Weighted Vests Can Improve Strength, Endurance, and Longevity

Research shows that adding extra load on your frame can boost endurance and build strength, but only if used wisely. 

It’s likely that by now, you’ve seen, used, or heard about weighted vests. Their popularity has soared in the past few years, attracting a range of users who hope to reap some of the many purported benefits. 

Proponents of weighted vests credit them for increasing endurance, muscle mass[muh-suhl mas]nounThe total weight of muscle in your body, critical for longevity.Learn MoreClose, and calorie burn. They’re also sometimes recommended to support bone health, and increase balance. 

While some of these benefits are backed by science, experts say that the verdict is still out on other claims.

Let’s dig into how weighted vests work, what we know they can do, what they can’t, and what may be too soon to call.

How Do Weighted Vests Work?

Weighted vests add resistance to any kind of activity. Worn on your torso, the increased weight load forces your body, including your cardiovascular system, muscles, and joints, to work harder. 

Vests come in preloaded weights of 5 to 30 pounds, or are adjustable by placing small one or two-pound plates into designated pockets, to add as much as 42 or more pounds.

Adding external weight forces your lungs, heart, and muscles to work harder during movement. Over time, that physiological stress can build endurance, aerobic capacity, and muscle strength and power. 

“[A weighted vest] adds intensity, you’re able to up your fitness without changing what you have to do,” says Jen Wagner, MD, a Super Age advisor and cofounder of Prosper, a women’s performance coaching program. 

The heavier weight also increases mechanical loading on your skeleton, and especially your hips and lower extremities. Theoretically, this can stimulate bone remodeling and may help slow natural age-related bone loss.

6 Science-Backed Benefits of Weighted Vests

Some benefits credited to weighted vests may come from a combination of these factors. By increasing resistance, you can improve endurance and strength, which in turn may benefit metabolic health, bone health, and balance.

“I’m generally pretty positive about weighted vests,” adds Liz Joy, MD, FACSM, a past president of the American College of Sports Medicine.  

Let’s look more closely at what the research shows.

1) Boost Endurance and Aerobic Capacity

By increasing intensity during activity, wearing a weighted vest can increase VO₂max and, over time, lower perceived effort.

In a 10-week Australian program combining resistance training and weighted walking (23 kg/almost 50 lb), 15 healthy men in their early 20s showed lower perceived exertion and improvements in an estimated VO₂max from pre- to post-training. 

A small, lab-based study showed improvements in running performance from warming up while wearing a weighted vest. And a 2024 review of the literature found that training with weighted vests improved sprint times among elite runners. 

2) Weighted vests and cardiovascular function and body composition

Women in their 20s with normal weight but high body-fat percentage experienced greatly improved VO₂max and increased lean muscle by wearing a weighted vest while exercising. The small study of 36 participants compared the impacts of vest-wearing during exercise against training without a weighted vest and a control group. Over eight weeks, the two exercise groups did full-body circuit training three times per week. Both groups lost body fat and improved anaerobic power, though the weighted vest group’s changes were more significant. That group also showed reduced blood pressure and better insulin resistance[in-suh-lin ri-zis-tuhns]nounA condition where cells in the muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond properly to insulin, leading to impaired insulin sensitivity and potentially prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.Learn MoreClose compared to the others.

3) Weighted vests may help you burn (a few) more calories

Wearing a weighted vest causes the body to use more energy (calories). This is known as increased energy expenditure, or metabolic cost. But the change isn’t drastic. 

Lab research sponsored by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) found that wearing a weighted vest equal to 15% of body weight, increased energy expenditure by about 12%. That means a 150-pound person wearing a 22-pound vest, would burn roughly 18 more calories during 30 minutes of walking at 2.5 mph on flat ground. It’s not a lot, but over time, “those extra calories will start to add up to a value that may feel more significant,” says ACE’s Chris Gagliardi, MS.

