If you read last week's post, you may have thought, "Weighted vest? Why, Carita, Why?" No worries, sometimes I think the same thing. For most of my life, I thought carrying my body weight around with me everywhere I go provided enough resistance. I mean, seriously, some days, pulling my own flesh out of bed or taking it up a flight of stairs or moving it outdoors for a walk feels like a ginormous burden. For those of you who haven't met/seen me IRL, as the kids used to say (short for "in real life"), I'm not obese or even overweight.
But as I'm getting older (not in the When Harry Met Sally "I'm going to be forty...someday" sort of way, but in the very real, "I'm much closer to 60 than to 50" sort of way), I'm realizing that I need to protect my muscle and bone density. As a natural part of aging, everything in our bodies gets less dense (except maybe, for my brain, which is definitely getting more dense). For bones to keep being strong, we need to increase the amount of weight-bearing activities we do. To avoid muscle loss, we need to lift ever heavier loads.
And about the only thing I try to do more than exercising and podcast-listening is being efficient, so if I can exercise, listen to a podcast, and strengthen my bones extra at the same time, I'm all in.
If you click on the photo above, you can see reviews of various weighted vests. Mine wasn't expensive, but it works great. (I'm sorry, yes, I bought it on Amazon, and they suck. If you can find it elsewhere, please don't support them. The ones I saw on other sites cost too much. Alas, I'm part of the problem.)
Do you wear a weighted vest? What do you think about it? Which activities do you use it for? Please share any responses or tips in the comments.