Physical exercise, good nutrition, workouts, adequate rest are most of what is required to maintain good health and great wellbeing. Whether you are an athlete or you just prefer to maintain your physical structure and health, you have to find a way of fulfilling these requirements often.
There are several ways that you can exercise or workout. You probably will have a daily routine that works for you. In doing this, you need accessories that will aid you in your endeavor. One of these accessories for a workout is the weighted vest.
What are Weighted Vests?
These are adjustable exercise shirts or jackets that have pockets or opening for adding weights. They are designed for fitness training to increase resistance and cardio conditioning. They can carry weights between 0.5 lbs. to 30 lbs. When worn, they rest over the shoulder, chest and the back. These jackets are perfect for bodyweight and cardiovascular training as well as plyometrics.
The weighted vest principle is quite simple – add extra mass to increase the body’s resistance and provide overload. This, therefore, results in requiring more strength, effort and calories to perform a workout.
When you start out using them, you should begin with small amounts of weights In order to train safely and make steady gains. As you become stronger, you can increase this gradually. You can learn more about them here.
How Does it Help?
Changing or spicing up your fitness and exercise routine can be good for you. As your body adjusts to what you have been doing over time, you need to take it a notch higher to push yourself more. This will help to better improve your conditioning as well as strength.
A weighted vest helps you to easily achieve this. This is because you can adjust the weight and increase it as you go along. As you get used to a particular weight range, you just add a little extra to increase the resistance you are trying to overcome.
A weighted vest can be an excellent investment in developing your strength, stamina as well as speed. It also helps in fat loss.
The good thing about these vests is that you can spread the weight evenly around the upper parts of your body. With this, they are not concentrated on a particular section of the body. This helps you to avoid a bad form or posture which can increase the risk of you getting hurt when you train.
The adjustability makes it easy to use the perfect weight that is appropriate per time. Whether you are concentrating on speed, strength, upper body, or lower body fitness, you can achieve any of these using a weighted vest. You can find some benefits of using it in this article https://boxlifemagazine.com/the-benefits-of-training-with-a-weight-vest/.
Choosing a Weighted Vest
When selecting a weighted vest to use for your training, there are some important factors you need to put into consideration. As an aside, before use, you should ensure to consult with your doctor to ascertain that you are in good health to carry out heavy workouts. Also, before usage, consider your fitness level and do not rush into using it. If you feel you are not fit enough, take time to get up to speed by performing little exercises until you get to the level required.
Keep in mind that weighted vests are of two types; full body and shoulder vests. Below are some of the factors you should consider when selecting one.
Material and Quality
The quality of the vest you are considering is important. Generally, sporting equipment are not cheap. You do not want to spend money buying a product that is of low quality and that would give up on you in no time. To ensure you are buying good quality, check the outside material. Ensure that it is resistant to tear and sweat.
It is normal to sweat during workouts. This can cause a buildup of bacteria on the material which can in turn transfer to your opened pore. This is why you need a material that can resist sweat. For the weights, ensure that they are coated to prevent them from rusting.
Fit and Comfortability
it is important to consider how the vest fits your body and how comfortable it is when you wear. If it does not sit well on your body, you won’t be comfortable. Moreover, it would be distracting and will not achieve the purpose of its use. In fact, you will find it hard to focus on your workout. When purchasing, you should try it on if possible. It should fit snugly on your body and you should also be comfortable moving, jumping running and so on while wearing it.
Adjustability
A good weighted vest must be adjustable. This is how to get the most out of it. You should be able to add or remove weights at it is suitable for you. Put into consideration how easily and quickly you are able to add or remove weights from the vest. If it is complicated or takes a while, this can affect your training especially if you are on a timed routine.
Accessories
Another thing to put into consideration is if the jacket allows for adding your workout accessories such as a music player, your phone, etc. This may not be a big deal but it is still something to consider. Added to this, does it come with reflective strips that can be useful if you have to use it at night? All these and other accessories make for an all-round jacket that makes your workout comfortable.
Weight
This is a weighted vest so by itself, it should not be heavy as you need to add other forms of weights. For this reason, buy a moderately lightweight but strong one. It should not be too lightweight because as you grow stronger, it won’t work for you any longer. If it is too light, it won’t be as effective and if it is too heavy, it may cause injury so seek to get the right balance.
Want to know more? You should check out Fitness Brain. You will also find some of the best vests to buy and their reviews there.
Conclusion
Exercise and workouts are after all avenues to daily improve your physicality and fitness; to better yourself, to persevere and also be resilient. Weighted vests simply help you achieve all these by providing resistance that forces you to push yourself.
It is important though that you select one that is appropriate for you. One that fits and makes you comfortable so that you can get the most out of it.
