Reflections: Benefits of a weighted vest, mindset for better health, and real connections

Lisa Schaffer
Nov 6, 2025
5 min read

My October Reflection...

As the leaves are grabbing our attention with their wonderful display of bright, changing colors, I'm reminded of our seasons of life. This past month I've been to funerals and birthday celebrations. The last of which everyone was so happy to be at a birthday party instead of the alternative. There was a deep, genuine feeling of gratitude and happiness to be in each other's presence. As with the changing color of leaves, we are gently reminded of our short time that we have. What are we doing with that time?

Body - Keep putting one foot in front of the other

For the better part of a year now, I've been really focusing on purposeful walking every day. Most days I will grab my weighted vest and go either for time or distance, making sure part of it is at an incline. Wearing a backpack or weighted vest was part of pilgrimage training and I've enjoyed it ever since.

Often I get asked what the benefits of wearing a backpack or weighted vest are. Here are a few of the benefits of walking with a weighted vest and/or walking in general:

Research shows that walking one mile per day can lower the risk of cardiovascular death by up to 81 percent. Walking helps regulate blood sugar, lowers blood pressure, and improves circulation, all of which reduce strain on the heart and blood vessels. It also boosts insulin sensitivity, meaning your body uses glucose more efficiently, a key factor for people with type 2 diabetes.
Walking with a weighted vest can serve as conditioning tools for both aerobic and anaerobic training, for strengthening upper back musculature and improving postural control, and as weight loss aids by increasing energy expenditure.
Additional weight makes your body work harder, potentially increasing energy burn compared to regular walking.
Wearing a weighted vest forces more engagement from your muscles, firing up your core and lower body for improved stability

There are other uses of a weighted vest than just walking. Here are a few exercises I've been incorporating with my training.

Perform three sets of the following while wearing a weighted vest or backpack:

Squats - 10x (ten repetitions)
Push-ups - 10x
KB (kettle bell) swings - 10x

For extra cardiovascular intensity, take as little rest as possible between sets. Additionally, increasing the pace of the KB swings will be more challenging.

Here is another good circuit. While wearing a weighted vest or backpack perform three sets of the following:

Pull-ups (can use machine or bands for assistance) - 10x
Push-ups - 10x
SL RDL (single-leg Romanian Deadlift) - 5ES (each side)

Note: If you are new to walking a mile or walking with a weighted vest, be mindful like with any other exercise, you should start small and gradually increase intensity or weight. People with neck or back pain should consider just walking without additional weight.

Challenge for you:

How can you incorporate more walking in your daily routine?

Mind - Mindset can help shape your physical health

A Sunday October morning I had only enough time to play 9-holes of golf. It was going to be just a two-some. Our friendly golf pro told us it’s going to be slow. Why don’t you start on the back 9? You bet! I had a great drive but getting the ball into the hole was problematic as it was for my friend and our next hole. Then she said, “If we are going to salvage our round, we need to par all the other holes.”

Hmmm…I thought about that and yeah, she’s right. Up next is a par 3. I missed the green pin high to the right. Chipped it to 12 feet to the hole and made the putt for par. Next hole I screwed up and got a double-bought, ouch!

But I went on to par all the remaining holes. What happened?

Focus. Mindset. I NEEDED to par all the other holes. Dialing in and focusing, I didn’t feel rushed or bothered. I made putts I had never been able to make all season long. Until today. I simply told myself, what would a good golfer do?

GreenNote Fitness is all about the body, mind, and spirit and as such, we know that each of these don't exist without the other. Sometimes we just need a little reminder of their coexistence. Take for example this study I read about in Dr. Mark Hyman's newsletter. In a 2007 Stanford study, hotel room attendants were split into two groups. Both received education on the benefits of exercise, but one group was also told that their daily work tasks—like making beds and vacuuming—already met the Center for Disease Control’s recommended activity guidelines.

Neither group changed their behavior, but after four weeks, the group who believed they were getting enough exercise lost weight, body fat, and inches off their waist—and lowered their blood pressure. The others didn’t.

Mindset can shape our physical health by how we view ourselves. This can positively help decisions we make. For example, what would a healthy person order at a restaurant? Would a healthy person choose to go for a walk or watch TV instead? Would a good golfer make that 5-foot putt for par? Yes.

Challenge for you:

Is there something in your life you are struggling with right now? How could you reframe it?

Spirit - Nature connects us to the divine

Walking the Camino, I was reminded of nature connecting us to the divine every day. Stands to reason then, as I wrote about in my experience, that when we walked into a town or small city, we would recoil from the sounds of the automobiles and smell of pollution. We were momentarily “disconnected” from that true feeling of connection to something greater than ourselves.

In Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson describes how the natural world dissolves ego and grounds us in spiritual clarity. As technology can slowly drag us away from our being grounded, it seems reasonable that we need to disconnect from the noise of false connectedness and focus more on the divine.

Challenge for you:

Are you in need of spiritual clarity? Go for a walk and enjoy the fall color-display that has been provided for you.

Concept I'm pondering

The strong mind finds a way to stay steady ... even when plans fall apart.

The strong body finds a way to train ... even when the day doesn’t go your way.

The strong relationship finds a way to reconnect ... even when things get rough.

~ James Clear

To your reflection and health,

Lisa Schaffer

GreenNote Fitness

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