Do You Really Need Ankle Weights?
Ankle weights have gone through the wormhole from the 1980s to the present, appearing on countless TikToks and Instagram posts. Do they really help tone your legs? Are they worth buying at all? Here’s what you need to know.
Where are they useful?
It is best to use ankle weights to add a little resistance to the exercise as you move your legs against gravity.
For example, raising your legs while lying on your side significantly increases the load on your muscles, even with a pound or two on the ankle that you lift in the air. Donkey kicks and hollow body grips also fall into this category.
In these examples, the weight of the ankle does not necessarily make your ankles or legs work harder; they simply add resistance to what is still an exercise for your hips, glutes, or abs.
This use of ankle weights makes sense because they increase resistance over time. To keep progressing, you will need to use heavier weights when your current ones get too light. Eventually, you can get to the point where the ankle resistance exercise is no longer difficult and you have to work the same muscles in a different way.
Where they are useless
If you’re running, jumping, or walking, ankle weights can make the movement a little harder, but it’s probably not the best addition. Think about why you are doing these exercises at all. If your goal when running or walking is to burn calories, you can do this more efficiently by running faster or further without weighing down your ankle.
Some trainers even warn that wearing ankle weights while running or walking can lead to muscle imbalance or injury; although it is unclear whether this is actually the case or not. (I haven’t been able to find any conclusive evidence of injury anyway, but historian Conor Heffernan pointed me to a 1988 article that concluded that weight on the ankle does not provide significant calorie burn and is not worth the potential risk.)
How much will light weight help you?
Whenever you look at light weight – be it a pair of ankle weights, tiny dumbbells, or whatever – think of it in terms of progressive overload.
Progressive Overload is one of the basic tenets of strength training. To achieve results, you need to use increasingly heavy weights. This is how someone who only starts to pull with a barbell can end up strong enough to lift hundreds of pounds. Lighter weights can get you started on this journey, but they won’t take it.
Each ankle weight is often only one or two pounds, although I have a set that can load about ten pounds if you fit all the small sandbag inserts into just one cuff of a pair. It was convenient when I was treating an injury; My physical therapist recommended side leg raises, and by the time my rehab was complete, I had consumed most of the weight set.
Fitness products often exist only because they are easy to sell.
Looking through ads and Instagram posts for this article, it suddenly became clear why ankle weights have become popular. You can advertise them by putting them on a gorgeous-legged model in chic leggings and asking her to work out on the beach or in front of a brightly colored wall. They just look cool, especially some of the newer styles that look like block bangles.
In addition, being fairly light, they are cheaper to manufacture and transport than, say, weights. So, while they may have a place in your workouts, it would be a mistake to think you are buying versatile or durable equipment while pampering yourself with a pair of ankle weights.