Increasing Bone Density & Reversing the Effects of Aging

[Bigun]

Increasing Bone Density & Reversing the Effects of Aging

Weight-bearing physical activity like walking, jogging, and strength training has a positive effect on bone mineral density by mechanically loading the skeleton.

Research studies support the idea that resistance exercise increases bone mineral density in both men and women of all ages. One of the ways of preventing debilitative diseases such as Osteoporosis is by making our bones as strong and as healthy as possible throughout life.

Bone mineral density peak is usually reached in late adolescence, so your teenage years are the best times to start a Resistance Exercise program to possibly delay osteoporosis. However, I would imagine that the majority of you ready this are no longer a teenager. Luckily for us, we are never too old to start RE with the aim of increasing bone mineralization.

Bones that are strong can handle more stress and are less likely to fracture, a common ailment in the elderly who find it easy to injure themselves. The National Osteoporosis Foundation's Physician's Guide to Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis (1998) recommends regular weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercise, both for osteoporosis prevention and overall health.

The guide states that not only can this type of exercise improve agility, strength, and balance (thus reducing the risk of falls), but it may also yield a modest increase in bone density. Resistance Exercise is therefore a valuable tool in the prevention of osteoporosis and fractures.

Fundamental to the increasing of BMD is the type of exercise used. Resistance Exercise has to be in the form of a weight bearing one, where your spine is ‘loaded’. This way your body has to counteract the effect of gravity something that is not as prevalent when lifting using weight-training machines.

Research on the benefits of Nautilus machines for bone mineral density suggests that women can obtain better results by lifting free weights. Other research has shown that after 20 weeks of training on Universal-type machines, women improved their muscular strength and defined their bodies, yet did not increase bone mineral density.

Therefore free weights where your body is mechanically ‘loaded’ should be used whenever possible. Also cardiovascular workouts can also help to increase BMD. Once again though your body must be ‘loaded’ so that walking, running, using a cross-trainer, doing an aerobics class actually puts a healthy stress load through the body, something that cycling, rowing and swimming do not, as your weight is being supported.

The effects of aging can also be delayed and/or reversed with RE. It is true that the heart is the most important muscle in the body and therefore how important it is to have excellent cardiovascular health. However, having the heart of a marathon runner doesn't do any good for an 80 year-old woman who cannot bend down to pick up her grocery bags off the floor.

When delivering Strength & Conditioning presentations I always ask the group, would you get an old lady deadlifting or squatting? The gasps of shock, shaking of the heads or laughter is enough to make me realise that many people (including me) have lots to learn. My response to them is that don’t the elderly ever bend down to pick up their dogs dinner bowl, their bag of shopping or go into cupboards that are down low? They soon see my point.

If you have ever seen elderly people live their daily lives, you know how their weakness handicaps them. As we age, we lose muscle fibres and bone density. By regularly performing RE when we are younger and maintain that training philosophy throughout our lives, we may hopefully never experience those effects of aging.

Numerous research studies have proven that resistance training in the elderly is safe and increases muscular size and strength. Resistance exercise in the elderly population improves function, which can lead to more independent living. The high level of disability and falls in the elderly may be due to their low muscular strength. I think its common sense to start early in your training, before the negative effects are experienced. We are therefore proactive in slowing down the aging process instead of being reactive and starting RE too late

Because training with weights increases muscular size, muscular strength, and bone density, anyone who weight trains can experience all of these benefits. Being stronger, with larger muscles, delays some of the natural aging processes like muscle loss, bone loss, decreased metabolic rate, and decreased energy and activity levels.