A small Swedish study found that people with mild obesity who wore a weighted vest equal to 11% of their body weight for eight hours a day — going about their normal routines — lost 1.4% of their body weight, primarily from body fat, over three weeks. Those who wore a vest equal to 1% of their body weight did not lose weight. 

It’s worth noting that in the Swedish study, 37% of subjects in the heavier-vest group reported muscle or joint discomfort, compared to less than 13% of those in the lighter-vest group. 

And in the ACE study, researchers found that when participants walked at a 5-10% incline, a weighted vest equal to 10% of body weight produced the greatest metabolic cost. Heavier weight didn’t increase energy expenditure, likely due to biomechanical adjustments during uphill walking.

This supports what other research has shown: There seems to be a “sweet spot” where weighted vests offer the greatest metabolic benefit before the risk of physical strain becomes a concern. Start light (5-10% of body weight), progress slowly, and prioritize good form and joint comfort. Work your way up to 10 to 15% of body weight.

4) Weighted vests may help maintain weight loss

In a small pilot study, older adults with obesity who wore weighted vests during a 6-month weight-loss program, gained back 50% of the weight two years later, while participants who didn’t gained back all the weight they’d lost. 

Importantly, those in the weighted-vest group didn’t experience large drops in their resting metabolic rate (RMR). During weight loss, RMR significantly lowers, as the body adapts to fewer calories by slowing metabolism. This is one of the reasons it’s so easy to regain weight: Your lower-weight body burns less calories. 

5) Weighted vests may help with stability and balance

Weighted vests could be a supportive tool for fall prevention. Increasing core and lower-body strength and power can help you maintain balance during any activity.  

An early investigation with postmenopausal women found that wearing a weighted-vest while doing lower-body exercise improved stability, muscle strength and muscle power — all important for reducing fall risk. In a small study of 11 community-dwelling, sedentary older women, six weeks of low-impact step training wearing a weighted vest (3x week) increased leg power and functional ability.

With a 97% adherence rate, this study, like others, shows that weighted-vest use may offer an easy-to-use fitness protocol to help maintain independence. “It’s accessible, and feasible,” says Liz Joy.

As we age, sarcopenia[sar-koh-pee-nee-uh]nounAge-related loss of muscle mass and strength.Learn MoreClose can weaken our core muscles — back and abdominals — which impacts posture and stability. 

Jen Wagner says this is why she likes weighted vests for hiking. “If you hike gently in a weighted vest, it helps your eccentric load[ek-sen-trik lohd]nounThe lengthening phase of a muscle contraction, important for strength and joint health.Learn MoreClose,” she says. “This goes back to how we fall: Learning how to control your body in space [while] moving downhill, really helps those neural patterns and coordination. It can help make falls less dramatic and decrease risk of injury.”

6) Weighted vests and bone density: What we know right now

The potential for weighted vests to support bone health is a robust area of research — particularly for aging women, who can lose bone at a rate of up to 2% in the early menopausal years. That can add up to a 10% bone loss over five years, before that rate typically slows.

But, so far, the results have been mixed, with a handful of small studies showing some positive changes in bone mineral density[bohn min-er-uhl den-si-tee]nounA key indicator of bone strength and fracture risk.Learn MoreClose (BMD), while others showing little or none. In other words, It’s not clear that wearing a weighted vest improves bone metabolism, and certainly not more than established interventions like resistance training. 

But it may provide indirect benefits to bone health by supporting muscle strength and balance — factors that help reduce the risk of falling.

“I don’t think the final word on this is in yet,” says Heather Hofflich, DO, endocrinologist and osteoporosis specialist at University of California San Diego Health.

