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• Posted March 9, 2026

Weighted Vests Help Keep Bones Strong — But Only If Seniors Stay Active

Weighted vests – the latest internet-driven workout craze – can help older folks improve their bone health while losing weight, a new study says.

There's one caveat though: The vest won’t help your bones if you don't stay active, researchers recently noted in the journal Frontiers in Aging.

“If we're going to be putting vests on people, we need to train those people to be up and moving,” lead researcher Jason Fanning, an associate professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University, said in a news release. "Like any tool, it's not going to do the work for you."

Seniors are more susceptible to broken bones due to a loss of bone density that occurs naturally with aging, researchers said in background notes.

However, this loss of bone density can be accelerated if an overweight or obese senior tries to improve their overall health by losing excess weight, researchers said. That's because part of the weight loss comes from bones and the muscles that support them.

This study investigated whether wearing a weighted vest could offset the impact of a weight loss program on bone health by temporarily replacing lost pounds or even adding on extra weight.

For the study, researchers recruited 134 people with an average age of 67. All were either overweight or obese. The researchers assigned them to one of three groups as they took part in a weight loss program.

One group wore a weighted vest for at least eight hours a day while participating in a weight-loss program, the second didn't wear the vest but performed regular strength training plus a weight-loss program, and the third only participated in the weight-loss program.

Results showed that people wearing a weighted vest who spent more time standing or stepping had positive changes in their bone density.

On the other hand, people engaging in a weight loss program alone lost bone density, while those performing resistance training had no changes in bone density.

Researchers think that spending more time moving exposes the wearer to more weight from the vest, causing them to reap more benefits.

The team is now designing a new study to investigate whether encouraging people to move more often will boost a weighted vest’s effectiveness in preserving bone mass.

“These results point to the need for additional research investigating the efficacy of a weighted vest intervention paired with daylong movement for sustaining bone health among older adults as they lose weight,” the team concluded in their study.

More information

The American College of Sports Medicine has more on weighted vests.

SOURCE: Wake Forest University, news release, March 3, 2026