Ankle and wrist weights?

[prism]

Does anyone here use ankle and/or wrist weights for their cardio? I've considered wearing them for my hikes, but wanted to hear some pros and cons first...

If I do use them, is it OK to use them on my rest days in between weight-lifting?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Adding weights to the limbs tends to increase wear-and-tear on the tendons and joints. The weight also modifies the moment of inertia of your limb, which puts it in an unnatural position. If you want to do cardio with weights, try using a weight vest. A 20lb weight vest will do the trick. Just know that doing general cardio with impact related movements (such as running) increases your risk of overall injury (particularly at the tendons and joints). If you want to do cardio with weights, do a circuit - it's much safer. If you want to hike, just hike. Hiking with weights isn't really going to increase your performance so much as it is likely to injure you (due to unnatural gait especially). I wouldn't suggest utilizing ankle/wrist weights to most people in general, but I especially wouldn't use them on rest days. If you are recovering from a previous workout, your body will be strained already.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I'd not bother with it. I used to mess around with various ones when I cared about martial arts, but the chance of injury is increased. Your body is meant to stop before you hit the limits of your joints, but if you start wearing weights stopping the movement of your body starts becoming an issue and you might start hyper extending your joints have to be really careful. If you do it anyway get like 3 pound weights that use a bunch of lead bbs over the like 10 pound ones that use bars. For long term wear the ones that are really big just can't distribute their weight right and the pressure from them will be really uncomfortable/cause injury. The big ones are meant for physical therapy where you put them on and bend your knee back and forth for bit not for doing real exercise.

Note: This is all personal experience stuff and may not be completely founded in fact.