Weighted vests are widely known to be an incredible option for facilitating and hastening the process of burning calories, building up body strength, and fostering muscle growth. But what makes the weighted vest an outstanding piece of equipment is its versatility as a tool that can improve the results of various workout routines and exercises, boost effectiveness, and produce more satisfying results.
This blog will explore the incredible versatility of weighted vests, revealing to you some methods on how to use them to obtain quicker and better results across a wide group of workout activities.
- BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES
Exercises that use your body’s weight as resistance are aptly called “bodyweight exercises”. In principle, no external weight is required for bodyweight exercises, however, understanding how they work and why they are effective will reveal just how and why weighted vests could be an immense difference
Body weight exercises are effective because they target muscle groups simultaneously, using your own weight as resistance against gravity. This movement brings your muscles under tension, challenging them to constrict and expand to handle the weight as you engage in different movements. A body weight increases body weight, piling on additional muscle pressure, demanding more energy, and causing them to work harder. With a weighted vest, you add about 4-10% of your body weight to your frame, which increases the demand on the muscles, causing them to grow stronger and more toned as you work out.
Strapping on a bodyweight can help you achieve quicker results in the following bodyweight exercises:
i. Push-ups: Push-ups target your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Remember to keep the body in a straight line from head to heels as you engage your core muscles.
ii. Squats: Squads primarily target the lower body, including quads, hamstrings, and glutes. Remember to push your belly button inwards to engage your core muscles as you lower your body and rise gently each time.
iii. Lunges: Like squats, lunges target the quads, hamstrings, and glutes. Though they can be performed with or without weights, adding a weighted vest would increase pressure on these muscles, helping you build form, poise, and muscle strength.
iv. Burpees: Burpees, being a combination of different bodyweight exercises, may be more challenging but are even more rewarding. Remember to keep your core engaged even with the weighted vest on.
- LOADED CARRIERS
“Loaded Carriers” is the name for a particular group of exercises that require you to carry and stabilize a large load as you move. In and of itself, loaded carriers are known to be crucial for core activation and require full body engagement for strength, muscular endurance, and cardiovascular fitness.
However, the impact of exercises such as farmer’s walks and suitcase carriers, especially their cardiovascular effects, can be greatly enhanced by incorporating weighted vests into your workout routine. The increase in weight will elevate the level of core activation, spreading the effects to all areas of the body as your body becomes fully engaged in the workout process.
The culmination of this should be more endurance, muscle strength, growth, and an increase in form. All in less than it would have taken without the weighted vest.
In addition to Farmer’s Walks, strapping on a weighted vest could vastly improve results as you perform the following “loaded carrier” exercises.
i. Bear Carriers: Carry a weight close to your chest, hugging it tightly as you walk carefully over a certain distance. Your biceps, shoulder, and lower body get a good workout as you go.
ii. Shoulder Carriers: This time, carry the load on your shoulders while walking over a good distance. You can carry the load on one shoulder or alternate from one shoulder to the other. This exercise targets the shoulder muscles, helping build shoulder strength and biceps.
iii. Goblet Carry: Hold the goblet in both hands outstretched in front of you like a goblet. Then walk over a certain distance as you train the arms and build body resistance.
iv. Rack Carry: This exercise targets your shoulders as you carry the load on your shoulders, either in front or behind, for a certain time.
v. Zercher Carry: Hold the load in the crook of your elbows and walk for a certain time. This exercise is designed for arm strength.
Though these exercises are designed to target some particular parts of the body, wearing a weighted vest helps distribute the effect to the entire body, preserving and strengthening the impact of the exercise, but also enabling a more comprehensive workout.
- PLYOMETRIC EXERCISES
Any exercise that involves quick and repeated muscle contraction and stretching is probably classified as “plyometrics.” This group includes any exercise that involves intense bursts of activity to target muscle fibers, especially those in the lower body. The objective of plyometric exercises is to increase muscle power and develop leg strength, explosive power, and increased agility.
Admittedly, performing any plyometric exercise such as jumping or hopping would be significantly more challenging when one has a weighted vest strapped on-but that is the point: to increase the level of the challenge, bringing faster results with the same routine within the same time. Performing plyometric activities with the weighted vest strapped on greatly increases the resistance, generating formidable leg power, strength, and neuromuscular activity, especially for your legs.
Examples of plyometric exercises to be performed with a weighted vest include:
i. Box Jumps: Stand before a box or any sturdy platform. Then jump onto the box, landing with both feet. Then jump back down and repeat. This exercise targets the lower body, especially the muscles in the feet, for explosive speed.
ii. Plyometric Push-ups: This exercise begins like a usual push-up, but with your hands spread out wider. Then lower yourself almost to the floor, the push yourself upwards with enough energy so that your hands leave the ground. Land softly and repeat as the exercise targets the muscles in your shoulder, chest, and triceps.
iii. Hopping: Regular hopping can also be performed with a weighted vest for quicker results in the triceps.
iv. Jump Squats: For this exercise, begin in the squat position, then quickly and explosively jump, extending your hands before you. Land on your feet, lower yourself into the squatting position, and repeat.
The list of exercises that can be enhanced by a weighted vest goes on and on. Some people use weighted vests in various improvised ways that are non-conventional. The importance of a weighted vest still remains understated. Purchasing a weighted vest, you can use it for all the above ways, plus others that you may invent for yourself. In any case, you are guaranteed better workout results.
ZELUS FITNESS
Zelus Fitness is a preferred supplier of workout equipment for several people whose objective is to make the best of their workout. Zelus weighted vests are designed to be adjustable, enabling them to suit various body types. In addition, the vests are made of durable nylon material, ensuring they last for a long time. New customers never fail to be impressed by the comfort and ease of use offered by the Zelus weighted vests.
For workout tasks such more demanding workouts such as bodyweight exercises or loaded carriers, the Zelus Adjustable Weight Vest will likely spark your interest. For more mobile exercises, such as plyometric exercises, the Zelus Vest for Running and Training may be more suitable. Check out Zelus for the perfect vest to elevate your workout.