Vested Walking
Whether you are a regular exerciser or trying to establish a routine, walking is excellent for strengthening aerobic capacity and overall fitness.
If you’re looking for an easy way to get more benefits from a walking routine, I encourage you to consider adding a weighted vest to your fitness tool box — especially for women over 50 who want to enhance their mobility, balance, and metabolism without overly intense workouts.
Top six benefits of walking with a weighted vest:
1. Builds Strength Without Heavy Equipment
Adds resistance to walking, bodyweight exercises, or everyday movements.
Can help maintain and build lean muscle mass, which naturally declines with age.
2. Supports Bone Health
Extra weight increases the load on your bones, stimulating bone-building cells.
Can help prevent or slow bone density loss, which is crucial for reducing osteoporosis risk.
3. Improves Balance & Stability
Engages core muscles as your body adjusts to the extra weight.
Can improve proprioception (awareness of your body’s position in space), lowering risks of falls.
4. Boosts Calorie Burn & Metabolism
Makes your body work harder during regular activities such as walking and stair climbing.
Can help counter slowing metabolism that happens with age.
5. Enhances Endurance & Cardio Fitness
Adds challenge to aerobic workouts without increasing speed or impact.
Can help the heart and lungs adapt to more demanding activity.
6. Versatile & Time-Efficient
Can be worn during walks, household chores, or light strength training.
Works with low-impact activities so it’s a joint-friendly addition.
✅ Safety Tip: Start with a light vest (5–8% of your body weight) and build up gradually to avoid strain on joints, hips, or back. Keep the weight evenly distributed.
Bottom line
Movement is the number one way to take charge of your every day energy and how you’re aging. We can grow older with vitality or with disease. (Check out this 1-minute video that dramatically shows the difference in how our everyday choices accumulate as we age.)
Making movement enjoyable means you’ll be more likely to repeat it as a lifestyle habit. Check out the fun these weighted vest walking friends are having in this video.
Love these tips and want to put them into action? Get a printable infograph reminder of the six benefits; You can download it HERE.
To your good health and joy,
Health Coach Gayle Rose
Certified Whole Health Coach
Certified Behavior Change Specialist
Certified Personal Fitness Trainer
720-793-0413
P.S. I provide positive accountability, encouragement and support to women and couples in mid-life for lasting daily habit change and healthy weight loss. No matter where you are, distance is never a barrier to partnering with me for adopting a healthier lifestyle. Arrange a no-pressure discovery chat with me HERE.
