Exercise and Bone Density
We all know by now that exercise is important for maintaining bone density, but what is less clear is what to do, how to do it, and how much to do. Should you walk or weight train? High-impact or low-impact? This article will help clear up your curiosity and help you make better decisions about how to spend the time you have allocated to exercise.
The human body is a phenomenally adaptable organism that will get stronger with the right amount of stress, and will break down if there is too much stress, or too little. Interestingly, there is no age limit on the body’s adaptability either. With a few minor differences, a ninety year-old woman will adapt to exercise in very similar ways as a nineteen year-old woman.
Most importantly, you have to understand where you are starting from. While you may have lofty goals of running a marathon, or increasing your bone density, you have to respect your body as it is now. If you have been mostly sedentary for the past few months, you are more or less a beginner in terms of your physical state, regardless of what your exercise or sport history may have been in years past. Just because you were a cross-country medallist in high school doesn’t mean you can just go for a 20K run on a whim in your forties. The best rule of thumb is to start where you are and consistently add volume (distance, weight, etc.) and intensity (speed, modification of rest periods, etc.) to increase your body’s, and specifically your bones’, adaptation.
Another important consideration is that as you increase volume and intensity, you may increase your risk for injury. However, the increased risk of injury may be very small, while the return on the added progression may be large. In some studies, physical activity actually reduces the risk of falls, so you may actually be safer working out than not. Always respect your daily abilities and err on the side of going a little easier versus going too hard. Recovery is just as important (more so in some cases) as the workout you are doing, so allow your body to adapt and be ready for the next workout.
Strength Training: Lifting just about anything heavy seems to be the overall winner in terms of your best option to increase bone density. The benefits of strength training are related to the fact that as you lift weights, the muscles pull on the bones to create movement and therefore stress the bones to get stronger. The more you lift (safely) the greater the stress, and the greater the adaptation. Also, strength training hits almost every part of the body, whereas walking and running result in mostly lower body adaptation.
Walking and Running: Typically the easiest physical activities to engage in, walking and running can be done almost anywhere and cost little compared to a gym membership. However, while walking is a great starting point for many, as it relates to bone density, running or walk/run combinations are measurably better because they increase the impact on the bones, thereby increasing the adaptation within the bones.
Aquafitness: Aquatic exercise has a lot of benefits, especially for those challenged by balance and injury. There is no doubt that improvements in fitness can be made in the water, but for most people it is not an efficient way to increase bone density compared to land exercise because your weight is reduced .
Other activities: group fitness, indoor cycling, rock climbing, etc. are all great physical activities, but you have to consider which ones force you to bear your body weight and therefore contribute to bone density. If you are supported in any way (i.e. indoor cycling, elliptical machine, etc.) chances are there will be a minimal benefit for bone density, if any at all. Make sure your overall physical activity contributes.
Intensity and impact: While higher impact activities may incur slightly higher risks of injury, they are comparably much better for bone density than low-impact activities. The low-impact, low-intensity versions of exercises are good for maintaining bone density, but if you’ve lost any, or want to increase it early in life, higher-impact, higher-intensity is the way to go.
The human body is a phenomenally adaptable organism that will get stronger with the right amount of stress, and will break down if there is too much stress, or too little. Interestingly, there is no age limit on the body’s adaptability either. With a few minor differences, a ninety year-old woman will adapt to exercise in very similar ways as a nineteen year-old woman.
Most importantly, you have to understand where you are starting from. While you may have lofty goals of running a marathon, or increasing your bone density, you have to respect your body as it is now. If you have been mostly sedentary for the past few months, you are more or less a beginner in terms of your physical state, regardless of what your exercise or sport history may have been in years past. Just because you were a cross-country medallist in high school doesn’t mean you can just go for a 20K run on a whim in your forties. The best rule of thumb is to start where you are and consistently add volume (distance, weight, etc.) and intensity (speed, modification of rest periods, etc.) to increase your body’s, and specifically your bones’, adaptation.
Another important consideration is that as you increase volume and intensity, you may increase your risk for injury. However, the increased risk of injury may be very small, while the return on the added progression may be large. In some studies, physical activity actually reduces the risk of falls, so you may actually be safer working out than not. Always respect your daily abilities and err on the side of going a little easier versus going too hard. Recovery is just as important (more so in some cases) as the workout you are doing, so allow your body to adapt and be ready for the next workout.
Strength Training: Lifting just about anything heavy seems to be the overall winner in terms of your best option to increase bone density. The benefits of strength training are related to the fact that as you lift weights, the muscles pull on the bones to create movement and therefore stress the bones to get stronger. The more you lift (safely) the greater the stress, and the greater the adaptation. Also, strength training hits almost every part of the body, whereas walking and running result in mostly lower body adaptation.
Walking and Running: Typically the easiest physical activities to engage in, walking and running can be done almost anywhere and cost little compared to a gym membership. However, while walking is a great starting point for many, as it relates to bone density, running or walk/run combinations are measurably better because they increase the impact on the bones, thereby increasing the adaptation within the bones.
Aquafitness: Aquatic exercise has a lot of benefits, especially for those challenged by balance and injury. There is no doubt that improvements in fitness can be made in the water, but for most people it is not an efficient way to increase bone density compared to land exercise because your weight is reduced .
Other activities: group fitness, indoor cycling, rock climbing, etc. are all great physical activities, but you have to consider which ones force you to bear your body weight and therefore contribute to bone density. If you are supported in any way (i.e. indoor cycling, elliptical machine, etc.) chances are there will be a minimal benefit for bone density, if any at all. Make sure your overall physical activity contributes.
Intensity and impact: While higher impact activities may incur slightly higher risks of injury, they are comparably much better for bone density than low-impact activities. The low-impact, low-intensity versions of exercises are good for maintaining bone density, but if you’ve lost any, or want to increase it early in life, higher-impact, higher-intensity is the way to go.
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