When planning my home gym, I cannot say that ankle weights were very high up on the list of things to buy (if on the list at all). However, I stand corrected now. Since using the Valeo ankle weights, I’m not sure that I can go back to ordinary body-weight exercising again.
When starting out, few of us will think that we need ankle weights to complete our workout routines. They are absolutely the last thing on any one’s mind yet their impact on your exercising routine can be quite remarkable, as I discovered.
They are just so perfect and easy to use – I simply strap them to my ankles, forget they are there and do my workout. Overtime I found that my workout went quicker than usual, from needing to complete less reps of my leg raises and lunges to get the same effect.
A lot of other ankle weights I saw on the market only went up to 5 lbs for each ankle, however these Valeo ones go up to a massive 10 lbs per ankle. Of course, I doubt that I will be using those anytime soon, but I appreciate having the options.
I used the 5 lb (10 lb set) ones which I found perfect for me. I also loved that the weights are adjustable, simply by sliding out the weighted pouches. So I was able to drastically lower the weight for my subsequent workouts (and believe me, this was completely necessary).
I found that the comfort of the Valeo ankle weights was a big bonus for me.
Understandably the average person dislikes exercise for the greater part, and any item that increases the level of discomfort will find itself with a one-way ticket to the bin. So the fact that the Valeo ankle weights were really comfortable and I actually forgot I was wearing them was a massive bonus. As a result they found themselves getting stashed in my gym bag as opposed to the garbage skip outside of my gym.
They also did not make me sweat heaps which was surprising.
I was worried that they would make my ankles go all disgusting, yet they didn’t. In fact, they seemed to act as a giant (heavy) sweat guard and actually stopped the sweat from dripping down my leg onto my socks (apologies for the image).
One last point to mention that has nothing to do with the actual functionality of the ankle weights, is that they remind me of something that Arnold Schwarzenegger would wear, and just, well look cool! This is probably not important but they make you look tough putting them on and who knows, perhaps this the kind of psychological boost you need for more physical exertion on your exercise routine!
