WARNING- WEIGHTED VEST

J

JoanC

Cathlete
If you are over 50 or have back issues, you might NOT want to get weighted vest. I wore 20lb weighted vest for less than 10 minutes on the treadmill yesterday. The pressure/pain in spine is less than pinched nerve pain but worse that doms from disc one on Monday. I have read that you should avoid some gym machines because of the weight put on the spine, but did not consider the pressure from vest.

I have never had back/spine problems before. I'm sure everyone is different . If I were 20-30 years younger I would not hesitate to use vest, but now it will not be used for any leg wo.

I am sure the leg disc will work just fine with less weight. I use dumbbells. I never did put barbell on neck.

Hope this helps a few people. Back to ice and advil.

Joan
 
JoanC said:
If you are over 50 or have back issues, you might NOT want to get weighted vest. I wore 20lb weighted vest for less than 10 minutes on the treadmill yesterday. The pressure/pain in spine is less than pinched nerve pain but worse that doms from disc one on Monday. I have read that you should avoid some gym machines because of the weight put on the spine, but did not consider the pressure from vest.

I have never had back/spine problems before. I'm sure everyone is different . If I were 20-30 years younger I would not hesitate to use vest, but now it will not be used for any leg wo.

I am sure the leg disc will work just fine with less weight. I use dumbbells. I never did put barbell on neck.

Hope this helps a few people. Back to ice and advil.

Joan
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JOAN! Oh my I hope you get into a Dr!!!!
Im a trainer and have to say that I have never read/heard that anything over 10#s is safe unless you are a body builder that has that kind of back strength. This is regardless of age or fitness level.... I'm so sorry you had to find that out the hard way!

Please seek medical attention & let us know what the outcome is for you.
 
Joan,

I think 20lbs is too much for anyone. I'm 46 and have some spine issues.If I load too much on the barbell for squats, I can feel my spine crunching.:eek: I wear Cathe's 10lb vest with no problems at all. Can you adjust your vest? Try lowering the weight.
 
Wow, that's terrible. It's possible that it's just not for you, but I agree with Traci that you might have used way too much weight. I'm not an expert on this, but I thought I read somewhere that you should use an adjustable vest and slowly build up to 10 lbs max.

Feel better!

Amy
 
I'm sorry for the pain you are in. I'm not sure age has anything to do with it, so much as physical conditioning, however.
 
Oh dear, I hope you're feeling better soon! I just want to point out one thing, though -- doing leg workouts like lunges and squats with a weighted vest is quite a bit different than walking or running on a treadmill with that same vest. Your back and joints can really take a pounding on the treadmill, and adding 20#'s to that can add to the stress, but it probably wouldn't be much of an issue during non impact weight training.
 
Thanks for input and good wishes. Yes vest is adjustable. Cathe suggested 10lb vest for treadmill but I was too lazy to take out weights.

I have been walking 5 miles 3 times a week. It takes me 2hrs. Any faster and my knees hurt. (Hurts with incline also) I was trying to get good cardio with vest in less time. I was only walking 2mi an hour so don't think it was anything but added weight.

Ice is helping. I still think I will leave vest off at least the first two cycles.

I had worked out regularly until two years ago. Since I stopped to babysit grandaughter and she weighs 26lbs now I thought 20 would be easy.

Joan
 
JoanC said:
If you are over 50 or have back issues, you might NOT want to get weighted vest. I wore 20lb weighted vest for less than 10 minutes on the treadmill yesterday.
Click to expand...
It's not age or back problems that are necessarily the culprit. The problem may be that you used too much weight, and too quickly (if you didn't gradually build up to that weight).

General recommendations are to gradually build up to using 10% of your body weight (which would be under 20#, unless you weigth 200#) for cardio using a weighted vest.

I started using a weighted vest with my walking last summer. I started at 2.5# and worked up t0 8# by the end of my walking season. I personally wouldn't want to go beyond 10# total.
 
JoanC said:
I have been walking 5 miles 3 times a week. It takes me 2hrs. Any faster and my knees hurt. (Hurts with incline also) I
Click to expand...
If your knees hurt when you are walking slowly (2.5 mph) and when you use an incline, I would urge not to use any added weight at all. The extra weight of the vest will just add to the assault on your knees.
 
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