I’m a personal trainer and I tell all my clients to do this weighted workout to build muscle and bone health

Maddy Biddulph poses wearing a weighted vest in her front room. Behind her we see workout equipment and large windows leading to a garden.

I'm a personal trainer and one of the things I always recommend to clients is a weighted vest.

Wearing one adds resistance to basic moves like squats and lunges, making the moves more challenging and strengthening your muscles, tendons, joints and bones.

When I tried wearing a weighted vest for a month, I was impressed at how it made everyday tasks and workouts more intense.

Wearing it while doing household chores meant I could get a sweat on while making dinner or doing laundry.

This six-move weighted vest workout is one of my go-to routines.

I’m using a 10-pound vest from GORUCK in the video but you can find budget-friendly options like this one on Amazon.

How to do the weighted vest workout

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Aim for eight to 10 repetitions (or 30 seconds for the plank walk) with 15-20 seconds of rest in between exercises. Do three rounds with a one-minute break between.

1. Plank walkout

Sets: 3 Time: 30secs

Muscles worked: glutes, hamstrings, triceps, pectoralis major (chest), anterior deltoids (shoulders) and core.

• Start standing, engage your core, reach your hands down to the floor and walk them forward until you’re in a high plank position.
• Pause, with shoulders over your wrists forming a straight line from your shoulders to your feet. Avoid dropping your hips down or hiking them up.
• Walk your hands back to your feet and return to standing.
• That’s one repetition. Continue for 30 seconds.

2. Forward and back lunge

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10

Muscles worked: glutes, hamstrings, quads and core.

• From standing, step forward with your right leg and lower your back knee toward the floor, keeping the chest upright. Your knees should be at right angles.
• Push through your front foot to return to the starting position.
• Then step back with the same leg, lowering your knee toward the floor behind you. Place your hands on your hips for balance.
• Push through your front foot to return to the starting position. That’s one repetition.

3. Rotational lunge

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10

Muscles worked: quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, core muscles particularly the obliques (side abdominals).

• From standing, step forward into a lunge, lowering your back knee toward the floor. Place your hands on your hips for balance.
• Hold the position as you rotate your torso left, then right. That’s one repetition.
• Return to standing and repeat on the other side.

4. Curtsy lunge

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10

Muscles worked: gluteus medius, hip adductors, quads and hamstrings.

• From standing, step back and around your other foot, as if curtsying.
• Lower your back knee into a lunge.
• Keep your chest up, shoulders back and core engaged.
• Push back up as you return to standing and switch sides.

5. Squat jump

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10

Muscles worked: glutes, quads, hips and hamstrings.

• Stand in your squat stance, then lower into a squat.
• Push through the heels as you explode into a jump, squeezing your glutes as you go.
• Then land softly back down into the starting position.

6. Up down plank

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10

Muscles worked: glutes, deltoids (shoulders), triceps, chest and core.

• Start in a high plank position with shoulders over your wrists, forming a straight line from your shoulders to your feet.
• Lower your right forearm to the floor, then your left to come into a low plank.
• Press back up into a high plank. That’s one repetition.