(Maria Fabrizio | for NPR)It seems like you can’t go anywhere without seeing someone wearing a weighted vest. The vests, they say, can help maintain bone and muscle strength even as you age. However, she says, a lot of the marketing that promotes walking with a weighted vest promises results for bones and muscles. The bottom lineThe research does not support claims that weighted vests improve muscle and bone strength — other exercises such as weightlifting have shown to be far more effective. Fielding says it “wouldn’t be surprising” if a future study showed that weighted vests helped maintain bone mass.