Influencers on social media claim wearing a weighted vest can help with bone and muscle loss, and even menopause-related weight gain.simonkr/Getty Images
About a year ago, right around the time my doctor told me I was likely entering perimenopause, I slung a weighted vest over my shoulders and went out for a short walk.
In the 12 months that followed, I walked up and down hills, on trails and sidewalks, for short speed-walks and long, slow strolls with friends (who also wore them).
And yet only recently did it occur to me to ask myself: why am I doing this? My job is to question exercise claims and fads, so why was I so quick to follow this one?
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It might be because of the messaging I and many other women my age are being inundated with on social media from influencers and even medical professionals: Walking with a neoprene vest full of sand can fix many of the things we’ve been told to worry about, such as loss of bone and muscle, and even menopause-related weight gain.
“It’s a perfect storm,” says Amanda Thebe, Toronto-based author of the book Menopocalypse and a menopause advocate and educator. “We’ve got this appeal to authority, we’ve got vulnerable women and we’ve got the idea that we want a quick fix.”
The market for the weighted vest is expected to grow to $540-million by 2030, with North Americans driving most of that growth. But can it actually deliver as promised? Or is it just a case of really good, really pervasive marketing?
Can walking with a weighted vest help you maintain or improve bone density?
The most commonly cited research to prove this claim is a small 2000 study in the Journal of Gerontology with 18 postmenopausal subjects, which took place over five years. In it, one group exercised in vests and mostly maintained bone density. The other group did not exercise and experienced bone loss. However, the subjects in the intervention group weren’t simply walking with the vests: They were jumping and doing lower-body resistance training exercises.
This doesn’t tell us that a 30- or 45-minute walk in a weighted vest is going to do anything to improve or maintain bone density, says Lauren Colenso-Semple, an exercise scientist with a PhD in integrative physiology from McMaster University in Hamilton. Instead, she adds, it suggests that using a weighted vest in place of other kinds of weights (dumbbells, kettlebells) for traditional resistance training moves is more likely to move the needle in terms of bone density.
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A 2007 study conducted at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., observed a reduction in age-related bone loss in a group of postmenopausal women who wore a weighted vest for a 12-week exercise intervention. However, this program also included balance and lower-body resistance training exercises, in addition to treadmill walking.
Two other small, short-duration studies focused specifically on the impact of walking with a weighted vest. Both found that subjects who walked either with or without a weighted vest experienced less bone loss than the control groups who maintained their existing levels of activity.
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Will it help you build muscle?
While under load and tension, you’re not moving your muscles and joints through their full range of motion. So, even with a weighted vest, walking on its own “isn’t going to be a sufficient stimulus for muscle growth,” says Colenso-Semple.
Using one while doing movements such as squats and lunges may help improve muscle mass and strength, as illustrated in the Brock University study. If you have grip issues, a vest can also make moves such as rows and bicep curls more accessible. To optimize muscle growth though, you need to take your muscles close to failure in a given set, meaning you’ll need to either increase the weight of your vest or use another progressive overload technique such as slowing down the exercise or adding a pause at the bottom.
If it’s not helpful, is it harmful?
If you experience neck, back or shoulder pain or if you’re currently sedentary, a weighted vest can exacerbate those pains or cause new ones. If you’re otherwise healthy and injury-free, as long as you start light with a vest that’s around 5 per cent of your body weight, and pay close attention to your walking form, posture and gait, walking with a weighted vest is largely safe.
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Running with a weighted vest has the potential to cause greater damage. While some improvements in sprint times have been observed, adding 10 or 12 pounds to your body on a run can also change your posture. You may round your shoulders or forget to brace your core, says Jamie Snow, a Toronto-based personal trainer. The additional force with which you’ll strike the ground with each step can also lead to injuries such as stress fractures.
“Do not go run in your weighted vest,” says Snow. “The risk-reward to that is so one-sided.”
So, now what?
When I found out that I was in perimenopause, I was grasping at any lifestyle changes that might help, and the weighted vest was one of them.
“I think women are looking for control over their body,” says Thebe. “Because it’s an ever-changing thing that they feel is out of control.”
Several weighted-vest-wearing friends of mine have expressed that using one makes them feel like they’re working harder. There is certainly some additional caloric burn thanks to the elevated heart rate that comes with increased exertion. But it is not the only way to make your walks more impactful.
“You could walk faster,” says Colenso-Semple. “You could walk up a hill. You could walk on an incline treadmill. And that would make your heart rate go up as well.”
If you love your weighted vest, and that’s what motivates you to get out for a walk, then it’s a valuable tool toward building and maintaining overall fitness. But it’s also not the only tool.
“We’ve latched onto this as like, ‘This is the new solution to being a woman,’” says Snow. “And it’s just not.”
Alyssa Ages is a journalist and the author of Secrets of Giants: A Journey to Uncover the True Meaning of Strength. She is also a strongman competitor and endurance athlete, as well as a former personal trainer and group fitness instructor.