Weighted vests are having a social media moment among fitness influencers and those looking for an effective workout. But can they really boost your workouts? And who benefits most?
Here’s what the research and experts say.
What Is a Weighted Vest?
A weighted vest is a garment with sewn-in or removable weights. When worn during a walk, weighted vests increase your body weight, and, therefore, the intensity of your workout.
That extra load makes your body work harder with every step, which has many beneficial effects. “Weighted vest walking improves cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance, and bone health, with weight loss as a possible secondary benefit,” says Tiana S. Woolridge, MD, MPH, a sports medicine physician at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City.
Walking With a Weighted Vest: 5 Reasons to Try It
Using a weighted vest to increase your load while walking may benefit your heart, muscle, and bone health.
However, it’s not necessarily advantageous for everyone. Wearing a weighted vest may exacerbate certain health conditions, such as arthritis, joint pain, or balance issues, says Kristen M. Beavers, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
So, get cleared by your healthcare provider before you try walking with a weighted vest if you have one of these conditions. In addition, ask your doctor first if you have heart disease, uncontrolled blood pressure, diabetes, chest pain, or shortness of breath.
Here are the potential benefits of using a weighted vest.
1. Walking With a Weighted Vest Improves Cardiovascular Endurance
Wearing a weighted vest while exercising can improve cardiorespiratory fitness (your body’s capacity to supply and use oxygen during exercise). In a study of women with obesity, those who wore a weighted vest during a circuit training workout three times per week for eight weeks increased their VO2 max (a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness) by nearly 13 percent. Meanwhile, those who exercised without a vest saw an increase of 9.4 percent.
While the study used circuit training instead of walking, the findings likely apply to both forms of exercise. “The additional load on your body forces your muscles to work harder and therefore use up more oxygen, so your heart rate will increase quickly to deliver that oxygen,” Dr. Wooldridge says. This can improve the efficiency of your heart and lungs’ ability to provide your muscles with oxygen over time, she adds.
Greater cardiorespiratory fitness not only enables you to work out longer, but it may also reduce your risk of chronic health conditions such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure (hypertension), and type 2 diabetes.
2. Walking With a Weighted Vest Builds Core Strength
Walking with an additional load recruits the core, which include the muscles in the abdomen, lower back, and pelvis. These muscles engage to keep you stable and balanced as you walk with a weighted vest, Dr. Woolridge explains.
Building core strength can help you perform daily activities and sports more easily, helping you avoid pain and injury.
However, a weighted vest shouldn’t act as your only core exercise. “Studies have shown that you won’t get significant improvement in your core strength from walking in a vest alone,” Woolridge says. That’s because a weighted vest doesn’t isolate the core muscles the way other exercises do. For that reason, Woolridge advises incorporating additional core work into your routine, such as planks and crunches.
3. Walking With a Weighted Vest May Increase Bone Density
Wearing a weighted vest during daily activities may stimulate bone formation and decrease bone breakdown, per a study in older adults with obesity. This may make weighted vests especially helpful for people with or at risk for developing osteoporosis (a condition that causes bones to become weak and brittle), such as postmenopausal women, older adults, people with medical conditions such as kidney disease or liver disease, and those who use medications that interfere with the bone-rebuilding process (such as corticosteroids).
Weight-bearing exercises, like walking or walking with a weighted vest, place a force on bones that stimulates the production of bone-forming cells.
However, Woolridge emphasizes that the benefits of walking with a weighted vest are primarily cardiovascular. Moreover, the research on bone density is still emerging, and weighted vests shouldn’t be used to treat low bone density, Dr. Beavers adds.
4. Walking With a Weighted Vest May Help With Weight Loss
Wearing a weighted vest during daily activities may help with weight loss — and research suggests heavier vests are more effective than lighter ones. In one randomized clinical trial, adults with obesity who wore a heavy weighted vest (about 11 percent of the subject’s body weight) for eight hours per day for three weeks lost an additional 3 pounds and 4 percent more fat, compared with those who wore a lighter vest (about 1 percent of the subject’s body weight).
Since your body has to work harder to move you around and you expend more energy (burn more calories), which can contribute to fat loss, study authors explain.
An older study in postmenopausal women had similar findings: Women who wore a weighted vest while walking for 30 minutes a day three days per week for six weeks lost significantly more fat than women who did not wear a weighted vest while walking (8.4 percent versus 2.4 percent).
An important caveat here, as Woolridge explains, is that weight loss effect is usually small. When combined with other forms of exercise and healthy nutrition, the added calorie burn from walking with a weighted vest could support weight loss, she says.
5. Walking With a Weighted Vest May Build Muscle
Research on people performing circuit training found that those who wore a weighted vest added more muscle mass by the end of eight weeks than those who trained without the extra weight. The researchers say the added load likely encourages the body to produce proteins that contribute to muscle growth.
