Wait, strength training can help my bones? How does that work??

When it comes to strength training and its benefits, most people think about things like building muscle, losing weight, and improving their heart health. What many people don’t know is that strength training can actually improve your bone health. How does that work?? Great question! I’m here to explain it to you.

Like everything else in our body, our bones adapt to meet our needs. This can be described as a dose-response relationship. What this means is that your bone composition will change (and sometimes grow!) to be able to withstand the amount of force being placed upon your bones on a regular basis. Thanks to evolution though, our body also wants to use the minimal amount of energy possible to sustain itself (think back to the hunter-gatherer days when one meal may have had to sustain the body for 3-4 days at a time).

With this being said, as we age, bone density naturally begins to decrease. For people who are aging and only placing a load of their own body weight on their bones, this often isn’t enough to prevent that natural decrease in bone density. What can prevent this natural decrease is – you guessed it – strength training! A ton of research studies all over the world have shown that strength training can help to maintain bone density as we age, and sometimes even increase it.

We even have clients at our locations here in Pittsburgh who have had bone scans (for other medical reasons) and can confirm these results!

What if I have osteoporosis or osteopenia? This is a common hesitation for many clients, but research shows that strength training is one of the BEST things you can do to prevent further bone loss (or even increase your bone density) if you have either of these conditions. Of course, we want to avoid putting stress on any pre-existing fractures and gradually increase resistance, but with the help of your coach this is extremely doable!

Overall strength training is excellent for your bone health at all ages, but is especially important to continue with later in life!

More questions about this? Ask me next time you’re in or comment here and I’ll get back to you!