The Current - Is a weighted vest right for you?

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

Weighted vests are everywhere from TikTok to walking trails and sidewalks in your neighbourhood. Advocates say they burn calories, improve cardiovascular fitness, and even protect bone density. But are they really worth the hype? We hear from fitness trainer Kalli Youngstrom on why she loves them, and muscle physiology researcher Lauren Colenso-Semple on what the evidence says.

Welcome to the dudes club, a brotherhood supporting men's health and wellness. Established in the Vancouver Downtown East Side in 2010, the dudes club is a community-based organization that focuses on indigenous men's health, many of whom are struggling with intergenerational trauma, addiction, poverty, homelessness, and chronic diseases. The aim is to reduce isolation and loneliness, and for the men to regain a sense of pride and purpose in their lives. As a global health care company, Novo Nordisk is dedicated to driving change for a healthy world. It's what we've been doing since 1923.

It also takes the strength and determination of the communities around us, whether it's through disease awareness, fighting stigmas and loneliness, education, or empowering people to become more active. Novo Nordisk is supporting local changemakers because it takes more than medicine to live a healthy life. Leave your armor at the door. Watch this paid content on CBC. Jim. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. Maybe you've seen them around your neighborhood, women walking the sidewalks and trails with a new accessory, a weighted vest.

We are no longer going on regular high girl walks, okay? We are putting on a weighted vest with our shoulders back and our core engaged. And we do not have time for basic walks anymore, okay? We need to put a little oomph on these walks. And that's exactly what the weight of this is going to do. It is one of the biggest fitness trends on social media. This audio is trending on TikTok. Welcome to the age where you don't care about a hot girl walk. You are middle age and holding on for dear life.

Strap up, bitches, it's weighted vest season. Influencers tout a wide range of benefits. from improved cardiovascular fitness to better bone density. In a moment, we'll hear from a researcher who can help sort through what the data show. But first, I'm joined by Callie Youngstrom. She is a fitness trainer and wellness coach who uses a weighted vest herself and recommends them to many of her clients. Good morning, Callie. Good morning, Rebecca.

Thanks for having me. So first of all, what does this thing actually look like? Well, I like to say that it looks like a SWAT vest. It gets a lot of looks when I'm out in public, especially downtown. And how much weight is in it then? So my personal vest is a little bit heavier than I likely recommend to most clients. It goes up to 35 pounds, but it's very adaptable. So in two pound increments, you can adapt it all the way from zero up to 35.

And why do you like it? What's the deal with this thing? Well, for me, it's the convenience and just adding a little bit of intensity to something that might be less of a workout otherwise. And I work with a lot of busy mothers. So there's not always time to squeeze in an extra resistant workout in the day. So if they're taking the kids for a walk, walking with the stroller, walking the dog, simply throwing a few extra pounds on the weighted vests, make something, you know,

as simple as a walk feel like a bit more challenging as a workout. So you're a fitness trainer. so I'm assuming you're already someone who exercises the more traditional way. So why would someone like you be using this? Yes. And I think that's an important differentiation. I recommend 5 to 10% of body weight for clients and starting slow. Personally, I have been training for a long time and I'm a competitive athlete. So I like to add it to increase intensity and progressive of overload for core strength, increase my heart rate, to a little bit of a higher zone, you know, without increasing a lot of intensity.

It sounds very simple to carry a bit of weight while you walk. I mean, lots of us are doing that with purses and backpacks. How is this any different? I think one of the benefits is how it more evenly distributes the weight. So, you know, in a backpack or maybe a traditional rucksack, you know, all of that weight is on the shoulders and pulling you back, whereas with the weighted vest, that weight is evenly distributed and balanced between the front and the back of the body, which I think is more sustainable and going to cause less, you know, pain and discomfort if you're

wearing it for a longer duration. And so your clients, the ones maybe new moms, those who don't have as much time to exercise, how much do you recommend they wear then? How much weight? So starting slow, 5% of body weight, up to 10% of body weight at most. and just easing in, you know, adding it to a 10-minute walk and, you know, maybe a 20-minute walk and going beyond there. And if it feels good and comfortable, then increasing to, you know, maybe putting it on for some body weight exercises just to, you know, progressively be increasing without doing too much too soon. And I think just noting that, you know, it's a tool, not a trend. And the goal isn't to carry as much weight as possible. It's just to add a little bit of extra

