Reducing the effects of Osteoporosis through regular exercise and weight training.

Osteoporosis is a major cause of disability in older women. So what can you do to prevent the condition? Or if you have it, how can you reduce your risk of the spinal problems and broken bones that osteoporosis makes you susceptible to?

The answer: Exercise.

With regular exercise you are much less likely to suffer a break from a similar fall if you did not exercise. You are also less likely to fall, because your muscle mass and balance are enhanced through physical exercise, especially weight bearing exercise.

Walking may be the best all-around exercise, but as far as bone building goes, strength training is the best. The pull of muscle against bone stresses a bone, and that kind of stress is what makes a bone become stronger. As muscles are pulled directly against the bone, with gravity working against it, calcium is driven back into the bones. It also stimulates the manufacture of new bone. This adds up to a decrease in the effects of osteoporosis by 50—80 percent. Strength training with free weights or weight machines is the most direct way to provide that stress and impact of muscle on bone, which is what makes it ideal for building and preserving bone density. (The Bone Density Program George Kessler)

In a recent study on bone density and exercise, older women who did high-intensity weight training two days per week for a year were able to increase their bone density by 1.0 percent, while a control group of women who did not exercise had a bone density decrease of 1.8 to 2.5 percent. The women who exercised also had improved muscle strength and better balance, while both decreased in the non exercising control group.
(Prescription Alternatives by Earl Mindell RPh PhD and Virginia Hopkins MA, page 20)

Training with Paul will ensure the client employs correct techniques to carry out a safe and effective program. When the client is efficient in exercises they will be given a program to carry out these exercises on a regular basis. Establishing a balanced exercise and nutrition plan will ensure maximum benefits to bone density as well as all other health related benefits that come with improved fitness and body shape.