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Fitstream are functional fitness specialists, supplying top quality fitness equipment such as: Gymnastic Rings, Kettlebells, Weighted Clubs, Resistance Bands & Weighted Vests.
On the web-site, (www.fitstream.com) you will also find fitness applications and an article/exercise knowledge base.
The guys from Fitstream recently sent over a couple of their 30kg/66lbs weighted vests for the UK based Bar-barians, Jay & Lee Wade to test out during their workouts down at Primrose Hill workout park, London ... Here's what the guys had to say:
We've both trained with weighted vests/jackets before - some had been good, others a waste of time - when we got our hands on the Fitstream vest you could see straight away that it was very well made with 30 velcro fastening pockets (15 at the front and 15 at the back) each able to hold a 1kg weighted block so you can load it up with as much or as little weight as you require up to 30kg.
We started out with a little stretch off before the workout then slipped in 10kg into each of the vests and went for a little jog.
The vest's velcro and ring fastening design was easy to use and the vest fitted snugly around the torso and there was no unfastening of the velcro during the run.
We also tried out some squat thrusts, burpees and a couple of sprint bursts with the vest on, again the vest held tight during the exercises and you could really feel the intensity increase with the extra 10kg strapped to the body.
After the warm up we got into a hard weighted dip and pull up session. We loaded up one vest with 20kg and the other we maxed it out with 30kg. We started out doing supersets, 10 x pull ups with the 20kg vest then take that vest off and put on the 30 kg vest for 15 x dips - taking it in turns.
With the extra weight added the intensity of the workout went up dramatically - the vest was perfect for doing both exercises, the vest doesn't flap around like some of the jacket style ones and there was no awkwardness in the shoulder straps when performing the pull ups.
The Fitstream weighted vest is as good a vest as any we have tried out, including the Mur and BOX vests which are probably the best known brands on the market.
The vest is easy to use, the blocks easily slide in and out of the pockets but sit snugly inside. It can be taken off quickly and easily for when you want to do a drop set of pull ups, dips, press ups etc.
It's a good heavy duty, durable bit of equipment and we now train with it to build body weight/lean muscle two or three times a week as part of our routines - If you train in a gym or park, keep the vest in the boot of your car or if you train at home store it under your bed for when you need it.
We definitely recommend using a vest over a dipping belt for exercises as it distributes the weight better and has much more uses (ever tried doing a muscle up with a dipping belt and plate?)
The Fitstream weighted vest is the perfect training partner ***** (The vest can be purchased for £55/$88 from the web-site store and comes with 10 x 1kg blocks, additional blocks are also available in the store at a cost of £2/$3.20 per block)
