I'm a personal trainer and one of the things I always recommend to clients is a weighted vest.
Wearing one adds resistance to basic moves like squats and lunges, making the moves more challenging and strengthening your muscles, tendons, joints and bones.
When I tried wearing a weighted vest for a month, I was impressed at how it made everyday tasks and workouts more intense.
Wearing it while doing household chores meant I could get a sweat on while making dinner or doing laundry.
This six-move weighted vest workout is one of my go-to routines.
I’m using a 10-pound vest from GORUCK in the video but you can find budget-friendly options like this one on Amazon.
How to do the weighted vest workout
Aim for eight to 10 repetitions (or 30 seconds for the plank walk) with 15-20 seconds of rest in between exercises. Do three rounds with a one-minute break between.
1. Plank walkout
Sets: 3 Time: 30secs
Muscles worked: glutes, hamstrings, triceps, pectoralis major (chest), anterior deltoids (shoulders) and core.
- Start standing, engage your core, reach your hands down to the floor and walk them forward until you’re in a high plank position.
- Pause, with shoulders over your wrists forming a straight line from your shoulders to your feet. Avoid dropping your hips down or hiking them up.
- Walk your hands back to your feet and return to standing.
- That’s one repetition. Continue for 30 seconds.
2. Forward and back lunge
Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10
Muscles worked: glutes, hamstrings, quads and core.
- From standing, step forward with your right leg and lower your back knee toward the floor, keeping the chest upright. Your knees should be at right angles.
- Push through your front foot to return to the starting position.
- Then step back with the same leg, lowering your knee toward the floor behind you. Place your hands on your hips for balance.
- Push through your front foot to return to the starting position. That’s one repetition.
3. Rotational lunge
Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10
Muscles worked: quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, core muscles particularly the obliques (side abdominals).
- From standing, step forward into a lunge, lowering your back knee toward the floor. Place your hands on your hips for balance.
- Hold the position as you rotate your torso left, then right. That’s one repetition.
- Return to standing and repeat on the other side.
4. Curtsy lunge
Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10
Muscles worked: gluteus medius, hip adductors, quads and hamstrings.
- From standing, step back and around your other foot, as if curtsying.
- Lower your back knee into a lunge.
- Keep your chest up, shoulders back and core engaged.
- Push back up as you return to standing and switch sides.
5. Squat jump
Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10
Muscles worked: glutes, quads, hips and hamstrings.
- Stand in your squat stance, then lower into a squat.
- Push through the heels as you explode into a jump, squeezing your glutes as you go.
- Then land softly back down into the starting position.
6. Up down plank
Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10
Muscles worked: glutes, deltoids (shoulders), triceps, chest and core.
- Start in a high plank position with shoulders over your wrists, forming a straight line from your shoulders to your feet.
- Lower your right forearm to the floor, then your left to come into a low plank.
- Press back up into a high plank. That’s one repetition.