Increasing muscle can make it easier to participate in sports and daily activities, helps protect joints from injury, and improves balance. It can also help you burn more calories throughout the day, which may contribute to weight loss.
There is one caveat: A weighted vest doesn’t work every muscle and isn’t a replacement for traditional strength training workouts. Woolridge advises participating in resistance training at least twice weekly.
How to Walk With a Weighted Vest: 5 Tips
Keep your weighted walks safe and effective with the following expert tips:
Start slow and increase gradually. Woolridge recommends starting with a vest that weighs 5 to 10 percent of your body weight and walking 10 to 20 minutes twice weekly. Going heavier or further may increase your risk of injury. “Each week you can increase either weight, duration, or frequency as tolerated,” Woolridge says. Follow the 10 percent principle, she suggests. For example, if you’re using an adjustable weight vest (where you can add weight to customize the load), add another 1 or 2 pounds. Or, add two or three minutes onto your walk. If you’ve been taking two walks per week, are feeling good and recovering well, add a third walk the next week.
Wear it right. The weighted vest should fit comfortably while walking. “Make sure the vest fits snugly with the weight distributed evenly, so you don’t feel pulled down on one side or the other,” says Woolridge.
Maintain healthy posture. “Good, upright posture is very important to avoid injury or excess strain on the back,” Woolridge says. Make sure you can stand upright without feeling as if your shoulders are being uncomfortably pulled back or forward.
Avoid chafing. Wearing a weighted vest that fits well may keep the fabric from rubbing against the skin and causing chafing. However, it may help to wear a moisture-wicking shirt that prevents the vest from making contact with bare skin.
Stay hydrated. It’s essential to pay attention to hydration when wearing a weighted vest, especially in hot weather. Your body loses fluids through sweating, and losses are higher when exercising in the heat. If you lose fluids faster than they’re replaced, you may experience signs of dehydration, such as headache, fatigue, and dizziness. Drink roughly 5 to 10 ounces of plain water every 15 minutes while exercising outdoors to stay hydrated.
The Takeaway
A weighted vest is a garment that has built-in pockets where people can place weights, with some vests having weights sewn in. Many people wear weighted vests while walking to improve health and fitness.
The potential benefits of walking in a weighted vest include improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle mass, weight loss, bone health, and core strength.
Wearing a weighted vest while walking can be risky for people with specific health conditions. Get cleared by your healthcare provider if you have arthritis, joint pain, balance issues, heart disease, uncontrolled blood pressure, diabetes, chest pain, or shortness of breath.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Kim J et al. Weighted Vest Intervention During Whole-Body Circuit Training Improves Serum Resistin, Insulin Resistance, and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors on Normal-Weight Obese Women. Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness. October 2024.
Aerobic Exercise: Top 10 Reasons to Get Physical. Mayo Clinic. November 18, 2023.
Core Exercises: Why You Should Strengthen Your Core Muscles. Mayo Clinic. March 25, 2025.
Kelleher JL et al. Weighted Vest Use During Dietary Weight Loss on Bone Health in Older Adults With Obesity. Journal of Osteoporosis & Physical Activity. November 28, 2017.
Ohlsson C et al. Increased Weight Loading Reduces Body Weight and Body Fat in Obese Subjects – A Proof of Concept Randomized Trial. EClinicalMedicine. April 30, 2020.
Roghani T et al. Effects of Short-Term Aerobic Exercise With and Without External Loading on Bone Metabolism and Balance in Postmenopausal Women With Osteoporosis. Rheumatology International. March 24, 2012.
Strength Training: Get Stronger, Leaner, Healthier. Mayo Clinic. April 29, 2023.
Tara Collingwood, RDN, is a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics, an American College of Sports Medicine–certified personal trainer, and a media spokesperson. As a sports dietitian, she has worked with the U.S. Tennis Association, the Orlando Magic, World Wrestling Entertainment, runDisney, the University of Central Florida, and numerous professional and amateur athletes. Collingwood is the author of Pregnancy Cooking and Nutrition for Dummies and a coauthor of the Flat Belly Cookbook for Dummies.
She appears regularly on national and local TV, and speaks around the world to business teams on how to manage energy physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. She previously served as a national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Collingwood double-majored in dietetics as well as nutrition, fitness, and health at Purdue University and earned a master's degree in health promotion from Purdue University.
Jessica Migala is a freelance writer with over 15 years of experience, specializing in health, nutrition, fitness, and beauty. She has written extensively about vision care, diabetes, dermatology, gastrointestinal health, cardiovascular health, cancer, pregnancy, and gynecology. She was previously an assistant editor at Prevention where she wrote monthly science-based beauty news items and feature stories.
She has contributed to more than 40 print and digital publications, including Cosmopolitan, O:The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Woman’s Day, Women’s Health, Fitness, Family Circle, Health, Prevention, Self, VICE, and more. Migala lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, two young boys, rescue beagle, and 15 fish. When not reporting, she likes running, bike rides, and a glass of wine (in moderation, of course).
