Exercise training while wearing a weighted vest is undergoing somewhat of a renaissance. Social media posts and trainers are promoting them as a potential strategy for improving fitness and health.

Exercising with additional weight attached to the body is nothing new. This idea has been used with soldiers for many centuries if not millennia – think long hikes with a heavy pack.

The modern weighted vest comes in a range of designs that are more comfortable and can be adjusted in terms of the weight added. But could one be helpful for you?

What the research says

One of the earliest research studies, reported in 1993, followed 36 older people wearing weighted vests during a weekly exercise class and at home over a 20-week period. Wear was associated with improvements in bone health, pain and physical function.

Since then, dozens of papers have evaluated the exercise effects of wearing a weighted vest, reporting a range of benefits.

Not surprisingly, exercise with a weighted vest increases physiological stress – or how hard the body has to work – as shown by increased oxygen uptake, heart rate, carbohydrate utilisation and energy expenditure.

Adding weight equal to 10% of body weight is effective. But it doesn’t appear the body works significantly harder when wearing 5% extra weight compared to body weight alone.

Does more load mean greater injury risk?

A small 2021 study suggested additional weights don’t alter the biomechanics of walking or running. These are important considerations for lower-limb injury risk.

The safety considerations of exercising with weighted vests have also been reported in a biomechanical study of treadmill running with added weight of 1% to 10% of body weight.

While physiological demand (indicated by heart rate) was higher with additional weight and the muscular forces greater, running motion was not negatively affected.

To date no research studies have reported increased injuries due to wearing weighted vests for recreational exercise. However a 2018 clinical study on weight loss in people with obesity found back pain in 25% of those wearing such vests. Whether this can be translated to recreational use in people who don’t have obesity is difficult to say. As always, if pain or discomfort is experienced then you should reduce the weight or stop vest training.

Better for weight loss or bone health?

While wearing a weighted vest increases the energy expenditure of aerobic and resistance exercise, research to show it leads to greater fat loss or retaining muscle mass is somewhat inconclusive.

One older study investigated treadmill walking for 30 minutes, three times a week in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. The researchers found greater fat loss and muscle gain in the participants who wore a weighted vest (at 4–8% body weight). But subsequent research in obese older adults could not show greater fat loss in participants who wore weighted vests for an average of 6.7 hours per day.

There has been considerable interest in the use of weighted vests to improve bone health in older people. One 2003 study reported significant improvements in bone density in a group of older women over 32 weeks of weighted vest walking and strength training compared to a sedentary control group.

But a 2012 study found no difference in bone metabolism between groups of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis walking on a treadmill with or without a weighted vest.

Making progress

As with any exercise, there is a risk of injury if it is not done correctly. But the risk of weighted vest training appears low and can be managed with appropriate exercise progression and technique.

If you are new to training, then the priority should be to simply start exercising and not complicate it with wearing a weighted vest. The use of body weight alone will be sufficient to get you on the path to considerable gains in fitness.

Once you have a good foundation of strength, aerobic fitness and resilience for muscles, joints and bones, using a weighted vest could provide greater loading intensity as well as variation.

It is important to start with a lighter weight (such as 5% bodyweight) and build to no more than 10% body weight for ground impact exercises such as running, jogging or walking.

For resistance training such as squats, push-ups or chin-ups, progression can be achieved by increasing loads and adjusting the number of repetitions for each set to around 10 to 15. So, heavier loads but fewer repetitions, then building up to increase the load over time.

While weighted vests can be used for resistance training, it is probably easier and more convenient to use barbells, dumbbells, kettle bells or weighted bags.

The bottom line

Weighted vest training is just one tool in an absolute plethora of equipment, techniques and systems. Yes, walking or jogging with around 10% extra body weight increases energy expenditure and intensity. But training for a little bit longer or at a higher intensity can achieve similar results.

There may be benefits for bone health in wearing a weighted vest during ground-based exercise such as walking or jogging. But similar or greater stimulus to bone growth can be achieved by resistance training or even the introduction of impact training such as hopping, skipping or bounding.

Exercising with a weighted vest likely won’t increase your injury risk. But it must be approached intelligently considering fitness level, existing and previous injuries, and appropriate progression for intensity and repetition.

Also Read | Man who dropped from 95 kg to 68 kg shares 3 fat-loss meals that helped him lose 27 kg in 4 months

Kareena Kapoor’s intense workout routine

The celebrity trainer posted Kareena’s clip with the caption, “Jumping and punching onto the New Year’s Fitness Game #2025 #newyear #newpost #newwork #newgoals #celebrity,” The video shows the actor doing two different full-body exercises. In the first exercise, she can be seen jumping continuously on one leg with the other balanced on the wall. She kept her spine neutral, her arms near her torso, and repeated the routine while keeping her breath in check.

In the second exercise, Kareena sat down on her yoga mat with her torso and legs lifted up from the ground. Maintaining this position and holding dumbbell weights in both hands, Kareena punched her arms forward. She kept her back in a neutral position during the routine.

How did the internet react?

Fans loved Kareena’s dedication towards her fitness routine and felt inspired by her intense workout. One wrote, “Queen.” Another commented, “Even after two kids! Insane.” A comment read, “OMG! Wow.” Another said, “She looks amazing in her body. She’s in her 40s, she has had two kids, and still, she appears healthy and happy.”

