Would adding weight to a daily work increase any benefit?
The rule with trying to lose weight is to burn more in exercise than what you eat. Eating healthy reduces the chance of you over eating and taking in more calories than you would burn off.
I'm looking to try and increase the amount of work I would need to do for my daily 15 minute walk. If I wore a bag or backpack and weighed it down with books so that I would be carrying more weight when I walk, would this increase how much I would burn from just walking? would this (adding weighted bags) work with any exercise?
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Yes, I believe it's known as rucking and is a staple of military training (note: so I've read, I have no personal military experience).
Dan John talks extensively about loaded carries if you want to try something slightly different. These are great for increasing work capacity, burning more calories, increasing strength and endurance, and just making you tougher all round (because hugging a sandbag to your chest and trying to walk while it's trying to crush you is character building).
In short, if you get bored just wearing a weighted backpack, while walking, you can try hugging it to your chest, carrying it in one hand (note: swap hands at the half way point), carrying it overhead (you may get weird looks from people), carrying it overhead in one hand (likewise), carrying it across your shoulders, carry it on one shoulder, put it in a sled and drag it, put it on a sled and push it, put it in a car and push the car, put the backpack on a friend and give the friend a piggy back... ok, so I'm getting a bit carried away, but you get the idea, there's several different things you can do with a loaded backpack :)
As pointed out by other answers it would indeed increase the energy burned. However I wouldn't recommend you add weight to your bag. Children some times get scoliosis and other back issues from carrying heavy bags to school every day. The heavy load might have an effect on you over time. Of course this is a small walk and it shouldn't have a big effect but I wanted to point that out.
Going for a light jog for 30 minutes should burn around 500 calories depending on your weight and pace of running. That would also increase cardiovascular health alongside other benefits of running. If you don't have the time for a 30' run every day/couple of days you could try walking faster but farther as you would get to work at the same time you'd simply have burned more calories.
Yes, more total weight means your legs have to push forward more mass, and therefore burn more calories. When using proper weight distribution, it behaves like more body mass (from a mechanical standpoint), which can be calculated or looked up online. Using weighted bags is common when training for a hike (which is where I come from), to get used to it.
Just make sure to use a proper backpack. Ideally, with a center strap (the shoulder straps pull at the central strap connecting them, not at your shoulders) and maybe a stiff backside and hip strap (transfer weight directly to the legs, without moving through your back first). The less the weights wiggle and wobble around, the less strain on your back.
Personally, I went up to 35kg weight on a DIN A4 sized backpack without any complications.
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