your goal is to get stronger bones and burn calories, then weighted vests for extended periods can help you achieve your goals. People who weigh more generally develop stronger bones and lose more calories because of the energy the body expends to move around. Wearing weight vests all day will mimic these circumstances, allowing you to develop stronger bones and lose calories faster.
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Tips for wearing weight vests all-day
Wearing weight vests all day can be challenging for your body, so here are some tips that can help you with the endeavor:
Start small
Weight vests allow several weights, so you should use this to your advantage by starting small so that it doesn’t overwhelm your body. You can observe the 10% rule by beginning your vest training with 10 percent of your body weight. You will subsequently increase the resistance every week (more or less) by 10 percent.
For this approach, you may need adjustable weight vests like the 5.11 Tactec Plate Carrier to help you carefully increase the weights as you progress. You can also test the weights and get familiar with the vests by using them for shorter exercises.
Get a comfortable footwear
As you may have guessed, your legs and feet will do most of the work as they carry your heavy body around. This makes it vital that you wear suitable and comfortable shoes while wearing the weight vests to protect your legs and feet from extra stress. I recommend the Goruck Ballistic Trainers as it contains good padding and arch and ankle support.
Take on activities
The idea behind wearing weight vests all day is to perform your normal day-to-day activities with the extra weight to benefit from these activities. As a result, it will be a waste of perfectly good vests if you wear them all day without doing day-to-day tasks. You should do more activities like climbing staircases, walking, and exercises like pushups and squats., all to keep yourself moving for optimal gains.
💡 Quick Tip: Working out while wearing weight vests is more challenging than without weights, so you need more protection. Try out the Abmat to offer protection and comfort as you perform your body exercises with the vest.
Abmat
Safety first
As stated earlier, wearing vests for extended periods can cause several issues to your body. This compels you to be careful as you go about with your vests all day. You should remove the vest if your joints or muscles start hurting. Half-days are also a good compromise between injury and gains, so you can use them to build your strength.
Because of the weight, weight vests can also worsen any postural defect you may have had without noticing. To avoid this, keep your spine neutral and straight as you observe good posture. You should also speak with your Doctor before trying on the vests if you have any medical or particular concerns.
FAQs About Wearing Weight Vests
Can I build muscles with weight vests?
Vests put your bones under additional strain as you move around wearing them while. Your bones respond to this extra strain by developing more mass, leading to stronger connective tissues, denser bones, and a stronger musculoskeletal system. However, as with building muscles, you will need to progressively increase the resistance to continue seeing gains.
What do I gain from weight vests?
Weighted vests can assist in building your overall endurance, strength, and cardio. Picking additional mass can also influence how your muscles stress and strain while you work out. Vests also increase the energy your body consumes as it increases your exertion force, resulting in various positive outcomes. A weighted vest is also an excellent source of variety for your workout programs, and you can use it for several body-weight exercises.
Examples of exercises I can perform with a vest?
There are several exercises you can do with a weighted vest. With vests, general activities like walking or climbing the stairs become challenging exercises simply because of the extra weight. However, you can also up the ante by using the vests for other challenging bodyweight exercises like pullups, chin-ups, pushups, squats, and many more. Running may also yield exponential results with weighted vests, but you may require very good vests and weight to prevent excessive movements as you run.
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