Taimur’s sweet gesture for his Maa

Apart from an inspiring fitness routine, Kareena’s 2025 began with a sweet gesture from her and Saif Ali Khan’s oldest son, Taimur Ali Khan. The actor shared pictures of her son carrying her heels with the caption, “MAA ki seva iss saal and forever. Happy New Year, friends ❤️ More Pictures coming soon. Stay tuned.”

Kareena and Saif welcomed Taimur on December 20, 2016. They are also parents to Jehangir Ali Khan. Jeh was born on February 21, 2021.

It’s January 2, you’re at one of Pelham’s great cafes discussing your New Year’s fitness resolution over a double latte and chocolate brownie with your BFF, and you confide, “Making the resolution was the easy part. I really do want to get more fit, but there are so many different programs and plans, I haven’t got a clue where to start.”

Exploring Functional Fitness may be your answer. At its most basic level—and there are levels for everyone—functional fitness is designed to prioritize exercises that allow us to stay active and healthy throughout our lives, and perform daily tasks more easily.

At age 40 this might mean playing with the kids, enjoying a pick-up hockey game or round of tennis, staying pain-free at work, or simply doing all those physical things you do with less effort.

By age 60 or 70 it may mean getting in or out of a chair graciously, reaching a high or low shelf without excessive strain, or successfully standing on one foot while changing your underwear without falling over.

Most of us are more familiar with exercises or routines designed for a singular purpose: losing weight or improving cardiovascular strength, which both require workouts designed to burn calories and increase heart rate, improving muscular definition for those sculpted beach selfies, or programs designed to improve muscle and flexibility performance related to a specific sport. These exercises isolate and train individual muscle groups rather than addressing the functionality and quality of various multi-joint, multi-muscle movements in which shoulders, hips, core muscles, knees, the spine and many other body components all interact together, such as lifting, balancing, twisting and squatting.

Functional fitness stresses compound exercising, or training, which strengthens your muscles in the same way that your body uses them for real-life, day-to-day tasks. The benefits include better balance and increased stability, a reduced risk of injury and strains, and an overall improvement in quality of life.

A study led by Giovanni Angelo Navarra, of the Sport and Exercise Research Unit, Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, published by the United States National Library of Medicine in September 2023, and titled Functional fitness, lifestyle and demographic predictors of perceived physical and mental health in older adults: A structural equation model (SEM), states the following, “The SEM analysis revealed that functional fitness…was a strong predictor of both perceived physical and perceived mental health in the sample of elderly participants. Physical activity level was a predictor of the perceived physical component but not of mental health, nor were socio-demographic factors or adherence to a Mediterranean diet.

“The present findings suggest that it would be strongly recommended for elderly subjects (over 60 years old in this study) to engage in functional physical activity specifically targeted to aged populations, in order to enhance their fitness abilities and enable them to improve the perception of their own health status.”

My apologies for the drawn-out accreditation details and subsequent longish quotes, but in my opinion this is a significant finding, so the ducks should all be in a row if you wish to follow up on your own.

It’s so simple, yet profound

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Functional fitness workouts that are targeted to the things we do every day in our real lives not only improve our fitness but also the self-perception of our health. It’s so simple, yet profound. If we do activities that allow us to reach and twist and bend and stand tall and balance well, we’ll feel the benefits more intuitively and believe we’re in better shape, aging better, than if we do isolated muscle group exercises, have a strong socio-demographic identity, or follow a good dietary regimen.

Simply put, doing the stuff we have to do easily and efficiently is one of the most important indicators to believing life is good.

As mentioned earlier, functional fitness exercises or training can apply to all ages. Navarra’s study was aimed at seniors, a broad-brush term that is useless for most things beyond price discounts and pension eligibility. At the more sedentary end of the senior spectrum, or for those who are beginning a fitness program, functional exercises can start with getting out of chairs, step-ups, single leg balances, and low- or high-shelf reaches.

Next step for the somewhat fit would be to add increasing resistance or weight to the same type of exercises to improve functional fitness. For example, squats and lunges could include a kettlebell weight, and balance exercises might involve stretchy bands as one progresses, increasing the functional strength component.

Many kids and younger adults focus on single-sport fitness and muscle development programs, which are great. Simon Damborg, president of the Canadian Functional Fitness Federation, would suggest that those in this group also add Crossfit or Spartan-type training approaches or events to increase their functional fitness. A Spartan Sprint is a short, 5-kilometre off-road event in which participants must overcome 20 obstacles using combinations of every muscle group in their bodies — a perfect precursor to functional fitness routines designed to meet their needs as they age.

Check out functional fitness for yourself. There are lots of videos and detailed articles on the subject, from a Participaction/YMCA beginner approach to information provided by doctors, physiotherapists and professional coaches – none of which I am.

You might find it interesting, even enlightening. Functional fitness was a huge eye-opener for this guy who cycles 100 kilometres with ease but has—make that had—to get down on one knee to find the broccoli hidden on the refrigerator’s bottom shelf.

After three decades co-owning various southern Ontario small businesses with his wife, John Swart has enjoyed 15 years in retirement volunteering, bicycling the world, and feature writing, and is an award-winning Pelham columnist writing for Niagara readers.