Should You Wear a Weighted Vest?

 

Two of the newest workout trends are wearing a weighted vest and also “rucking” which is walking with a weighted pack.  Both of these options have actually been around for quite some time, and there is solid research showing the benefits of adding weight to your body for exercise and daily activities.

What Weight should you use?

Start with 5-10% of your body weight to allow your muscles, bones and joints to adapt without causing injury.  Example: If you weigh 150lbs start with a vest between 7.5 and 15lbs.  Gradually increase the vest weight as your strength improves but avoid exceeding 15-20% of your body weight to prevent strain and injury.

Incorporate into Daily Activities

Just wearing a weighted vest while walking increases resistance, engages more muscles and burns more calories.  Studies show that walking with a weighted vest can increase calorie burn by 10-15% compared to regular walking.

Wearing a vest while climbing stairs or hills increases intensity – leading to greater strength gains and increased calorie burn.

Wearing a vest during household chores, yardwork, and errands adds resistance and boosts energy expenditure without requiring extra time.

Use in Workouts for an Added Challenge

Wearing a vest during bodyweight exercises such as squats, lunges, push-ups, pull-ups, and planks increases the overload increasing strength and power.

Using a vest during running is best reserved for more advanced runners.   Start gradually with a lighter weight vest and gradually increase time and weight used to prevent strain and injury.  The best vests for running and jumping and use during sports are form fitting so that the weight of the vest does not move up and down. Hyperwear Weighted Vests are some of the best for these activities: https://hyperwear.com/

Using a vest during jumping and while playing sports can improve strength, power and endurance dramatically over time. The key is using a form fitting, snug vest and not using too much weight so that your form and movement patterns are not altered which can cause injuries and alter movement mechanics in a negative way.

Progress Gradually

Start with low impact activities such as walking and light household chores before progressing to higher intensity activities.

Listen to your body: reduce weight or take breaks if you experience discomfort or pain.

Increase weight slowly: as you adapt, add weight in small increments (2 – 5% of your body weight) to continue to progress.

Key Benefits of Weighted Vests

·        Increased calorie burn

·        Enhanced strength

·        Increased bone density

·        Improved endurance and cardiovascular health

·        Time efficiency

The Many Benefits of Watermelon

 

Watermelon is a summertime favorite across America, but it does not just taste great – it is great for you!  It is a cousin of cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash.  

One of the reasons watermelon is beneficial is that it contains a high quantity of lycopene which is a powerful plant chemical that gives watermelon its red color like tomatoes (another source of lycopene).     Lycopene is a potent antioxidant, and watermelon contains 1.5 times more lycopene than tomato, which is the more commonly known source of lycopene. 

Lycopene is a carotenoid, similar in structure to beta-carotene associated with carrots.   However, lycopene is much more potent than beta-carotene and provides many unique benefits. In one study, men with the highest plasma levels of lycopene were 55 percent less likely to have a stroke than those with the lowest levels. 

Lycopene Fights Cancer

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth showed that lycopene slows the growth of breast and prostate cancer by interfering with signaling pathways that facilitate tumor growth. Lycopene also slows the growth of renal cell cancer and helps prevent the cancer from occurring in the first place. Lycopene has also been shown to work to combat the negative effects of HPV infection (Human Papillomavirus) which is the cause of cervical cancers, uterine cancer, and certain throat cancers. It helps the body combat this virus. 

Lycopene and Eye Health

Lycopene protects eyes from oxidative stress that causes many eye diseases and is one of the strongest eye nutrients you can consume.  It may even have the capacity to delay or even prevent cataracts.  Through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, lycopene can help slow or stop processes that lead to macular degeneration. 

Lycopene Reduces Neuropathic Pain

Neuropathic pain is pain from nerve damage often accompanied by tissue damage.   It has many causes including diabetes and injuries.   Pain can be severe and difficult to treat. Lycopene has been shown to safely reduce diabetic neuropathy in a study published in the European Journal of Pain. 

Lycopene and Heart Health

Lycopene can help prevent high blood pressure and coronary heart disease. 

L-Citrulline

In addition to lycopene watermelon contains l-citrulline – particularly if you eat/juice the rind that has the highest amounts.   L-citrulline is an amino acid that is converted into l-arginine in the kidneys.   Through this process it helps boost levels of Nitric Oxide (NO) which is very important for circulation and through this process can help reduce blood pressure and treat erectile dysfunction.   In fact, citrulline supplementation has been shown to improve erectile function in men.   

Are Multi-Vitamins Really a Waste of Money?

Multivitamins that provide essential vitamins and minerals at doses that provide greater than 100% of the RDA are the most commonly used dietary supplements.

Major press outlets have been pushing a highly negative narrative about Multivitamins such as:

 

• “Multivitamins are a waste of money for most people”

• “Multivitamins continue to disappoint”

• “Multivitamins and Supplements—Benign Prevention or Potentially Harmful Distraction?”

A key theme the press pushes is that people who take multiple vitamins use them to attempt to compensate for unhealthy lifestyle practices like smoking, drinking excessive alcohol, taking drugs, etc.   Is this true?

