It’s been roughly six weeks since I last wrote about adding weight vest walking into my routine (First article is HERE). Since then, I have continued to do quite a bit of Zone 2 cardio, but admittedly have done less weight vest walking specifically. I had a good streak of 5-6 walks per week of 20-45 minutes (although a few were as much as an hour). However, due to work/training/climbing schedules lately (and ridiculous heat in Phoenix), I have been utilizing the stationary bike much more and doing less frequent/longer duration walking (closer to 2-3 walks per week of 30-60 minutes). I am still accumulating 100 minutes or more of weight vest walking per week, but in a different way. Regardless, here are some of my updated thoughts:

1. Purely subjective, but I feel as though my body composition was better when I was walking more and biking less (as opposed to my current approach of biking more and walking less). My only measure of this at the moment is “How visible are my abs in the mirror in the morning?” (Definitely vain I’m aware. I should have taken actual measurements but I dropped the ball there).
2. It has gotten significantly more difficult for me to get into Zone 2 and stay there with walking. My pace has to be really fast to get there and stay there.
3. The weather is slowly changing in Phoenix (meaning it’s only 95 instead of 115 outside). I was using the heat to my advantage, but soon it will no longer be a factor.
4. Because of the two previous points, I imagine that I will need to start running to get the same stimulus that the weight vest walks were giving me early on. I may even be able to mix in some weight vest runs.
5. The bike has allowed me to get my Zone 2 work in (it’s much easier to get into Zone 2 on the bike), but I don’t feel as “connected” to the training when I’m doing it. I think this is a big reason that I am not as happy with the results (or maybe I’m just being overly nitpicky).
6. I still love being outside. Now that the weather is changing I may be able to mix some hikes in to get my Zone 2 training in.
7. I don’t think all the “slow” training has had a major negative affect on my “fast” training. I have been dealing with some lower-back issues that I believe are due to climbing, and those have been more detrimental to my speed/strength/explosiveness than any amount of Zone 2 work.
8. I think I need to include something “in-between”. I am doing a decent amount of Zone 2 work (again a minimum of 100 minutes of weight vest walking each week + roughly 60-100 minutes of biking) and pushing sleds/sprinting twice per week. I do some short burst intervals on the fan bike prior to climbing 2-3 times per week, but I feel like I am missing some running intervals (although I may feel differently about this once my Zone 2 work becomes more running and less walking).
9. Using a heavier vest doesn’t help me much. It creates a lot of discomfort in my traps, and I start focusing more on that and less on the walking aspect of things. I’ve used multiple vests throughout this experiment (5, 10, 20, 40 lb. vests), and I think the 10 or 20 are perfect for me.
10.  Overall, I have really enjoyed this style of training. I can go for a walk with Kerrin or do it by myself, it allows me to be outside, and my resting heart rate and HRV are both improved. I have convinced others to start doing more of it, and I believe they are enjoying it and seeing results as well.

It’s hard for me to make blanket recommendations, but I think that a good amount of people would benefit from weight vest walking. Shooting for 20-40 minutes 4-6 times per week with a proper sized vest would probably do wonders for most people in terms of both physical and mental health.