Weight Bearing Exercises for Bones

Weight-bearing exercise strengthens bones and prevents osteoporosis. Exercise to benefit bones must be weight bearing or strength training, but many common activities also qualify. Walking, jogging and tennis all require you to bear your body weight. Swimming, however, does not qualify because it relieves you of your weight burden.

Targeted Exercise

• Exercise to increase bone mass must target the bone specifically. The bone that is stressed is the one that will respond. For this reason you should target specific areas of need and use variety in your routine.

How it Works

• Weight stimulates bone formation in response to the stress. Bone is living tissue and responds to demands placed upon it by producing new bone cells. The greater the demand on the bone, the more bone cells it produces. Increasing the number of bone cells in the bone makes the bone stronger. Bone cells are constantly being made and destroyed. Bones weaken when we lack adequate minerals to produce quality new cells or when the bones are not stimulated to produce new cells. The old cells continue to become depleted of minerals and then are destroyed by the body. This continues throughout life. If they are not replaced by healthy new cells, bones weaken.

Impact exercises

• Weight-bearing exercise for bones can be done by people of all ages. You should do weight-bearing exercise at least three times a week and ideally every day. Vary the exercises so that you do something different each day. Weight bearing exercises can be categorized as: impact, resistance/strength training and balance/functional exercises.

  Impact exercises such as walking, running and tennis use gravity to bear weight on the whole body and do not target specific bones. High-impact exercises such as running, rope jumping and tennis can be hard on the joints. Low-impact exercises such as elliptical and step machines and walking are gentler. Impact exercises can be done a total of 30 minutes each day. You can do one exercise or smaller amounts of different ones in the same day to add up to 30 minutes.

Resistance or Strength Training

• Resistance or strength training targets weight to specific bones and the muscles attached to them. These are very effective and spot specific weight-bearing exercises. Resistance bands, free weights and weight machines are used to work these target areas. You do not have to do heavy weights, but the more repetitions you do, the more you stimulate the bones. Do resistance exercises 30 minutes daily to improve bone density. Remember to vary the routine and work different parts of the body each day.

Balance or Fucntional Exercises

• Balance or functional exercises include activities such as yoga, tai chi and Pilates. These exercises improve balance, posture and the way you move. They tone muscles and have some weight-bearing influence on bones through gravity. Through their beneficial effect on balance and movement they can help prevent falls and injuries and improve posture.

Additional Support

• Mineral supplements with calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, boron and silica are important for building bones and keeping them strong. Our bodies pull vital minerals from the bones when we need it, and many things in daily life deplete our bones' minerals. This is especially true of women. In addition to a healthy diet with lots of leafy green vegetables, good natural supplements, along with exercise can go a long way toward good health and strong bones.