A new fitness trend promising to supercharge fat loss and swap excess kilos for muscle is raising concerns among health experts who warn the weighted vests may not be suitable for everyone.
The weighted vest, used for years by the military, has now gone mainstream and become so common it’s turned into an online punchline.
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“Weighted vests help menopause and so every single mum is now obsessed,” one social media user joked.
Karl Innes has been incorporating weighted vests at his CrossFit gym for years and says they offer versatility in training.
“So you can add load to the movement but continue to move dynamically like push-ups, pull-ups, air squats, even walking or running,” he said.
But experts say promises the vests help build bone density and supercharge fat loss may only apply if you’re already fit.
“Someone that’s perhaps heavy or deconditioned then you’ve got a lot of joint stresses,” University of Queensland (UQ) exercise physiologist Donna McCook warned.
A US study found women who did weighted vest workouts for five months had bigger improvements in blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, inflammation markers and body composition. However, other results remain unclear.
Health professionals are particularly cautioning anyone with osteoarthritis, curvature of the spine and disc degeneration against using the vests.
“Twenty per cent of the population have got discal injuries without even knowing that they have them,” McCook said.
For those wanting to try weighted vests, the advice is to start with just 2 per cent of your body weight.
“If your goal is to increase the level of fitness that you have now, great idea and just move into it slowly,” she recommend.
Just prepare to be called cringe by your kids.
