Can Using Ankle Weights Help to Burn More Calories?
Sometimes in our attempts to save time or work out more efficiently we try to combine two healthy activities into one. But this doesn’t always work well and sometimes can even be dangerous.
For example, we may try to combine the healthy activity of walking with the healthy activity of lifting weights by putting weights on our wrists or ankles as we walk, thinking this will burn more calories.
Ankle weights and wrist weights come in the form of bands or pouches that have weights, sand or water inside. When strapped to your ankles or wrists, they add between three and 20 pounds of resistance to any lower and upper body movement.
However, walking with ankle weights can increase risk of injury to your knees, ankles and feet. (tweet this)
You could develop hip problems and shin splints. You might change your gait to accommodate the weights. Walking in an unnatural way could cause problems, straining and stressing other body parts as they compensate for the changed walking pattern.
Instead of wearing ankle weights when you walk, increase your speed; maybe jog for some of the time and walk for the rest. You could also climb hills to give yourself a better workout without wearing ankle weights. And if you really want to wear ankle weights wear them when you do leg raises with a machine at the gym.
As for energy expended, health experts say wrist weights may increase the amount of calories burned during an aerobic exercise. However, they also caution that these weights increase the workload on your joints. The heavier the weights on your wrists, the more burden on your wrists, elbows and shoulders. This may, in turn, increase the likelihood of injuries like sprains, dislocations and ligament tears. Frequent users may also risk tendinitis, as this, too, is a condition that occurs as a result of frequent strain on your joints. Wrist weights can cause shoulder and elbow injuries.
This adds stress to the body in a way that it was not designed to handle, and the increased calorie burn is negligible.
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This Fit Tip was originally recorded for HopeStreamRadio
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