Weighted vests and other wearable resistance products are sold as a way to make running, jumping and bodyweight exercise harder without a machine. Whether they improve performance is a separate question from whether they change how a movement feels. Two systematic reviews, one in Scientific Reports in 2024 and one in Frontiers in Physiology in 2025, examined the research on sprinting and jumping. This guide summarises their abstracts and explains where they differ. It is general information about equipment, not advice on injuries or health conditions.
The 2024 review: acute changes and thin chronic evidence
The authors note that wearable resistance and vests can be used in almost all training conditions, but that their positioning and added mass differ and so affect performance and movement mechanics differently. Bertochi and colleagues searched four databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus and SPORTDiscus) for longitudinal and cross-over studies of wearable resistance (WR) and weighted vests (WV) and included 25 studies in the meta-analysis. In cross-over studies, both WR and WV produced significantly slower sprint times and longer ground contact times than unloaded running. They differed in how they changed the stride: WR was associated with a lower step frequency, whereas WV was associated with a shorter step length. Only one study investigated the chronic adaptation to WR and found the WR group superior to the control group on sprint time. For WV, no chronic difference was found for sprint time, contact time or flight time. The authors suggest that WR may suit athletes who rely on step frequency and WV those who rely on step length, but state that there is no supporting evidence that WV or WR will change sprint performance, contact time or flight time, and that coaches and athletes should carefully consider their use.
The 2025 review: randomised trials only
Wei and colleagues restricted their search to randomised controlled trials, searching five databases from inception to 1 May 2025 and including ten studies with 256 participants. Their three-level meta-analysis found that wearable resistance training significantly improved linear sprinting overall, with a 95% confidence interval of −0.558 to −0.027 (negative values indicate faster times). The subgroup effects that reached significance were 10-metre sprint performance (Hedges’ g −0.393), trunk-mounted loading (g −0.554) and loads of 10% of body mass or less (g −0.495). Jumping ability did not improve significantly (p = 0.118). The authors conclude that trunk loading with loads up to 10% of body mass can enhance start acceleration over 0 to 10 metres, and that jumping did not significantly improve.
Reading the two together
The reviews are not directly comparable. The 2024 review pooled acute cross-over and chronic studies and focused on how loads change the stride, while the 2025 review pooled randomised trials of training programmes and reported outcomes for sprinting and jumping. The conclusions differ in tone. The 2025 review reports a significant training effect on short-sprint acceleration in specific subgroups, whereas the 2024 review found only one chronic wearable-resistance study and no chronic difference for vests. The 2025 review also rates the certainty of its evidence as low on the GRADE scale.
Limits of the evidence
Several limitations are noted in the 2025 review’s account: sample sizes were small, blinding is difficult with wearable loads, and participants were mostly athletes, so the results may not transfer to other groups. Neither review is a head-to-head comparison of a vest against a different training method such as sled pushing or plyometrics, so no claim that a vest is superior to any other approach is supported. These findings concern athletes performing sprint and jump training, not general fitness, weight loss or bone health.
What this means when buying
The evidence suggests that if a weighted vest is used for sprint training, light loads up to about 10% of body mass on the trunk are the range with a reported effect on the first 10 metres, and that a vest cannot be assumed to help jumping. A vest with adjustable weights would allow a user to keep to a light load, though the reviews do not test particular products. Related purchasing questions are covered in our guides to separating evidence-based equipment from marketing and resistance bands and suspension trainers.
Frequently asked questions
Does a weighted vest improve jumping? The 2025 meta-analysis found no significant effect of wearable resistance training on jumping ability.
What load did the review link to better sprint starts? Loads of 10% of body mass or less, worn on the trunk, in the 2025 subgroup analysis.
How certain is the evidence? The 2025 review graded it as low certainty.
The bottom line
Reviews of weighted vests and wearable resistance show that loading changes sprint mechanics immediately, but evidence that it improves sprint performance over time is thin and rated low certainty. The clearest reported effect is an improvement in 0 to 10 metre acceleration with trunk loads of up to 10% of body mass, and there is no significant effect on jumping.
Sources
- Bertochi GFA et al., “The use of wearable resistance and weighted vest for sprint performance and kinematics: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” Scientific Reports, 2024
- Wei et al., “Effects of wearable resistance training on linear sprinting and jumping abilities in healthy populations: a systematic review and three-level meta-analysis,” Frontiers in Physiology, 2025