challenge safely. And what are the benefits that you've heard about? So in terms of the, you know, research benefit, the kind of preliminary research, as this is starting to trend a bit more, shows, you know, maybe a bit of opportunity for improved bone density, you know, energy expenditure, posture, muscle engagement, which I have definitely noticed the posture and just engaging of muscles that you would maybe not be otherwise and just a simple, you know, flat walk. But I pulled some of my clients who have the guests, sorry, who have the vests, and they mentioned, you know, adding intensities to walks, improved posture, feeling like they're optimizing their time and just making a more casual walk feel like a resistance workout. And one client of mine actually

mentioned that due to injury, they're not able to run right now. And it was their care team that recommended getting a weighted vest so that by just adding on the vest, they were able to to increase their heart rate without triggering this injury. Do you worry at all because, you know, a fitness trend, it comes with a cost, this one, particularly about 50 to 200 bucks to buy one of these weighted vests. And if you can't afford that, could you not, I mean, could you not just go for a faster walk or walk up a hill? Because not everyone can afford something like this.

Absolutely. The goal being, you know, what we call in training progressive overload, where you're trying to add challenge and size. way or another, whether that's increasing speed or, like you said, increasing incline or increasing weight and resistance. So I don't think that there's any, you know, rule that everyone needs to be investing in this. But I do think that it's one of those tools that you can add to your toolbox that's quite adaptable. And so if all you can afford is maybe a weighted vest and not a gym membership, you can use it for walks. You could use it for, you know, body weight

movements to add a little bit more resistance. And I think it's a lifetime investment. You know, I made sure that I got a vest that was adaptable in weight so that I would be able to use it as I gain strength using the vest and increasing the weight and that it would be durable enough to last me, you know, for the long term. That said, many people will throw on a backpack and just put a kettlebell in there or something they already have on hand to add weight. But again, I think coming down to just the fits and the balance of distribution of that weight, it may be better to eventually invest in a weight at best if this is something that you want to be using long term. Okay. Callie, thank you for this. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Likewise.

Callie Ongstrom is a fitness trainer and a former athlete. She was in Montreal. Welcome to the dudes club, a brotherhood supporting men's health and wellness, established in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside in 2010, The Dudes Club is a community-based organization that focuses on indigenous men's health, many of whom are struggling with intergenerational trauma, addiction, poverty, homelessness, and chronic diseases. The aim is to reduce isolation and loneliness, and for the men to regain a sense of pride and purpose in their lives. As a global health care company, Novo Nordisk is dedicated to driving change for a healthy world. It's what we've been doing since 1923.

It also takes the strength and determination of the communities around us, whether it's through disease awareness, fighting stigmas and loneliness, education, or empowering people to become more active. Novo Nordisk is supporting local change makers because it takes more than medicine to live a healthy life.

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They're very popular and often promoted as this sort of miracle fitness solution that is going to improve bone health, build muscle, promote fat loss. There's a lot of claims out there. And what do you, I mean, is it a good thing to try out, do you think? I mean, the claims aside, is it worth trying? Well, I think we should promote all forms of physical activity. So if wearing a weighted vest gets you excited to go for a walk, then I'm all for it. but I just think we need to be honest about the benefits and what the data says. Okay, there are other influencers making some pretty big claims about the benefits of weighted vests. I know you have thoughts on this, but let's listen to Dr. Marie Claire Haver, who is a well-known menopause influencer and a proponent of weighted vests. So let's talk about the benefits of a weighted vest.

I fell in love with the weighted vest after doing some research on how I could advise my patients and followers who were diagnosed with osteopenia and osteoporosis. When I dug through the literature, I found that there were a few studies done on patients with these diagnosis utilizing weighted vest with their exercise, and they seem to really benefit both in strength and bone density. So the benefits for both bone density and strength seem to begin at about 10% of the patient's ideal body weight. So for me, that would be about a 12-pound weighted vest. So Lauren, this is something that it often is claimed to be, something that helps with bone density, specifically for people with osteoporosis.

