Training with weight vest

[whess]

Would anyone recommend training with a weight vest, or ankle and wrist weights on. Ive been interested in buy some lately, and frankly Im not sure how much it will help. Would it make my punches more powerful, quicker, or anything, or would it just build muscle mass and slow me down. Any advice?

[bushido_man96]

If you train with weights on your wrists and ankles, you have to make sure to work technique, as opposed to speed. Working too fast can damage the joints with the added weight.

As for the vest, I'm not sure. You could work with it on, shadowboxing or doing forms, and I'm sure it would augment the training in some way.

Don't worry about building mass and slowing down; building strength and muscle is good for the body.

[Rateh]

I wore ankle weights for about a month every day to school. At first I felt like I was walking through mud. By the end of the month I didn't even notice they were on. I don't know if they added any power to my techniques, but they did increase the height of my jump.

I knew someone who wore a weighted vest for point sparring. (Of course this necessitates non-contact to the body area). The goal was to get so used to sparring with it on, that when he removed it his speed would be increased.

I think training with wrist, ankle, or a vest weights can all be beneficial. But if you are kicking or striking with the ankle or wrist weights, it would be very important to do the techniques more slowly to prevent injury to your joints.

[whess]

Thanks for the advice. Im going to purchase these on amazon sometime in the next week, work on technique, nice and slow, and see how things go.

[DWx]

I use ankle/wrist weights on occaison. You have to be very careful with any sort of explosive movement though because there is the risk of over-extending and tearing something. I usually try to go through my forms at half-speed with them on and their great for improving control over your legs.

[Jay]

They are very good.

Like others have said you have to be careful not to hyper extend but if you careful then you can work at full speed which is what you want to do if that's when your working on. Just stop your punch about 3 inches before full extension.

For JKD weighted punching is recommended. What you do its do a set of weighted punches. Then try and hit something without the weight. Imagine you are still holding the weight when you hit it.

[bigpopparob2000]

I jump rope with ankle weights. For comfort, I fasten them just above my calves rather than at my ankles. I started with 5lbs on each leg and have gradually increased the weight. Doing so has made me MUCH lighter on my feet, and I'm getting some pretty decent height on my jumping kicks.