An oft-forgotten benefit of exercise is its effects on bone health. As adults get older, bones become more brittle and develop pores. While women are more likely to develop osteoporosis, this condition is also common in men, as is osteoarthritis.
Interestingly, the worst thing you can do when you develop osteoarthritis or osteoporosis is to become less active. An abundance of research has demonstrated that resistance training is effective for both delaying the effects of osteoporosis and osteoporosis, as well as alleviating and reducing the effects of current bone conditions.
According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the best way to exercise for bone health is to perform persistent resistance training exercises. Here are a few tips on how to keep your bones healthier later into your life:
1. Weight-Bearing Exercises Reign Supreme
Like muscles, bones adapt to increases in load and intensity of exercise. When an increased load is placed on the bone, it adapts by becoming stronger and denser so that it can handle future loads of that degree. To force the bone to adapt in the most efficient manner, exercises that bear the entire weight of the body are best. Choose to job instead of cycle, or to do pushups versus using the incline press.
2. Free Weights are Better Than Machines
As a rule, free weights are superior to exercise machines because they force the bones to bear more body weight. You can imagine that performing an overhead press with a bar places a much greater load on the axial skeleton than performing the same exercise on a machine. Free weights have the added effect of targeting the smaller, stabilizer muscles within a given exercise, which can prevent stress on the joints and osteoarthritic conditions later on. Of course, if you suffer from severe osteoarthritis, machines may help you perform certain exercises through controlled ranges of motions without stressing the joints too much. Talk with your physical therapist about what exercises you are capable of performing.
3. Progressively Overload Your Bones
Also similar to muscles, they become stagnant when they are not sufficiently stimulated. Your bones will stop adapting if you stop exercising. Progressively increase the load of your exercises by about 10 percent each week to keep your bones healthy and strong. You will also need to allow for sufficient rest between exercise sessions, and to take a week of exercise off from time to time to allow your body to recover.
4. Calcium and Vitamin D
You’ve probably heard that calcium and vitamin D are crucial for maintaining bone health. It remains true that these micronutrients play the most direct role in preventing bone pores later in life. Calcium helps form the structure of bones and the body uses vitamin D to metabolize and absorb calcium. The best sources of calcium are milk and dairy products, as well as green leafy vegetables. You can get nearly all the vitamin D you need from sun exposure, but vitamin D also exists in fish and eggs.
