# will walking with weights do any good?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-walking-with-weights-do-any-good/232399
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 3, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-walking-with-weights-do-any-good/232399 "2004-03-03T22:39:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![seaworthy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@seaworthy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seaworthy)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-walking-with-weights-do-any-good/232399/1 "2004-03-03T22:39:23Z")

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I walk a lot with my new diet/fitness plan, and I was wondering if carrying some small weights would do any good. I’d be working out the upper and lower half of my body at the same time.

Problem is, I’ve heard conflicting things about this in magazines and stuff, so I don’t know who to believe. Will carrying 3- or 5-pound weights do _anything_ for my upper body? Is it bad for me in any way?

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### Author: ![boofy\_bloke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@boofy\_bloke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boofy_bloke)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-walking-with-weights-do-any-good/232399/2 "2004-03-03T23:04:43Z")

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Carrying little weights will give you a teensy tiny bit of extra fitnessising but won’t do anything to improve your upper body strength or definition. If you swing your arms & weights about as you walk you might also do yourself some damage. The leg weights don’t do much either because your legs are so strong from normal walking and standing all day long.

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### Author: ![seaworthy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@seaworthy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seaworthy)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-walking-with-weights-do-any-good/232399/3 "2004-03-04T02:24:41Z")

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That’s the problem. Do the benefits outweigh the risks? And will I burn more calories that way?

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### Author: ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-walking-with-weights-do-any-good/232399/4 "2004-03-04T02:26:56Z")

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You could get those little hand weights that also have the squeezing mechanism for working out your forearms.

Those are neat.

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### Author: ![T.Mehr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@T.Mehr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Mehr)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2004, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-walking-with-weights-do-any-good/232399/5 "2004-03-04T06:51:02Z")

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The more weight you have to carry, the more your knees have to take.  
That’s why you should lose bodyweight and that’s why you shouldn’t carry any extra stuff.