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How can Exercise help prevent Osteoporosis?

Recent studies have shown that the risk of osteoporosis is lower for people who are active, and especially those who do load bearing , or weight resistance activities at least three times a week.

How can exercise prevent osteoporosis? Muscle pulling on bone builds bone, so weight-bearing exercise builds denser, stronger bones. Exercise can help you maintain bone density in the later years of life.

The best exercises for building bone are weight resistance exercises. These include weight lifting, jogging and other activities that require your muscles to work against gravity. Simply walking although good for cardiovascular fitness, is not good for building bones. Thirty minutes of weight resistance exercises 3 times a week benefit not only your bones, but improves heart health, muscle strength, coordination, and balance.

If you already have osteoporosis it is important to learn what type of exercises you can safely perform to preserve bone and to strengthen your back and hips.

Men and Osteoporosis!

People often think that osteoporosis only happens to women, but that is not true. This disease also strikes men and can be a major health problem for them. In fact, I in every 8 men over age 50 will suffer bone fractures from osteoporosis. The likelihood of a hip fracture increase with age because the elderly tend to fall more often.

Men can experience significant bone loss as they age, and this can lead to osteoporosis. There are several reasons that men lose bone as they age: declining hormones, decreased physical activity, and eating less calcium may cause bone loss.

Osteoporosis is less common in men than women because men have larger skeletons, normal bone loss starts later in life with slower progress, and they don’t have rapid bone loss that women may experience during menopause. But despite these differences, men can be at high risk for this disease.

Teens and Bone Health

Nearly 9 out of 10 teens don’t get enough calcium in their daily diets. Bones are made up of mostly calcium, so lots of calcium is needed for fast growing teenage bones.

If teens don’t get enough calcium during the growing years, they are at risk for severe health problems, such as increased susceptibility to fractures, or osteoporosis later in life..

With childhood obesity on the rise, which contributes to high blood pressure and high cholesterol it is important for teens to participate in regular exercise weight resistance and consume a balanced diet.

Weight resistance exercise will build healthy bones and great bodies!..

Angles, Positions, & Variations

A Closer Look at Strength Training

As a Fitness Professional I am aware of the endless list of exercises and variations utilized to improve strength and endurance in muscles. Some exercises however can vary from ineffective to dangerous!

All exercises are not created equal hence EXERCISE SELECTION is of utmost importance. An exercise can be both good and bad depending on who is doing it and how!. What is the participant’s profile? What is the goal?

A thorough understanding of how muscles work and muscle origin which is attached to the non moving (stable bone) and insertion of a muscle on the ( non-stable ) bone as well as understanding how muscle fibers run, an exercise will be safest and most efficient if it works the muscle in the direction of its fibers, or its natural line of pull..

There are exercises that push, and exercises that pull with different angles, grips and body positions. Muscle tissue is flexible, elastic and capable of movement. In weight resistance training the more “ pre-stretch” is performed will allow the lifter to produce more force to move greater weights, which increases muscle strength and size. An example of the “pre-stretch” – Imagine you have a rubber band and you want to shoot it across a room to hit some object. What will you do to the rubber band to give it the most power and trajectory? You will hold the forward end of the rubber band and pull back on the back end; the further you pull, the more power that band has to fly across the room. Your muscle operates in the same way. Like that rubber band, the more you stretch them, the more power they are able to produce. Wisely used this dramatically increases the results you get from this exercise and all others.

In addition every time you change how you grip a machine changes where the emphasis is placed on a muscle. A good example of this is the Lat Pull down which based on grip chosen will decide the effectiveness of the exercise on the intended muscle the latissimus dorsi (upper back) and/or the elbow flexors (bicep brachii, brachioradialis, brachialis). Also body position is of utmost importance with this and every exercise… when performing the lat pulldown one should lean back slightly from the hips, generally about 20-30 degrees from vertical. This position allows for a more optimal line of pull and a more effective pre-stretch for the latissimus dorsi (back). If one leans back too far (more than 30 degrees from vertical) the emphasis is taken away from the lats and shifted to the deltoids (shoulder) . This consideration is true with every exercise.

As a Health Fitness Instructor, safety and efficiency are my primary concerns. My client's programs are individualized, safe, time efficient and effective workouts. Each client is evaluated in order to select the appropriate and most effective exercises.

Seven Simple Tips For Burning More Calories

Make exercise a fun habit...not a chore.

Drink plenty of water throughout the day.

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables every day.

Incorporate strength training into your workout regimen.

Instead of driving everywhere, try walking or riding a bike.

Eat multiple meals throughout the day...at least 4-6.

Exercise while watching TV. Do crunches, push- ups, squats, lunges, etc. during every commercial break.