A weighted vest is a vest loaded with 20 to 50 pounds that you wear during training, and it is the simplest way to add intensity to any bodyweight workout. With gyms closed and equipment sold out, a lot of people are doing bodyweight training — and I think you can get in as good a shape with bodyweight work as with anything else. In this Physical Friday I show how the vest works, how it should fit, and how to adjust the load, filmed on my birthday with the vest I had to wear that morning.
Watch now: press play above, or listen in the player on this page.
A weighted vest is exactly what it sounds like — a vest you wear that usually carries between 20 and 50 pounds. Twenty pounds is on the light side, 50 pounds is on the heavy side. Most quality vests use removable weights, so one vest can cover the whole range as you get stronger.
Whatever movement you choose — running, pull-ups, push-ups, burpees — you add significant difficulty just by putting the vest on. The same workout you have been doing for weeks becomes a new challenge, which makes the vest one of the easiest ways to keep progressing when you cannot get to a gym.
A good-fitting vest has straps that cinch it down so it moves with you without too much bouncing. You should be able to run, do push-ups, burpees, and pull-ups while the vest stays put. If it bounces around, it is either the wrong size or not strapped tight enough.
Most vests use individual weight blocks. If I want a 20-pound vest, I take a couple of the weights out. If I want it at 30 pounds, I fill all the slots. That adjustability lets you scale a single workout up or down or progress over months with one piece of equipment.
Any bodyweight workout. Run in it, do pull-ups, push-ups, or burpees in it, or do a full deck of cards workout wearing it — I guarantee it is going to be quite a bit harder. You are increasing the difficulty of every single rep, which adds variety and intensity and lets you make gains without a gym.
Often, yes. Really heavy things that nobody wants to lift tend to stay in stock. At a time when all the 12-pound dumbbells are sold out, you might still find a 50-pound weighted vest sitting on the shelf because not everybody wants to train with one.
Here is the approach I describe in the episode.
Personally, I think you can get in as good a shape — maybe even better — using bodyweight workouts as anything else. The catch is that anyone gets tired of the same movements eventually, and that is exactly the problem the vest solves. It takes everything you already know how to do and makes it new again. I get into why this matters right now in the episode, so press play above.
The day I filmed this happened to be my birthday, and in our gym that means one thing: you wear the weight vest and do the same workout as everybody else. It is a simple tradition that turns a birthday into an annual fitness test. I tell the story and show how the vest handled that morning's workout in the video — press play above.
If your bodyweight training has gone stale, do not abandon it — load it. A weighted vest increases the difficulty of every single workout you are already doing, adds variety, and lets you keep making gains when the gym is not an option.
Check out the weight vest, find one that fits, and let me know what vest workouts you come up with. Press play above to see how I use mine.
weighted vest training · bodyweight workouts · deck of cards workout · pull-ups · burpees · birthday workout tradition · home gym training · Physical Friday
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the workouts, nutrition habits, and mindset tools that keep guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong on the water and in the field for life.
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