Barbell Medicine Podcast Episode #362: Weighted Vests
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Aug 25, 2025 Discover the rising trend of weighted vests in fitness, fueled by influencers and debated benefits. Explore how these vests impact calorie burning, weight management, and muscle growth, revealing that their weight loss effects are modest. Learn about the optimal scenarios for integrating weighted vests into workouts and their potential to enhance exercise intensity and conditioning. Plus, get insights on how they may improve cardiovascular health and strength training.
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TDEE Components And Variability
- Total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) has three parts: resting, diet-induced, and activity-induced energy expenditure.
- Activity-induced expenditure is the most variable and typically comprises 20–40% of TDEE.
Economy Can Offset More Volume
- Exercise energy cost depends on intensity, duration, muscle mass used, and movement economy.
- Improvements in economy can keep total exercise energy cost from rising despite more training volume.
Exercise Calories Aren’t Fully Additive
- Exercise energy expenditure is not purely additive to TDEE because the body compensates by reducing other energy uses.
- The constrained energy expenditure model explains why exercise-driven weight loss often falls short of simple calorie math.