The answer is NO!.  The overwhelming majority people take multivitamins as an addition to a healthy lifestyle. A study looking at the health habits of nutrition supplement users concluded that:

 “Dietary supplements are used by half to two-thirds of American adults, and the evidence suggests that this usage is one component of a larger effort to develop a healthier lifestyle. Dietary supplement users tend on average to be better educated and to have somewhat higher incomes than nonusers, and these factors may contribute to their health-consciousness. Dietary supplement use also tends to be more prevalent among women than among men, and the prevalence of use increases with age in both men and women. Numerous surveys document that users of dietary supplements are significantly more likely than nonusers to have somewhat better dietary patterns, exercise regularly, maintain a healthy weight, and avoid tobacco products. While supplement users tend to have better diets than nonusers, the differences are relatively small, their diets have some substantial nutrient shortfalls, and their supplement use has been shown to improve the adequacy of nutrient intakes. Overall, the evidence suggests that users of dietary supplements are seeking wellness and are consciously adopting a variety of lifestyle habits that they consider to contribute to healthy living.”

The press also frequently publishes articles stating that nutrition supplements either do not work or that they are dangerous. Is this true?

In almost every case when you look at these studies you find a number of factors which negate their validity and usefulness including:

Many are sponsored by drug companies who design the study to deliberately prove a supplement does not work.   For example, the Cosmos Trial sponsored by Pfizer used Centrum Multivitamin to examine how this multivitamin affected cancer risk.  The problem is that Centrum is uses inferior forms of many nutrient forms while also using far from optimal doses.   All that can be concluded from this “research” is that Centrum did not affect cancer outcomes.

As to Nutrition supplements being dangerous – that is a VERY misleading statement.   Let’s look at the facts – not the hype!   

To put the danger of nutrition supplements into perspective consider that drug overdoses currently kill over 85,000 Americans each year.   Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Medications like aspirin and ibuprofen alone routinely kill over 7,000 people every year.  Opioids alone account for 50,000 deaths and are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years of age!

Now what about deaths from nutritional supplements? 

According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, which has been tracking supplement and drug issues for over three decades, there have been 13 alleged deaths from vitamins in 31 years!  Let that sink in 13 in 31 years is less than 1 death per year compared to over 85,000 deaths from pharmaceuticals every year.  

Ideal Rest Time Between Sets

 

There are several different variables to consider when resistance training including:

The exercises you chose to do

The amount of resistance/weight used

The number of repetitions for each set of exercise

The total number of sets of exercise

The rest time between sets of exercise

There is an inverse relationship between the weight lifted and the number of repetitions completed in a set.   When you choose heavier weights you will be able to complete fewer repetitions before fatiguing the target muscles.      A general rule is that higher levels of resistance with less repetitions focus more on building strength, and lower levels of resistance for more repetitions focus more on increasing muscular endurance.

So how does rest time between sets of exercise affect the workout and the results you will obtain from a workout and how should you determine your rest time between sets?    The answer depends on your goals for the workout.        

If your goal is to maximize strength (meaning the maximum amount of resistance you can complete one repetition with) then you should choose longer rest periods of 3 – 4 minutes to allow for complete recovery of the muscles between sets and use high levels of resistance for 3 – 5 repetitions.   

If your goal is muscular hypertrophy meaning increasing muscle size then reducing rest periods to 1 – 2 minutes with less resistance and a higher number of repetitions – 8 – 15 would help to maximize progress.  

If your goal is maximizing calorie burn during the workout and caloric afterburn after the workout, then using minimal rest periods down to no rest period between sets of resistance training is optimal to drive the metabolic overload during and after the workout.

If all this seems too complicated the great news is that a recent study done with experienced weightlifters showed that there was no difference in results when one group used a timed recovery of 2 minutes and another group used a self-selected recovery period based on each individual’s perception of fatigue.     

In the group that chose their own recovery period the average recovery time chosen was less than 2 minutes.    The researchers concluded that the volume of exercise performed (total number of sets and reps) is probably a more important factor in driving results versus an exact rest time.

For most of us in the gym who are focused on building a lean physique but not concerned with absolute strength or size the following recommendations are a good guideline:

Do 1 – 3 sets of exercise for each major body part such as chest, shoulders, arms, legs, etc.

Choose a level of resistance where you can complete 8 – 12 repetitions of each set of exercise in good form hitting momentary muscular failure by the end of the set.

Use slow controlled movement without momentum to keep tension in the target muscles throughout the set.

Use compound movements for most exercises – meaning movements that involve movement at two or more joints such as a chest press or push-up versus a pec fly movement.

Use the shortest rest period possible that allows you to complete 8 – 12 repetitions – probably between 30 seconds – 2 minutes!

How to Avoid the Nine Biggest Beginner Gym Mistakes

 

Click here to find out how to avoid the 9 Big Beginner Mistakes that prevent people from reaching their goals!: https://youtu.be/-NL1_upNzQU_