A weighted vest walk is one of my favorite workouts to do, because it's low impact and yet it's resistance training in one fell swoop. By doing something you would normally do anyways (walking in nature), with a weighted vest, you're building bone density and muscle mass, working on your stability and increasing balance, all while doing something as seemingly passive as walking.
Which is why this is one of my favorite health hacks! It's the lazy lady's way to building a strong body. And here's the thing: if you’re over 40, you know that weight training is the best way to keep extra pounds at bay (sorry, cardio). Weight training makes you more resilient to falls, and keeps osteoporosis and osteopenia at bay as you age. Muscle mass and bone density are EVERYTHING as you age, and it's crucially important to keep this up as you go through the perimenopause transition, where most women gain weight and lose alarming amounts of bone density and muscle mass.
So, back to this weighted vest thing: It legitimately is a fantastic way to get your weight training in, especially if you're not a fan of hitting the gym. (Look, I'm a gym rat, but that doesn't mean I don't have days where I absolutely loathe going to the gym. Of course I have days like that. Which is why my easy weight training day is the weighted vest.
I love my vest, too. I looked long and hard for a vest that's adjustable (many are not). I didn't want a collection of 6 different vests with varying weight; I wanted just 1 vest where you can vary the weight according to how strong you feel on a particular day.
Because there are days where I’ll feel strong enough to add 30# to my walk, and then are other days where I don't feel strong enough and I'll scale it back to 10#. What's important is that I keep making progress. 10 pounds is more progress than no pounds. As long as i’m making progress, that’s what counts.
So get to building bone density with a weighted vest. If you want one like mine, I found mine on amazon and linked it for you in my codes page, or right here.
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