Top 10 Ankle Weights Reviewed and Rated

If you never encountered the ankle weight before, you may be wondering about how to use them. Ankle weights are super popular with walkers, even though experts recommend against doing this because they can alter your gait. Instead, they are best used for building muscles on your lower body. They might seem like a pretty straightforward piece of gym equipment, but if you do not inspect them properly and put them on the wrong way you can hurt yourself.

>As we said, you must first inspect the ankle weights before you wrap them around your limbs. You must make sure that all seams are intact, and that all pouches and flaps for adding extra weight are securely closed. If your set is adjustable, this is the moment when you should add or remove the extra weight until it is right for you.

Wrap each ankle weight around your leg, firmly. Ideally, the weights should be snug around your lower legs. They should be snug enough that they don’t move around, but not so tight that they cut off your circulation or feel uncomfortable. Tighten the straps so that they don’t move around. If you do not like the way the weights feel when resting on your skin, you can always wear socks underneath them, or put them on top of your pants for an extra layer between the skin and the pair.

Once they are secure around your legs, you can then start using them to perform exercises. You can perform leg curls when they are strapped around your legs or donkey kicks. You should progress just like when doing any other exercise with the ankle weight. Once you are able to complete the targeted number of repetitions with a good form, you are ready to move on to heavier weights.

Any product from our list of the best ankle weights is a great way to help you increase the variability and the variety of your exercise routine. You can use the ankle weight to add to a stationary exercise like leg raises and leg lifts. You can also use ankle weights to add some more weight and resistance while you are walking, jogging, or running to improve your leg muscle.

The ankle weight can help to improve your overall level of endurance, and this added endurance can further help with your cardiovascular and pulmonary health during your workout routine. Ankle weights can also help tone your legs while doing leg lifts in which there is some resistance during a glute workout. The more weight you add during leg lifts and a glute workout, the more endurance you will face. Gradually adding weight will help improve the shape of your legs. To do this, the adjustable ankle weight is ideal so you can control the amount of weight you are using so your legs will work harder and help you burn more calories in the process.

The ankle weights can benefit you by allowing you to burn more calories because you are facing a bit more force, which requires more energy. A workout is more effective when weight is adding to the overall endurance and resistance.

Water workouts can also benefit from ankle weights, and even wrist weights and swimmers have been known to use them to enhance their current skills and strengthen their endurance while in the water. Water aerobic workouts can greatly benefit from the use of wrist and ankle weights for additional resistance for their strength and endurance training exercises. Again, adjustable ankle and wrist weights are always ideal.

Although the ankle weights come with several advantages during a workout, it is also recommended that you do not wear them for every single workout session. It is best to let your muscles and joints rest for a bit between ankle weight and wrist weight training so that you do not potentially cause any harm or injury later.

Before you actually start working with the ankle weights, there are a few things you should keep in mind. You first need to make sure that you are healthy enough to begin using them. If you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis or any other joint disease, using the weights can actually inflame your joints and create additional damage and pain. This is especially troublesome if you didn’t secure them properly, because the weights will wiggle around your joints and move them around in their sockets, making things even more painful.

One more thing that could be a potential hazard is ligament tears. If you are not comfortable with the weight you set, do not keep at it. Start from a smaller weight, and work your way up to heavier loads. Do not be a macho man and start heavy right away - this is a surefire recipe for ending up in the ER. If you are noticing more pain than usual after your session, it’s possible that you have injured yourself. You need to rest the whole day, or even more once you start to feel this, and lower the number of weights you work with until you are back to your old self.

Now let’s get to why you probably shouldn’t wear the ankle weights when you walk or jog. It is true that ankle weights can make you burn more calories when you run or jog, but they can also pull on your ankle joint. When this happens, you could possibly injure the major ligaments in your hips, knees, and back. If you really want to wear weights when doing cardio, your best bet is to consult a professional. Even the best ankle weights could also injure your knees. The reason for this is the same - the added weights put stress on the surrounding muscles and ligaments. Wearing ankle weights also changes your gait, as we noted before, meaning that your muscles and ligaments will be forced to work differently, which creates stress for your tissues and again could hurt you.

The ankle weights are usually made out of the same materials, and filled with either sand, water, or iron. The casing of the weights can be made out of reinforced cotton, a polyester blend, and terry cloth. All of these materials serve to create a comfy fit for you while being breathable, moisture-absorbing and moisture-wicking. Cotton is natural, but when used alone it tends to sprout holes and tears quickly, which is not ideal when the weight filling is spillable. When combined with polyester though, it becomes sturdy and durable. The cotton leaves enough room for the warm air to escape, and for the cool in to get inside and keep you sweat and odor-free. And speaking of sweat, polyester is great at moisture wicking and absorbing, which keeps you dry and rash free.

Sand is possibly the most common filling found in these weights. They are breathable and comfortable, and the amount of filling can be easily changed. The sand tends to mold to the shape of your foot, which makes it even more comfortable. The amount of weight you have will always remain the same, unless the pouch ruptures, then you will have no weight at all. Water ankle weights can also mold to the shape of your foot, making it super cozy. But water can sometimes escape through the holes, and it’s tough to refill the pouches. Also, if the pouch breaks, you can say goodbye to your weights. Iron filings are definitely the most popular choice. They are small, compact and pliable, and can be easily removed or added to change the weight.

The fit of the ankle weights is quite important since you will be wearing it on your body during your whole session. The fit is, most of the time, adjustable. This means that the weights have a type of closure present to make things easier.

Most of the time, the closure is simply velcro. This means that you can tighten and loosen the fit as much as you want. But that type of closure can actually break open easily, especially when you push yourself to the limits, which is not that convenient. This is why there is usually a metal loop through which you’d pull a velcro strap and then tighten it as much as you want. This is super convenient, but there could be some problems with this type of closure as well. For instance, there could be a piece of weight left without any type of material, letting the metal loop and velcro rest on your skin. This could create irritation, rashes, and even blisters, or it could just plain annoy you. This is why you need to find the best ankle weights that sit properly around your ankles, or you just need to wear a layer of clothing between the ankle and your skin in order to protect it!

The weight of these ankle weights can also be adjusted, or it’s set to a certain number which you cannot change. Fixed weights have a, you guessed it, a fixed amount of heaviness to it, which is attached to the cloth using neoprene. Neoprene is soft on the skin, and gentle towards it even though it carries the weight. The neoprene straps are permanently stitched to the inside of the weights and they cannot be taken off to be changed or washed. On the other hand, we have adjustable weights that allow the users to adjust the heaviness according to their fitness levels. These weights have anchors that sit in pockets. These anchors can be easily taken in and out for full adjustability. Adjustable ankle weights allow you to add up to five anchors, making them very valuable since you won’t need to buy heavier and heavier weights as you progress - all you would have to do is simply change out the anchors.