Strength training can save your life and it does it by strengthening your bones. If you are sixty-five or older the chance of suffering a hip fracture and dying as a result can be as high as sixty percent.1 Those chances can be reduced by using weights to strengthen your skeleton.
What Counts As Strength Training?
The type of strength training we’re interested in here is medium to high load resistance training. We’re talking lifting weights as opposed to aerobic or body weight exercises. There is ample evidence that medium to high loads has a positive effect on bone density. Low load activities like swimming, walking, or running do not appear to be as effective as of this moment.2
There is only one study – that this author could find – that conducted bone mineral density experiments using light resistance training. This was centered around a group fitness class. The results showed only a stopping of bone denisty loss and only in the lower spine. The training did not show improvements in other key areas like the hips.
How Should I Choose
It seems that to actually strengthen the skeleton you’ve got to move some weight. For many that can be a little scary, and not for nothing. You do need to be careful, especially if you are starting out for the first time. One of the best things you can do is seek professional guidance. A personal trainer can help you or, if that’s not an option, a physical therapist.
If you are a little more experienced and you just want a better idea of how to choose a weight there are plenty of RM calculators on the web. One of the best is at EXRX.net. This will not only calculate percentages, but also give you rep ranges. For instance, at sixty to sixty-five percent of your 1 RM you should perform fifteen reps.
Don’t Avoid The Weights
The bottom line is that strengthening your bones is an important goal, especially the older you get. Weight lifting plays an important role that can’t be replaced with other forms of exercise. So if you have been avoiding the area with the weights at your gym, give it another try. It might just add years to your life!
Contributed by Antoine Simmons