Strength Training is resistance training. Bodybuilding workouts uses resistance to stimulate and thrash your muscles into new growth. But resistance training is still resistance training. Whether you're trying to maintain or gain new muscles, or lose fat, you're using resistance as a stimulus for body composition purposes and goals.
Resistance is really just extra loading, extra weight. If you're doing pushups, load a backpack filled with books for extra resistance, making pushups harder. Do the same for pullups, chinups, and body weight squats. Once you supply the movement with extra weight, the exercise instantly becomes harder. You work harder and that's the purpose of "working out."
The purpose of workout is to have progression. You can use a backpack for bodyweight exercises or use something more convenient like a weight vest. Weight vest distributes weight evenly throughout the torso in increments of 2 1/2 to 5 lbs. (depending on brand and model).
Bodyweight routine without weight vest
pushups 4x 20 (sets x reps)
chinups 4x 10
lunges 4x 15
bodyweight squats 4x 20
now wear a weight vest with an extra 20 lbs. of added weight and do the workout again. Is it harder?
I've talked about progression before. The weight vest by itself is a form of weight and load progression.
Further, if you're training for the military or any combat sports requiring high levels of conditioning, anaerobic strength endurance, you need to be quick and adept at hurling your body around for distance and time intervals.
Use a weight vest to
- run hills
100m to 400m sprints (flat ground, track, or hills)
mix pushups, burpees, chinups, and short sprints at the park
This offers dynamic workouts for soldiers, boxers, firefighters, police officers
It's also perfect for conditioning training by combining traditional strength training and cardio exercise: dips, chinups, pushups with distance and explosive activities like jumping rope, running, and sprinting
You can also train on rings with a weight vest. Train the core/abs by using good mornings, ab wheel rollouts and side bends with a vest.
The options are many.
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