Is there bone building benefit to walking with ankle and or hand weights?
Walking/jogging or any low impact exercise is best for stimulating bone growth.
Basic weight bearing and resistance can help too but isn’t as beneficial.
Ankle and Wrist weights will add more work for muscles to compensate for when jogging.
I would suggest simply jogging or HIIT training. It would most likely give better results than walking or jogging with weight.
Teresa, if you enjoy reading research you will enjoy reading the following article:
Physiological responses to walking with hand weights, wrist weights, and ankle weights.
Below is a copy of the abstract. You will need to find someone who is ACSM certified and who is a member to read the entire research study.
All the Best!
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise:
Original Investigations: PDF Only
Physiological responses to walking with hand weights, wrist weights, and ankle weights
GRAVES, JAMES E.; MARTIN, A DANIEL; MILTENBERGER, LENORA A.; POLLOCK, MICHAEL L.
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Abstract
To compare the blood pressure (BP) responses to exercise with 1.36 kg (3.0 1b) hand-held weights (HW), wrist weights (WW), and ankle weights (AW), 12 sedentary males (20.8 +/- 1.2 yr) completed three randomly assigned treadmill exercises at 75% maximum heart rate (HR) reserve. Systolic and diastolic BPs among HW (181.2 +/- 21.9 and 73.2 +/- 7.9 mm Hg), WW (180.1 +/- 27.2 and 71.0 +/- 10.1 mm Hg), and AW (183.8 +/- 26.8 and 71.7 +/- 7.8 mm Hg) were not significantly different (/>>0.05). When compared to exercise with no weights (NW), only the diastolic BP for HW was significantly different (+4.4 mm Hg, P
I think all the major points and issues have been stated; yes, there could be some good stress on the musculature, yes, some bone benefits could be had (but probably minimal), BUT the added load, and its affect on gait and overall form make the practice too risky for the average exerciser (maybe more trained athletes could employ similar techniques?).
Didn’t Len Kravitz do some research on this (or maybe just review it?).
Please, always keep ankle weights light if walking with them. Unlike a heavier boot or shoe, the weight is being distributed over top of the ankle. may not seem like a lot of pressure on the joint at first but over distances…
Same thing with shoulders and hand weights.
Continuous bouncing + rotator cuff = Ouch!
For the general population, I don’t recommend the use of ankle or hands weights during cardio activities. remember the goal should be either cardio or resistance. If a client doesn’t perform proper exercise technique and body alignment, I wouldn’t give the client more weight for any exercise.
Maybe for certain athletes, maybe it can be used for enhancing some performance. Will there be significant increases in performance? Not enough research. I’m more concern with the benefit/risk ratio.
Who are the majority of our clients? Athletes? probably not. More so general and special population.
As an AFAA Certification Consultant/Examiner
My advise…DON”T USE THEM FOR CARDIO.
USE WEIGHTS FOR RESISTANCE TRAININGS.