What do you make of that claim? Well, this was referencing a small study. There were nine people in each group, and they were wearing weighted vests, but they weren't walking. They were doing squats and lunges and jumping exercises while wearing the weighted vest, and that was compared to people who were not exercising. So what that tells us is that it could be used as, you know, added resistance in lieu of a machine at the gym or dumbbells when you're doing squats or lunges, that really is what that

study evaluated. So we can't use that data to say, oh, this is going to be beneficial if you're just going for a 30-minute walk. Right. Many people are picking up weighted vests, hoping that it will make their walks a little more challenging. This influencer used her smartwatch to compare her stats with and without the weighted vest. So far, I can tell that my heart rate is up. My average heart rate for my last walk was 105. My heart rate right now is 118. Also really out of breath. I just went up two hills and with this weight of vest on, it was so much harder. Okay guys, this is a difference. Definitely burned more calories. So we burn an extra 80 calories just by wearing the running vest. I'm really happy with that. That seems logical that if you add weight, your workouts more

challenging. Do these vests improve cardiovascular fitness? Is that a reasonable claim? Well, it can certainly make the walk feel more challenging, but as you said in the previous discussion, you could also just walk faster. You could also walk up a hill. And wearables are notoriously unreliable for actually tracking calories burned. And so I don't actually think that is a very useful metric for people to focus on. I think it's more about, okay, what's the goal? And so if the goal is to work in a particular heart rate zone because that's conducive to your running performance, then that makes sense to me. But if we're just saying, let's do this because it's more difficult, then that's not

necessarily goal-oriented. So, you know, if we want to build muscle, if we want to improve bone, if we want to lose weight, then we tailor the exercise appropriately so that we are working towards that goal. Is there harm in any of this, though? I mean, if the hype is getting people interested in exercising more and doing a more challenging walk, if they weren't going to walk faster up a hill on their own, but now they've got this weighted vest, what is the harm in all of this? I don't think there's a major harm. I think if people are doing this and expecting the benefits that you would be getting from lifting weights, then that's misguided. I also think it's important to acknowledge that some people find that. these really uncomfortable and they report kind of significant back pain or also changes to your gate when you're walking. So those are just a few things to keep in mind. But if you acknowledge that this won't build muscle and this isn't necessarily going to be good for bone health,

but you just want to use it to make the walk more challenging, then I think that's fine. Okay, let's go back to that building muscle because we have another clip here from someone on TikTok. Have a listen. I made a mistake. Before you buy a weighted vest, just know, that you really don't need that much weight. I made the mistake of grabbing an 18-pound one, and I'm dying. I'm dying. My legs hurt, my quads, my glutes, my calves, my hamstrings.

They're burning, and I've only been out here for a couple of minutes. You don't need a very heavy one. So these weighted vests, we can't say they build muscle or strength either. It certainly sounds like she's working muscles that might lead to that. Well, when you're walking, you're not moving through a full range of motion and contracting the muscle. So if you think about doing a squat or doing a lunge, then that is going to stimulate muscle growth if you do that under load.

And so maybe initially just body weight might be challenging at first, but then as we gain strength, then we need to increase the load over time that we're using, so using a slightly heavier weight. So as I said, if you're going to do exercises like that while wearing the vest, then that's a tool for that. But otherwise, if we're just walking, it's not enough of a stimulus for muscle. How concerning to you is it that the fitness industry is able to sort of capitalize on a trend and sell people things believing certain claims, even though they're not true? You know, people are always looking for ways to get more fit or lose weight. And certainly the

fitness industry has learned how to use that. I see a trend now where, especially for women or for women in perimenopause, there's a ton of misleading claims that are online. And it really frustrates me because I think the truth about how to be healthier, build muscle, preserve bone, it's kind of simple. And by making it overcomplicated, by trying to put a huge price tag on it, it makes it much more difficult for women to navigate. Okay. So if it is so simple, we have about 30 seconds left. So tell me what are the best things to do if you're, you know, trying to improve bone density and have better cardio fitness and muscle strength? The best thing to do for muscle is to lift weights. The best thing to do for bone is also lift weights and maybe incorporate some

balance exercises because we want to preserve bone so that we decrease risk of fracture. But if you don't fall, you don't fracture. And lift weights, not just with a weighted vest, because that's not lifting. That's just carrying it around, I suppose. Well, walking with a weighted vest is not a substitute for strength training. And even if we use it for those lower body exercises like lunges and squats, we're not working the upper body. And so we want to be able to work, you know, the muscles of the back and the chest as well. Okay. Lauren, thank you for this, a good reality check. Thank you. Thank you. Lauren Colenzo Semple is a muscle physiology researcher with PhD, with a PhD in integrative physiology from McMaster University.

listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca slash podcasts.