You are asking for injury's. An overweight body is already carrying far too much extra weight to even consider wearing a weighted vest. Lets not forget, a person that hasn't been exercising on a regular basis, overweight or not, is more prone to injury. So more weight will higher the risk.
So, what exercises are OK when wearing a weighted vest?
For overweight people, or people who don't exercise on a regular basis, the only recommended form of exercise when wearing a weight vest is walking. The more weight you are carrying, the more pressure it is on your body as a whole. That includes your bones, veins, tendons, and nerves. Walking will be tougher then normal when wearing a weighted vest. You will most probably be a little out of breath to begin with, but the more you wear the weighted vest while walking the more used to it you will become. Walk in a weighted vest for 10 - 15 minutes at a time. Walking is OK, but do not get tempted to run in a weighted vest if you have been neglecting training regularly.
High impact training like running while wearing a weighted vest is a definite No no when you are overweight or haven't been in regular training for quite some time. The risk of getting bad knees, bad back, pulling a nerve, or pulling a muscle is huge.
If you really want to exercise wearing a weighted vest and nothing anything anyone says will stop you, make sure it is one of the more lighter versions that are available so that you give yourself the best chance of minimising injury. A light Weighted Walking Vest should be enough. However, I would not recommend that you buy one. Why spend the money, normal walking without added weight, jogging, or running is perfectly good enough on it's own. Weighted vests can be as heavy as 20KG - 30KG! Steer clear of these if you are overweight or out of shape as they are only recommended for extremely fit individuals. Personally I would not recommend a weighted vest that heavy to even the fittest and most conditioned of people. There is just too much risk of becoming injured.
Always warm up properly before training in a weighted vest, that includes just walking in a vest. Also, walking on grass is preferred to lessen the risk of bad knees from the extra weight of wearing a weighted vest and walking on concrete combination.
Update
Hello everyone, hope you are all sticking to your exercise routines and staying in shape! It's been a long time since writing this post. And within the time that has elapsed a lot of websites have popped up with articles about weighted vests. Some of them are bang on the money and understand the risks involved when wearing a weighted vest to train in. However, the majority of the website articles are well off the mark. It's shocking to read the advice that some of them are recommending to people who are out of shape.
Some are telling them to buy a weighted vest and go hard. This is extremely dangerous advice to give to someone who's out of shape. This bad advice has the potential of causing much worse damage than just picking up an muscle injury or wearing out the knees prematurely. It could potentially cause the person to suffer a heart attack!
If you are out of shape and have not being doing much exercise - Take It Slow. Do Not buy a weighted vest and start trying to run several miles wearing it when you probably couldn't complete the run even without wearing the weighted vest. Out of shape? Or even in shape..You really don't need a vest at all. Specially not for running. For extremely fit individuals like MMA fighters, Boxers and Iron Man athletes, weighted vests do have their place.
However, for the rest of us they are very risky and the potential for injury remains high. They are risky for even the above mentioned athletes to wear in terms of injury, and they are superfit.So you can imagine how many times that risk is multiplied when comparing say an MMA fighter wearing one to a guy, mid 40's, who has sat around eating cake and Doritos for the past 4 years and now decides he's going on a 5 mile run in his new vest. That's probably not going to end well.
An individual has to work their way up to that level of endurance training. The most important muscle of them all (The heart) needs a gradual increase and moderate introduction back into doing hard work. If you really want one get a lightweight model and just use it for walking in. Mix that with other training and when your fitness improves go for a small jog. Without wearing the vest. Increase the jogging distance or pace gradually once fitness improves. Take it easy and remember, Rome wasn't built in day. In relation to the bad advice being given out: Use your own common sense, and most importantly, know thyself and your limits and you won't go far wrong. Good luck.
9 comments:
cut down on eating and excersize more thats all is needed
I know what your saying. I'm in really good shape and I would not go running in a weights vest. The impact pressure it has on the knees is tremendous. Increased even more from hard surfaces.
I bought a walking weighted vest after previously buying a 10kg weighted vest. The 10kg sits on the back on my chair...for months at a time. good post.
Walking on an empty stomach is my trick. Walk about 3 miles each day
Some smart advice. Light weight training, walking and skipping are good for getting back into exercise. Nothing too strenuous is the trick.
You have said exactly what other sites won't say because they want to sell you something. Good job.
time for a healthier way of life this year 2014!
2015 should be interesting
Agree 100% that weighted vests do the knees no favours. Especially for individuals in 40 year range. If you want to wear your knees out quickly buy a weighted vest!!
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