Weighted Vests in Midlife: Hype? Help? Harm?

You can’t scroll Instagram without seeing a midlife woman walking, lifting, or even folding laundry in a weighted vest—all while singing its praises. And Instagram being Instagram, there are also plenty of posts featuring folks calling bullsh*t on the weighted vest craze and noting that in some cases they may do more harm than good. 

My hot take? Yes, they can help. Yes, they have risks. Yes, they’re overhyped. So, what’s that mean for you? You guessed it…it depends.

What is a Weighted Vest?

Exactly what it sounds like: a vest you load with weight to add resistance to daily life or workouts. The idea is that added load increases stress on your musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems, potentially improving strength, fitness, and bone health.

Weighted Vests for Bone Health Benefits

There’s some evidence supporting the idea that weighted vests can help stimulate bone development–or at least stem bone loss–which makes sense when you consider that the skeletal system responds to mechanical loads and stress. But the research isn’t the highest quality.

One 5-year study found that postmenopausal women who performed weighted vest plus jumping exercise three times per week for 32 weeks of the year over a period of 5 years maintained hip bone density, while those who didn’t lost bone mineral density. Another found older adults wearing vests during light exercise gained 1% bone density (vs. 0.6% loss in controls). A 2015 study on postmenopausal women with osteopenia who exercised with weighted vests showed improvements in hip bone density, lower body strength, and balance after 6 months–but lacked a control group. And a 2012 study where postmenopausal women with osteoporosis walked on a treadmill either with or without a weighted vest found that both groups enjoyed bone health benefits while the vest wearers had more fat loss, muscle gain (which we’ll get to in a bit), and balance benefits.

These studies suggest potential bone benefits—but it’s pretty unclear if the vest is the magic ingredient or just the movement. Plus, the participants in these studies were often sedentary to start. If you want to build bone in an evidence-based way, stick to heavier resistance training and jumping/plyometric exercise.

Finally, one interesting study I had been keeping my eye on–The 12-month INVEST in Bone Health trial–hypothesized that wearing a weighted vest might help protect against bone loss in a group of older adults on a weight loss plan. The results of that just came out in JAMA Network Open, and the vest had no bone benefits. Neither did a general resistance training program of 3 sets of 10 to 12 repetitions for 8 different upper and lower body exercises at 70% to 75% 1 repetition maximum, suggesting that bones may need higher impact and/or intensity stress.

Weighted Vests for General Strength & Fitness

Anyone who’s ever gone backpacking–or carried a pack full of books at school–knows that carrying extra weight makes your heart, lungs, and muscles work harder. So, sure, if you wear a weighted vest, you’re going to increase your physiological stress. 

But this, too, isn’t so clear cut. In a 2021 study on CrossFit participants, researchers examined heart rate, oxygen use, carbohydrate oxidation, and energy burn while women and men walked and ran on a treadmill at 0%, 5%, and 10% gradients while wearing sex-scaled weighted vests–females wearing a 14lb (6.35kg) vest and males wearing a 20lb (9.07kg) vest. Physiological demands during walking were increased with the vest at 10% but not 5% or 0%. They all increased when they ran with the vest, though the males experienced 3x greater metabolic increases than the females and only males had elevated blood lactate. 

A 2024 study found that the weight needs to be pretty heavy to have a measurable impact on calorie burn: a 22% body weight vest increased energy burn by 12.4%. That means you’d need to be wearing 31lbs if you weigh 140. No thanks.

Potential Risks with Weighted Vests

There’s also the question of potential injury risk. In the CrossFit study, they found no changes in biomechanical gait that would have predisposed the participants to lower-limb injury. However, it’s important to bear in mind that these were all young, trained athletes. 

Research on less fit populations has had people complain of low back pain when wearing vests most of the day. If you have severe osteoporosis or a history of fracture, I’d talk to your health care practitioner before integrating a weighted vest in your workouts. Same if you have joint issues or heart problems. 

Finally, as I’ve seen past Hit Play Not Pause guest and pelvic floor specialist Kim Vopni address on Instagram, you really need to be sure your posture, core, and pelvic floor muscles are all strong and can accept that added load, or you may be paving the way for problems. 

I’m not anti-weighted vest. I’ve previously talked about how rucking (which is similar, just with a rucksack or backpack) is great exercise. And sure, adding a weighted vest to your exercise sessions can have added benefits for trained folks. But there are plenty of ways to load your body without adding more gear to your life.