Crossfit Equipment: Dip belt vs. Vest

Dip belts and vests achieve the same thing in different manners: Adding weight to your body weight exercises to challenge you more. If you have limited resources or do not want to fill your house/apartment with unnecessary clutter it might be worthwhile to look into the two options and think about which one to purchase.

Price

Dip belts range from 25 - 60 euro and vests from 40 - 120 euro usually excluding the weights. When considering price you have to bear in mind that you can use the plates you use for the dip belt also with a barbell whereas the weights for the vest are typically one purpose only which is to be put in the slots provided in the vest. Also every gym in your local area will have plates you can fix to a dip belt whereas you have to search far and wide to find vest weights which ultimately will put you into the position that you have to to put extra money on the line for the vest to fulfill its purpose.

Design

Dip belts come in various forms and shapes, as do vests. For dip belts and vests i recommend the less you have to do to set it up the better. If it already looks on the picture as if it has potential to be featured in a bondage porn movie with straps going back, front and across, stay away from it. The more moving parts it has, the more likely it is to break or annoy you. I never tried the options of dip belts you can hang barbells or dumbbells from, however the very thought of this already screams high risk of injury in my face. Usuallly your local options for vests include very poorly made models which use sand weights. I bought one of these only to have it break on me during a run at the seams. It is no fun to carry those sand weights back home in your hands when you are in the middle of a 5k burden run. Also opt for metal vest weights instead of the sand/filling options. These have higher potential to break and the sand is really annoying to get rid off, because you will not notice at once that there is something wrong.

Movements

Here the vest is a clear winner over the dip belt. The vest can basically by used for any bodyweight movement you perform including running, skipping, pull ups, dips... basically everything which does not involve twisting your torso, as the vest hampers with that movement (still possible though). The dip belt is very limited in this respective as it really can only be used effectively for pull ups and dips.

Maximum weight

Here the dip belt beats the vest. The dip belt usually comes with a chain and is simpler in design. Therefore you can easily hang 100kg from it using plates. I haven't seen such a beast of a woman/man in real life yet, but if you are that kind of person, go for a dip belt (which i presume you already will use anyway, go away you beast ;)). Vests are limited by the amount of pockets they have to put weight into. Also the more you put into them the higher the risk they will break at the seams. They are not designed for maximum weight performance/ low rep work.

Conclusion

A vest is more versatile in its use and is the right choice if you want to increase intensity for high rep, full body range motion exercises whilst being more expensive than a dip belt. A dip belt is better suited for low rep high weight pull up and dip work but also only limited to this, which a vest can also deliver. If you have money and don't mind the clutter of a vest (weights flying about the place) buy a vest. If you go to the gym and want to use material which is already around whilst mostly caring about your pull and dip performance, buy a dip belt.

So far i bought all of my equipment from Rogue fitness which is pricey, but worth it. I experienced letdowns with equipment i bought from local stores.