Finding ways to exercise and gain more health benefits in less time is a goal for many women these days. With less and less time to spare, making the most of your exercise routine is one of the best things you can do for your health. That’s where weighted vests come in, and why women should train more often with them.
If you’re not familiar with weighted vests, these are pieces of workout equipment that you wear like a vest and insert various weights into the pockets. You can adjust the amount of these weights depending on what exercise you are doing, or when you’re ready to add on.
Training with these weighted vests can benefit women in important ways, providing certain benefits needed to live a healthy life. To be more specific, here are four reasons you should add a weighted vest to your workout now.
Increased Bone Strength
When exercising, we think more about building up muscle and often don’t even consider its effects on our bones. Once we become adults, our bones are already in place, and we hardly think about them unless a break occurs.
However, bone density is a major issue, particularly for women.
Women are more susceptible to developing osteoporosis, a medical condition where your bones become more brittle, and even fragile due to a loss of tissue. This typically occurs as a result of different hormone changes, and also a lack of vitamin D and calcium. A way to prevent this is to increase bone strength.
Weighted vests can help you do this because the extra weight you carry adds more stress on the bones. While stress may be considered bad in other instances, this is not one of them. More stress on your bones forces them to get stronger, making you stronger and lessening the chances of developing brittle and fragile bones.
Weight-bearing exercise is the best antidote to prevent the development of osteoporosis for women. This is one of the top reasons why women need to consider adding weighted vests to more of their workout routines.
Stronger Heart
Let’s not sugarcoat it. The leading cause of death for women is heart disease. So, what can we do to help our hearts out and get them stronger? Exercise is one way.
If you’ve spent much time working out with dumbbells or barbells, you know how much energy is expended in lifting those weights. You feel your heart start to race, and your lungs work harder as you experience shortness of breath. It’s this additional resistance that gets your cardiovascular ramped up into high gear.
By wearing a weighted vest while exercising, even when walking, that extra weight requires higher exertion, causing more blood to pump through the body. Your cardiovascular endurance will increase, as well.
Better Balance and Coordination
Posture, balance, and coordination start to go out the window, not just with age but also with what we carry and how we carry it. From children to grocery bags, we’re always pushing the limits.
It’s our core muscles, those abs, back, and glutes, that are the workhorses of our everyday activities such as standing, sitting, and, yes, carrying weight. They keep us balanced and keep our coordination fine-tuned.
When wearing extra weight on the upper torso, such as with weighted vests, your core muscles are activated in response to the heavier load. This strengthens them, providing a win-win for you now and for in the future. Click here for a list of vests
Tone Up and Slim Down
Finding ways to make your workouts more beneficial is a better option than trying to find more time in your schedule for longer workouts. By adding a weighted vest to your already established work out, you can increase calorie and fat burning.
As your body senses the extra weight, it ramps up, requiring more calorie usage, which leads to a slimmer you. Even when the vest is removed, the body keeps on burning.
You can now even turn that lower body workout into a full-body workout without adding more time to your schedule. This will help tone you up faster and keep you there longer.
Here are a few ways to add a weighted vest to your day:
- Wear it on your daily walks, either with your kids, your dog or on your own.
- If you’re a runner, start with a low weight amount and gradually build up.
- Add it to your treadmill or elliptical trainer workout.
- Wear it during that boxing class, or other exercise classes.
- Don the vest during your home workout of squats, lunges, and standing calf raises.
By simply putting on a weighted vest, you will be doubling your efforts or putting in twice the workout in the same amount of time. Your heart and lungs will thank you. Your bones will work for you instead of against you. And that body fat? Say goodbye. Even if you only walk while wearing the weighted vest, you’ll benefit in all four ways as well.