Weighted Clothing: The Ultimate Guide [August 2021]

Let’s talk about weighted clothing today.

If you’re a fitness enthusiast you must have probably heard about weighted vests or weighted arm bands. These are different variations of weighted clothing.

Weighted Clothing is any piece of clothing that adds weight to various parts of the body. These are majorly used for resistance training. 

While I have explained about weighted clothing, let’s understand by more examples. I’ll also try to remove misconceptions people have when it comes to weighted clothing. This will essentially help you make a better purchase decision.

What is Weighted Clothing ?

Resistance training can be done in a lot of ways, one being holding weights when doing an exercise. You can achieve the same resistance by making use of weighted clothing too. In addition to providing resistance, it also provides you with the freedom to move around.

Some weighted clothing can also be worn inside your normal clothes allowing you to perform exercises in a casual environment. People wear lighter weighted clothing for various activities like :

1. Swimming
2. Running
3. Kicking
4. Jumping
5. Cycling
6. Boxing

However, heavier weighted clothing is more suitable for body-weight exercises. 

Activities you can perform while wearing a weighted clothing

Benefits of Weighted Clothing

Now that you have a better idea about weighted clothing, let's look at the different benefits of weighted clothing :

Supplement your Resistance Training 

When you combine weighted clothing with resistance training, it’s effectiveness is almost doubled.

A Texas Tech University study tracked a group of athletes performing traditional resistance training and a second group performing resistance training in addition to weight vest training. After six weeks, both groups were evaluated to determine progress & they found the weighted vest group performed better.

Variation

Variation is necessary component to an exercise program. It’s normal for our bodies to adapt to certain movements. More often this is the result of halted progress in exercise. Weighted clothing can greatly help in solving this problem. It acts as a great tool for variation that our bodies are not prepared for.

Levelling up your Cardio 

If you perform a lot of cardio exercises then weighted clothing can really help levelling it up. For example, if you’re a runner you must be knowing that running with your own body weight is difficult. Now imagine yourself running after wearing a 40 lbs weighted vest, won’t it be become way tougher? Of course it will. This is same for other activities as well. 

Comfortable & Easy 

While there are other methods of resistance training, wearing weighted clothing is by far the most comfortable & easier option. The best part is that you get the freedom of movement. In many cases you could wear a weighted clothing inside your normal wear too which is great when performing activities like hiking.

Types of Weighted Clothing

Now that we have talked about the various benefits of weighted clothing, let’s look at the different types of weighted clothing. There are two types of weighted clothing :

1. Lighter Weighted Clothing 

2. Heavier Weighted Clothing

Let’s look at the different weighted clothing :

1. Weighted Vests 

Weighted Vest is by far the most popular piece of weighted clothing. If you want to make your existing workout harder, you need to try a weighted vest. From running to cross fit training, weighted vests can be a game changer in every situation.

Usually you can find two types of weighted vest - adjustable and fixed. Adjustable weighted vest allows you to add and remove weights according to your requirement or situation. It’s usually recommended for experienced professionals. Fixed weighted vests on the other hand are suitable for beginners. We’ve mentioned our best picks below.

While most weighted vests are unisex, there are few customised only for women. Just keep that in mind before buying one.

Ensuring that the quality of the vest is robust is extremely important. You don’t want to change a vest every six months. Also check what warranty the vest comes with. Some like the ones from RunMax come with a lifetime warranty. But it varies with the brand. 

Weighted vests can be used for everything including weighted training, cycling, running or trekking.

If you’re a beginner I’d recommend you to consult the weight of the vest from your doctor before buying one. 

2. Weighted Blankets 

Weighted Blankets is another great weighted clothing. No, this doesn’t have to do with exercising but more with sleeping. It helps in solving anxiety, sleep disorders and other sleep related problems. It’s especially beneficial for kids who are suffering from autism. In autism, weighted blankets play a crucial role in keeping the kids calm and comfort those who are restless.

Regardless weighted blankets can used by anyone who don't suffer from the problem above. Weighted Vest comes in different shapes and sizes. For more details, you can visit our detailed buying guide for weighted blankets. 

3. Weighted Arm Sleeves

This is another weighted clothing we’ve reviewed on this blog. You can wear these on your arms or your ankle. Most of the arm sleeves helps you in adding resistance to your workout. You can also wear these while walking, running or when doing cardio exercises.

If you are looking for in-depth guide, feel free to read it here. 

4. Weighted Gloves

These gloves are same as the ones you wear when lifting weights during workout except that these contains weight. You could use these for Kickboxing, Piloxing & MMA. Most of these are quite comfortable to wear and provides you with a nice grip. The material used is neoprene. 

5. Weighted Belts

Weighted Belts are mostly used by people who do a lot of weight lifting. These are also useful for exercises like squats, pull up or press up. Most of these are quite versatile & durable. 

Most of the times you can add weights using the strap. You can add up to 240 pounds of weight to the belt. I’d recommend you to buy a leather weighted belts because of increased durability.

​Conclusion

Hope you have a better idea about weighted clothing. We tried to cover all the popular weighted clothing while there are still some less popular one's we didn't talk about (weighted shoes). But we'll try to add them to this gradually.