The weighted vest

Master Kongling All, Training tools balance, power, power exercises, speed, speed training, stamina, strength 2

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What is a weighted vest?

A weighted vest is substantially a set of weights (often customizable) that is worn as if it were a jacket.

Note – This article has been asked by one of our Core Course practitioners on Patreon (see how to attend our home study classes here Learn Kung Fu online: a beginner-to-expert course).

It is a very simple but useful training tool, it allows us to train the body at a higher level through alterations of:

Weight
Encumbrance
Inertia

How a weighted vest can improve our martial skills?

After the first phase of preparation (the awakening one, read /// Subscribe (it's free!) or Login to see this content ///The basics of 6 Dragons Kung Fu[/ restrict]), in 6 Dragons Kung Fu it is important to gradually start to increase the intensity of our training (read Intensity of training: depends on what?).

A good way to force our body to express a higher performance (read Achieve maximum performance) than the usual one is to wear a weighted vest but before entering the topic, it is important to stress that:

Contrary to what is believed, to (intelligently) work with weights do not limit our speed
Kids should not use the weighted vest (they can work with other types of weights but never as a constant pressure on their bones)

We can use the weighted vest for various purposes:

Work on muscle strength and stamina
Work on speed, balance and power
Work on motivation and discipline
Work with a handicap

A note by Master Kongling – The important thing is to choose a good quality vest and set the amount of weight accordingly to our current level of preparation and goals.

Let’s deepen each of these 4 points.

1) Use weights to strengthen our body

This is the simplest, most direct and common way to use this workout tool:

We can perform a part of our training session (or entirely) wearing the vest, this way we get an increase in muscle work and we improve our resistance
Unless it is a negligible weight increase (less than 5Kg for example), it is completely wrong to perform all the weekly training sessions wearing the weights
All the exercises we execute must be done in a variegated way to obtain the best result in terms of muscle memory (read Same exercises, different execution and The right way to develop muscle memory)
The continuous use of overly oppressive weights condition us to move slowly (read Speed and quickness)

2) Use weights to gain speed, balance and power

This is a very effective trick to deceive our body forcing it to employ a kind of speed and power that it normally avoids:

In the first half of an exercise (running, jumping, kicking, punching, dodging, hitting a moving target, etc.), let’s wear the weighted vest
In the second half, let’s get rid of the ballast (this way not only we will have more power but also greater control over our inertia)
In the second part of the exercise, we will have an immediate feeling of incredible power and our body will be able to train itself exploiting its real speed (read Find the maximum speed that we can express)
We will immediately notice that we are able to jump higher, bend faster, move faster than we ever expected

3) Work on motivation and self-discipline

Training with a weighted vest can have a double effect in psychological terms:

When we are tired and unmotivated, its weight makes our training more complex but when we remove it we will enjoy an apparently new strength that we did not felt before
When we are in good physical shape, the very fact of being able to train with a further load, automatically increases our self-esteem
The fact of wearing and removing weights that make us work harder (“regardless” of what we do) affects our mind maintaining a higher and constant quality of our workout

4) Work with the handicaps

In our training method, the use of handicaps aimed at increasing the effectiveness of our preparation is constant:

The fact of wearing a weighted vest allows us to continue to perform important exercises that, however, beyond a certain level, would result dispersive and / or not enough intense (the routine is the worst enemy of a practitioner)
With weights, we can perform exercises in pairs that, with too little prepared partners, would be too easy and therefore not very useful (read 5 effective ways to find a training partner)

Final notes

A few conclusive thoughts:

The fundamental thing is not to overdo it and to keep the weights only as long as we can maintain an acceptable quality of execution of the various exercises
We talked about weighted vests but there are many other weights that can be installed on any part of the body (head, forearms, calves, etc.); they are useful for very specific practices but tend to be more for static practices (also because they rarely remain in position in more dynamic exercises)
…

In the next article of this series, we will see what is the best type of weighted vest to choose.

In-depth video courses

Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu exercises – All our core conditioning methods to build real martial skills
Advanced speed and reflexes training – How to build real combat speed and improve it day by day
DIY training tools for martial arts – A video guide about how to build your own custom training tools
Martial arts weight loss: how to – How to use martial arts to burn fat and gain energies
Breathing methods and exercises – How to exploit lungs to build / economize energies and more
Combat mobility: how to – A course about how to move during a fight (footwork, distances, etc.)
Static and dynamic balance: how to – A specific path to work on high-quality balance for combat

In-depth articles

The “T” weight: an exercise to master weapons – How to get our body used to manage the weight of heavy weapons
How to do sparring – To increase our fighting skills it is possible to wear a weighted vest during sparring (or a part of it)

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

Have you ever tried to train with weights on your body?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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