The Ultimate Guide to Weighted Vests: Smarter Training, Stronger Results

INSIGHT | November 2025

How Weighted Vests Can Bring Your Fitness to New Levels

If you’ve ever wanted to make your workouts more efficient—without adding more time or complexity—a weighted vest might be the ultimate game changer. Whether you’re pushing through an F45 Training session, mastering push-ups, or taking your recovery walk to the next level, adding controlled resistance through a vest, like the ones produced by Aion, can unlock new levels of strength, endurance, and metabolic activation.

Weighted vests aren’t just for athletes—they’re for anyone looking to train smarter, age stronger, and move better in everyday life. The experts at F45 Training have put together a guide to discover the benefits of a weighted vest, best practices, and how to choose which weighted vest is right for you. Read on to discover why a weighted vest is your next best investment piece to amplify your training.

The Benefits of Training with a Weighted Vest

When used correctly, weighted vests can increase your training without drastically changing your routine. They add a layer of functional resistance that challenges your muscles, improves endurance, and enhances overall performance¹. The benefits don’t need to end in the studio, learn why weighted vests amplify your progress throughout your every day.

1. Increase Intensity Without High Impact

Even low-impact movements like walking or step-ups become more challenging when you’re carrying additional load. This raises your metabolic cost and cardiovascular demand, helping you build endurance while staying joint-friendly².

2. Boost Calorie Burn and Metabolic Output

When your body works harder to move the same distance or complete the same reps, it burns more energy. That means a natural metabolic boost—without necessarily increasing workout duration³. Adding strength training to your workout can help support a weight loss goal, by supporting muscle growth, to help burn calories more efficiently.

3. Build Strength and Muscular Endurance

Adding resistance to bodyweight movements like push-ups, squats, or pull-ups forces your muscles to adapt to higher demands. Over time, this leads to measurable gains in strength and endurance⁴.

4. Improve Posture, Balance, and Core Activation

Because your body must stabilize under extra load, weighted vests engage your core and stabilizer muscles more deeply. Over time, this can improve proprioception (body awareness) and posture ⁵.

5. Train for Real Life

From carrying groceries to hiking with gear, many daily activities involve resistance. Weighted vest training helps your body adapt to these functional demands, improving your strength and stamina in everyday situations ⁶.

Best Practices for Safe and Effective Use

While the benefits are significant, using a weighted vest incorrectly could lead to strain or injury, which is why we’re setting you up for success in advance! We’ve broken out best practices and things to keep in mind prior to purchasing.

Joint or tendon overload: Too much weight too soon can stress knees, ankles, or the spine, increasing the risk of overuse injuries. Tip: Ease into use, start with wearing during a walk, a light form of exercise and work your way up ⁷.
Form breakdown: If your posture or gait changes under load, the benefits can quickly turn into compensation patterns or muscle imbalances.
Heat retention & hydration stress: Because vests tend to cover much of your torso, they can trap heat and raise core temperature, increasing risks of overheating, especially in warm environments. Stay hydrated and conscious of the temperature levels that you’ll be exercising in ⁸.
Not a substitute for heavy lifting: Weighted vests complement—but don’t replace—barbells or dumbbells for maximal strength development.

If you have back, knee, or cardiovascular issues, always check with a medical professional before incorporating added load.

Start Light and Build Gradually

For best practice when utilizing a weighted vest, It’s recommended to begin with 5-10% of your body weight (or less), potentially increasing slowly every few weeks as your body adapts ⁹.

Maintain Form Above All

Only wear a vest during movements you can perform with solid technique. The goal is added resistance, not compromised form.

Focus on Fit and Balance

Choose a vest that distributes weight evenly and stays close to your torso—reducing unwanted shifting and joint stress.

Prioritize Recovery and Hydration

Added load means higher demand. Make sure to stretch, hydrate, and recover properly to avoid overtraining or heat-related fatigue.

AION benefits

Design and Feel

Aion uses a form-fitting, high-performance design that hugs the torso, minimizing bounce and maximizing alignment ¹⁰.

Performance and Use Case

Ideal for athletes integrating weighted movement into sprints, agility, or F45-style functional circuits. Offers better movement cueing and metabolic challenge.

Picking a vest suited for you

When picking a vest for use in F45, it’s important to consider fit and weight. Vests that are most conducive for use in F45 classes are lower weight and form-fitting, like Aion. The bulkier, heavy vests meant for rucking or hiking are not fit for many F45 movements.

The F45 Training Takeaway

Weighted vests embody what F45 training stands for: functional, scalable, and high-performance movement. When used intelligently, they amplify results—improving cardiovascular fitness, strength, posture, and overall longevity.

Our overall recommendation, if you’re training dynamically—think burpees, box jumps, or shuttle runs—Aion’s snug, performance-driven design delivers superior feedback and functional strength development.

Whether you’re chasing a faster sprint, stronger push-up, or more resilient everyday body, the right vest can help you get there—one rep, one heartbeat, and one added pound at a time.

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