Here are some of the more promising studies on bone health from wearing a weighted vest:

Researchers in Iran studied the effects of exercise alone and exercising while wearing a weighted vest on sedentary postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. For the study, 27 volunteers were randomized into three groups: exercise-only, exercise while wearing a weighted vest, and a control group. The two exercise groups did 30 minutes of moderate-intensity treadmill walking three times per week, and the control group was asked not to change their exercise or dietary habits. After 6 weeks, both the exercise-only and weighted-vest groups experienced favorable shifts in bone metabolism and reduced fat mass. The vest group also improved balance and lean mass[leen mas]nounMuscle and other non-fat tissues that contribute to physical function.Learn MoreClose.

A small, 5-year non-randomized study in community-dwelling postmenopausal women found that a weighted-vest and jumping program helped maintain BMD. Eighteen women (ages 64-66) self-selected into either an exercise group (wearing a weighted vest and jumping 50 times, 3x week) or a control group. Five years later, the women in the control group had lost 3-4% hip BMD, while the exercise group maintained baseline levels overall.

Other studies, however, haven’t found much benefit at all. 

A 6-month program of combined strength-balance-walking with a weighted vest failed to show significant improvements in BMD among postmenopausal women with osteopenia and prior wrist fracture compared to an education-only control.

A recent study found that wearing a weighted vest for 8 hours a day over 12 months did not mitigate BMD loss in older adults with obesity enrolled in a weight-loss program. The study had proposed that external weight — up to 10% of baseline body weight — would provide enough mechanical stress to protect bone as participants lost body mass. The researchers also measured the effects of progressive resistance training on bone markers. Neither intervention was able to prevent loss in hip BMD. This is important, because while losing weight is recommended to improve cardiovascular and joint health among older adults, it may also cause bone loss, increasing fracture risk. 

Weighted Vests: Are There Risks?

Weighted vests may be a useful fitness tool, not a magic one. Research so far shows they can increase training intensity and may improve endurance, strength and power, and some cardiometabolic markers. 

For bone health, however, the evidence is mixed. When combined with impact exercises, they may positively support bone metabolism, but it’s not clear how much more so than recommended resistance training. 

Using a weighted vest may also help increase stability and balance, which is increasingly important as we age.

Unless you have severe osteoporosis or a compression fracture, a weighted vest can be a safe adjunct to a fitness routine, says Liz Joy.  

“If someone wants to augment their training with a weighted vest, go for it,” she says. 

Just make sure to start light (5-10% of body weight), progress slowly, and prioritize good form and joint comfort. And if you experience any pain or other discomfort, back off. Take a break, decrease the amount of weight, and then see how it feels. 

How to Use Weighted Vests Safely

How much weight should I use?

Experts recommend starting out at 5-10% of body weight, and increasing up to 15% over time. “You never want to do more than a third of your body weight,” adds Wagner.

How are weighted vests different from body weight?

Weighted vests differ from body weight in two important ways: 

Load placement

The vest concentrates weight around your upper torso, directing it down into your hips, legs, and feet, which increases the mechanical load on the bones and muscles of the lower body.

Source of weight

Unlike body weight, and especially body fat, weighted vests add external resistance. This means that they don’t present the metabolic or cardiovascular risks associated with body weight but still increase physical demands during movement. 

Weighted Vests vs. Rucking: What’s the Difference?

Wearing a weighted vest is similar to rucking, but there are differences. Rucking involves wearing a weighted backpack during low-to-moderate-intensity activity, like walking or hiking, to build endurance and strength (it’s most commonly used in military training).

Unlike a weighted vest, which distributes weight evenly across the torso and sends the load directly down the spine and into the hips, a rucking backpack places the load behind you. This changes your center of gravity, requiring more core engagement and greater demand on your low back to maintain posture.

The Best Weighted Vests

When choosing a weighted vest, we focused on four key criteria:

1. Adjustability and load range: A good vest lets you add or remove weight so it “grows” with you.
   
2. Fit and distribution: It should sit snugly and balance weight front-to-back to avoid strain or bouncing.
   
3. Comfort and materials: Padding, breathable fabrics, and smooth seams reduce chafing and make long use viable.

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