By Rory Satran
I've started walking everywhere in a weighted vest. Yes, I've joined the legion of women looking like DEA agents who are about to bust a meth lab. Chalk it up to influence: I'd seen the prominent OBGYN Dr. Mary Claire Haver enthusing about the benefits of weighted vests; Katie Couric peppily pounding the beach in hers; and model Kaia Gerber sprinting on a treadmill in a fitted white one -- bless her heart.
Weighted vests run the gamut from $25 Amazon cheapos to Gerber's chic, sleek favorite, the Omorpho G-Vest, which starts at $259. I chose Gerber's for admittedly superficial reasons, but came to like its laced-in structure and even weight distribution. Dr. Haver and other experts recommend that you choose a vest which is 5% to 10% of your body weight. I started with a three-pounder and worked up to five, so I wouldn't last long in a cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg, who's bragged of doing Navy SEAL workouts in a 20-pound vest.
These vests have existed for a while, but sales are up, especially among women over 40 who are becoming increasingly aware of the advantages of staying (or getting) fit as they age. The marketing promise of the vest is that by adding more resistance you build muscle and bone density. Nobody wants to break bones or develop osteoporosis, and we would all rather look more like Jennifer Lopez than a Golden Girl at age 50. Can a vest that resembles a life preserver really help with all that -- and are we OK with looking a little silly?
"Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed," said Couric, in a video segment about weighted vests from this summer. She asked her Pilates instructor, Ashley Patten, "Do you see a lot of people walking around in these?"
She sure does. Patten, who recently turned 40 herself, was struck by how many men and women she bumped into in the Hamptons this summer wearing one. She has been recommending them to many of her clients, including one petite woman in her 80s who wears a 1-pound weighted tank top. "It's a great way to up what you're already doing and build that bone density and muscle strength," she said. She suggests putting one on while you're walking, gardening, raking leaves or working at a standing desk.
Dr. Haver, whose book "The New Menopause" was a No. 1 bestseller this year, is the godmother of the weighted vest, wearing hers to lecture to her millions of social media disciples from her treadmill desk. She cites a 2000 study in the Journals of Gerontology which found that women using a weighted vest for five years (combined with jumping exercises) maintained their BMD (bone mineral density) more than those that didn't. Dr. Haver sells weighted vests from the brand Prodigen via her Amazon storefront, from which she earns commission.
Other doctors and physical therapists I spoke with agreed that walking or exercising in a weighted vest could help add strength and bone density.
Along with Dr. Vonda Wright and Dr. Stacy Sims, Dr. Haver is part of the so-called "menoposse," a group of female doctors spreading awareness about how age-related hormonal shifts affect your body. There's something of a renaissance around perimenopause and menopause at the moment, with Miranda July's novel "All Fours" tackling perimenopause, and Naomi Watts creating a skin care startup for menopausal women. Along with weighted vests and strength-training, the new discussion of menopause stresses eating a lot of protein and considering hormone-replacement therapy.
But women over 40 aren't the only ones stoking the weighted vest craze. Stefan Olander founded Portland weighted-clothing company Omorpho in 2021 after 21 years at Nike, most recently as vice president of global digital innovation, where he worked on the wearables technology with Apple and the Nike fitness apps. Omorpho's vests, along with its tops and leggings, are worn by Haver-following neighborhood walkers as well as macho workout fanatics and elite male and female athletes. The company has partnered with athletes including NFL stars Alexander Mattison and Demario Davis, and Olympic heptathlete Annie Kunz.
Olander, who said his company has grown by triple digits every year since it launched, was driven to create a product that was as beautiful as it was functional. He worked with a former Nike colleague, Natalie Candrian to design a vest whose "microloading" weighted beads would be seamlessly integrated throughout the piece. "If it doesn't look good, you don't feel good and if you don't feel good, you're not going to wear it," said Olander.
Although Omorphos are enjoyed by plenty of guys, Olander says that the recent wave of women inspired by Haver and Couric has boosted his brand. "What we see a lot of is women who buy it, wear it on a walk, and then their friends go, 'What are you wearing?' It creates this immediate FOMO where it's, 'I want one of those.'"
That sense of keeping up with the Joneses is exactly what drove Ashley Shearin, 45, who works in wealth management, to purchase a vest on Amazon. Out on a walk one day in her Nashville neighborhood, Shearin noticed a weighted vest on a woman but was too shy to inquire about it. So, back home, she googled "vest women are wearing on walks." She bought one on Amazon from Henkelion for less than $30 and now uses it several times a week.
Shearin was amused that her "weighted-vest walks" had taken the place of the "hot-girl walks" of just a few years ago, another walk-based exercise trend. "I don't care if it looks a little goofy," she said, adding that she liked that it was a "conversation starter" and helped her bond with other women.
Now that the weighted vests are getting more widespread, they're being worn everywhere from the grocery store to exercise classes to workplaces and school drop-off. But don't be crazy. One question Olander gets is whether you can wear a weighted vest while swimming. "Please don't do that," he tells them, "because I don't want you to drown."
Write to Rory Satran at rory.satran@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 16, 2024 06:00 ET (11:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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