Ankle and Wrist weights can speed up training and help you lose weight faster but they can also be harmful, even dangerous if used indiscriminately. This article is particularly important for beginners but will also help many of you at intermediate or advanced levels to understand the pro's and con's and do's and don'ts of using ankle and wrist weights in your workouts.

How Dangerous can Ankle and Wrist Weights Be?

I am not addressing professional athletes who know their bodies well enough to use the weights responsibly. While doing some in depth research for this article I read with dismay that wearing extra weight is often recommended for the wrong kind of activities, increasing the risk of injury and permanent damage to the body.

We are told to wear them for walking, jogging, running, sprinting, step aerobics, cycling, swimming, kick boxing and karate, as a useful short cut for losing weight and improving strength and endurance. Some wear them in conjunction with other equipment like skipping, on the treadmill... and some over enthusiastic fanatics keep them on all day to walk, climb stairs or just around the house, even sleep with them on at night! Now I ask you, are people insane?

Of course all that sells a lot of one of the most affordable pieces of fitness equipment but does it do more harm than good? Doing regular exercise needs enough devotion without making it more difficult with extra weights. If you have reached a certain level of fitness and are very short of time, however, wearing ankle or wrist weights may speed up your training provided they are used with proper caution and awareness

What are they made of?
Ankle and wrist weights are usually filled with fine lead or iron powder, not very environmentally friendly when disposed of. Try to find some that use water or sand as filling. You tie them around the wrists or ankles with Velcro straps. On the outside they use some breathable nylon material.

Why Do People Use Them?

To increase the workload in the following activities:

Endurance and strength training - only for advanced users

No adult has a perfect posture. No gait is absolutely correctly balanced. Therefore any activity that involves the entire body weight landing with impact of the ground, like walking, running, aerobics etc. will aggravate the faults and imbalances in the ankle, knee, hip, spine and neck without adding any extra weight. And let's face it, most of you guys and gals so keen on getting fit already carry the extra weight on your bodies anyway. So: No weights for endurance and strength training unless you're a pro.

Toning - recommended in certain moves
If you are trying to firm up your triceps or buttocks and don't have a lot of time before the holidays, by all means, wear the weights, but again, be sure you don't strain your back in dong so.

Stretching - recommended in gravity inverted moves
The main requirement for flexibility is that the area to stretch should be relaxed. It is impossible to stretch a muscle or tendons when the muscle is contracting. That is a paradox, a contradiction in terms. We can use weights into gravity to help stretch the hamstrings as in the two Scooping Kick moves described below.

The desired dynamic quality for the movement you are working on can be attained with visualisation. In this case imagine that you are lying on the beach and scooping up sand with one foot to throw it as far away as possible over your head. I recommend you close your eyes during this imaginary experience so you can really concentrate on what you are doing and also, that way, you won't get any sand in your eyes (ha-ha).

Scooping High Kicks in a supine position (lying on your back).

1. Lie on the floor on a mat or or your bed.
2. Raise one knee up as far as you can without bending or lifting the other leg.
3. Bring the foot back down to the floor.
4. Raise the whole leg up as high as you can while leaving the other leg on the floor. Keep both knees straight.
5. Bring the leg down to the floor again
6. Repeat from (1) to (5) eight to sixteen times.
7. Repeat (1) to (6) with the other leg.

How high does your foot reach? If it does not reach the 90 degree mark, don't use weights. Once your foot passes the 90 degree mark you may wear ankle weights and from here on stretching your hamstrings and toning all the participating muscles is a piece of cake. The extra weight tied to your ankle wants to go downwards with gravity. To stretch your hamstrings fully all you need to do from now on is to keep your leg up there, past the 90 degree mark in an as relaxed way as possible while still keeping both your knees straight.

Scooping High Kicks in a side lying position.

1. Lie on your side on the floor on a mat or or your bed. Keep the knee of the leg nearest the floor bent to create a more stable structure for maintaining the side lying position.
2. Raise one knee up towards your shoulder up while leaving the other leg on the floor.
3. Bring the foot down to the floor.
4. Now raise the whole leg up as high as you can while keeping the knee straight and leaving the other bent leg on the floor.
5. Bring the foot down to the floor again
6. Repeat from (1) to (5) eight to sixteen times.
7. Turn around onto your other side and repeat (1) to (6) with the other leg.

Arm swings and circles are perfectly suited to be practiced with wrist weights on but not until you master them perfectly without the weights first or you might tear a muscle or ligament.

Stand in a lunge position.

1. Swing the arm up as far as it will go without turning the wrist.
2. Swing the arm down and back to its limit.
3. Repeat 1. & 2. above eight times or more.
4. Now going in the same upward direction, do a full backward arm circle and repeat that eight or more times until all the stiffness has vanished from your shoulder joint.

When you become familiar with these moves you can circle your arm quite fast (up and backwards) and allow momentum and gravity to fully loosen your shoulder joint. If you feel and hear any crunchy or crackly noises deep inside your shoulder joint just start slowly and gently continue swinging and circling until all is quiet and loose in there.

So enjoy working with your ankle and wrist weights now that you are (hopefully) a little better informed about them.

Please leave meaningful comments or ask questions which I'll be happy to try and answer.

Sue