I really wanted to not like the Omorpho G-Vest Icon.
I’ve been doing CrossFit and CrossFit-adjacent training for the best part of 20 years and I love the look of a military-style plate carrier. I also like the chunky, old-school thickness of those brick-style weighted vests that can be loaded up to 20kg and beyond. They look like training equipment. They feel like training equipment. There’s absolutely no mistaking why you’re wearing one.
So, when I first spoke to the team at Omorpho and heard about their mission to create weighted clothing subtle enough to actually wear in everyday life – clothing that was less offensive to the eye, perhaps even fashionable – I was a little bit turned off.
Workout kit? Chic? Not for me, thanks.
Omorpho’s wider range takes this concept pretty far, using what the brand calls 'MicroLoad' – small amounts of resistance distributed throughout clothing rather than concentrated in big plates. The idea is that you can load movement without necessarily turning every walk to the shops into a full-blown workout.
I’m still not entirely sold on the idea of spending my entire life in weighted clothing. But that’s not really what the G-Vest Icon is about.
This is ostensibly designed to be proper training vest. So is it?
Features at a Glance
| Weight | 4.8kg in size L-XL (9kg with additional weight pack) |
|---|---|
| Weight Type | Stainless steel ball bearings encased inside 100% laminated polyester and synthetic rubber vest |
| Best For | Short to medium distance running, functional fitness, strength training, long walks |
What Is the Omorpho G-Vest Icon?
Rather than loading two large plates onto your chest and back, Omorpho distributes the resistance around the upper body. The standard vest weighs 4.5kg, with that load spread throughout the garment using the brand’s MicroLoad system, essentially a net of metal ball bearings spaced out evenly across your torso.
You can then add Omorpho’s G-Pack: three additional weighted panels that snap into the vest and add another 4.5kg, bringing the whole thing up to 9kg.
That puts it pretty much in the ballpark of the 10kg-ish load I’m accustomed to using for CrossFit workouts. The difference though is immediately noticeable.
Because the weight is distributed over a much larger area, the vest has a significantly smaller profile than the big brick-style vests, while also being more flexible than a rigid plate carrier. It sits close to your body and doesn’t protrude as far from your chest, which means you can actually move. The various zips and adjustment points also let you cinch it down pretty tightly. The result is probably the most comfortable weighted vest I’ve trained in.
That’s probably the biggest compliment I can pay it. During runs and workouts, I didn’t find myself constantly pulling it around, shifting plates or trying to find some small modicum of comfort.
The additional G-Pack panels snap into the inside of the vest easily and, while they obviously make the thing heavier, they didn’t noticeably make it less comfortable. The load still feels nicely spread across your torso.
There was another benefit I hadn’t really considered until I started training in it: it zips open at the front. That sounds ridiculously mundane until you’re 40 minutes into a workout, your shoulders are fried and you suddenly have to wrestle a sweaty, Velcro-covered 10kg plate carrier over your head.
In workouts where I only wanted the vest for certain sections, the difference was enormous. About to hop on the SkiErg? Unzip it, dump it. Then quickly zip it straight back on before your push-ups and pull-ups.
Yes, struggling with your equipment is arguably all part of the experience. But – and maybe I’m just getting old – sometimes I just want to focus on the work in hand.
Better Than a Plate Carrier?
This is the bit that pains me. By almost every metric, I think it probably is.
The downside? At around £338 with the additional G-packs to bring it up to weight, it’s almost three-times the price of even more high-end competitors. It’s not cheap.
But the Omorpho does fix many of the issues you’re likely to encounter with traditional weight vests. Chief among them: it simply interferes with your movement less.
On press-ups, you don’t have a giant weight bricks effectively shortening your range of motion – although, admittedly, that does provide a useful cheat code for accumulating reps. During pull-ups and running, there’s less material and bulk moving around. And because the load hugs the body rather than hanging off it, it’s not bouncing around, chafing, or requiring constant readjustment.
There’s part of me that wants to say, ‘Stop whinging. Working out is supposed to feel hard.’ But the more sensible side of me has realised that those aren’t the things I want to be worrying about.
I want to worry about my form. The effort and intensity I’m able to put in. Not tangential factors bouncing plates and not being able to breathe properly.
The Other Big Advantage
If you’re wearing the vest out and about, it doesn’t make you look like an attention seeker at best, and suspicious as all hell, at worst. I know I’m being glib, but there’s a practical point here.
In March 2026, armed police were called to Mandley Park in Salford after a man exercising in a weighted vest was reported as suspicious. Officers subsequently established that he was simply training outdoors with a weighted vest and skipping rope. It was a false alarm. But still. The guy ended up with guns trained on him.
Extreme example? Absolutely. But if you like weighted walks and would also rather not look like the biggest attention-seeking clown in the village when you wander into Tesco, the Omorpho makes a lot of sense.
Without the additional G-Pack – and even with it, to a lesser degree – you could throw a hoodie over this thing and almost forget it was there.
Is the Omorpho G-Vest Icon Worth It?
As I’ve said – it’s expensive. At £259 for the base model, and over £300 to make it a serious bit of training kit, it ain’t cheap.
I have some reservations about the longevity of zips and the drawstrings on a weight-bearing piece of kit, but to be completely transparent, it’s all good so far.
Would I have bought one before trying it? Probably not. I was already perfectly happy with the traditional style of vest and, from the outside looking in, I suspected this might be a bit of an emperor’s-new-clothes situation: a hardcore piece of training equipment gentrified for a more conservative, fashion-conscious audience.
But if somebody had handed me one, let me train in it for a while and then asked me to spend my own money? I would.
For Murph, weighted Cindy, running, circuits and pretty much anything else where I would previously have chucked on a plate carrier, it just makes the experience that much better.
Like I said, I really wanted to not like the Omorpho G-Vest Icon. Unfortunately for my wallet, I really do.
With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.
