Does wearing a weighted vest help build stronger bones?
Weighted vests showed no clear extra bone benefit in people already exercising, though they can make workouts harder.
The Cleveland 13 News article reviewed evidence on Weighted Vest Training. It described a review that combined results from several studies. It also covered a large study involving older adults losing substantial body weight.
The comparison group mattered. Compared with an inactive lifestyle, vest use showed some bone health improvements. But among people already exercising, adding a vest offered no clear improvement in Bone Mineral Density, a measure of how dense bones are. In the older adults’ study, wearing a vest did not prevent bone loss during weight loss. The supplied article gives no exact changes, study sizes, or vest loads.
The evidence was more supportive for making movement harder. Carrying extra load makes the body use more energy to move. The article reports greater oxygen use and higher exercise intensity with a vest. That supports using a vest to add challenge to a walk. It does not establish that the added effort builds stronger bones.
For BioSocial members, workout effort and bone changes are separate things to track. Notes on vest load, session length, and how hard movement feels can help compare routines. Members tracking bone measurements can share those results alongside their exercise history. Including whether vest use replaced inactivity or added to an existing routine matters. Those were different comparisons in the evidence, with different findings.
What changes have you noticed in your workout effort or bone measurements since adding a weighted vest?
Comments
No comments yet.
