One of my favorite pieces of exercise equipment is my 20 pound weight vest.  I've been using it for the past couple of years and while a bit tattered, it has become one of my trusted workout partners.  Studies have shown that exercising with a weight vest is an excellent way to boost your calorie burn and provide you with greater bone building benefits.

When put to the test, donning an 8 pound vest—about the weight of a gallon of milk—exercisers burned 23% more calories than exercising without the vest according to Wayne L. Westcott, PhD and Prevention magazine's fitness editor.

I use my weight vest to step up my cardio workout and to add variation to my strength training program.  As a general rule, start out with the vest weighing only about 5% - 10% of your body weight and work up from there, increasing the weight gradually.  Be sure your vest fits comfortably snug around your torso so there isn't a lot of bounce in the vest as you move.

There are many vests on the market, but I recommend a vest made mostly of mesh fabric.  They breathe better and won't overheat you like some of the nylon vests.
 

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