Weight Bearing Exercises

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

18 Jun 2006 02:00 PM

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is suing the producers of the advertisements asking Got Milk? because they believe the campaign is exaggerating the importance of calcium in the health of bones. Well, we've always known that milk is an important source of calcium and that drinking milk provides the body with a source for their daily calcium.

Building Healthy Bones

Now, don't shoot the messenger but there is a great deal more to building healthy bones than drinking your daily glass of milk! If you were thinking that she's going to ramble at us about more exercise and healthy diet - well - then you are right.

Think about what you need to do to recover from an injury. You workout, exercise and rebuild the strength in the muscles and the bone. After a broken bone, it's an important as part of any physical therapy to exercise. Regular exercise is important to the density of our bones because of weight bearing exercises will help build stamina in the muscles, ligaments and tendons - that support the bones as well as increasing strength in the bones themselves.

If you're worried about what is meant by weight bearing or resistance exercise consider:

• Walking
• Jogging
• Climbing Stairs
• Tennis
• Golf
• Dancing

These are all great ways to stimulate bone formation, strengthen the muscles and improve balance and coordination, which can help prevent accidents and injuries. One great way to get a resistance exercise is to go to a water park and walk in the lazy rivers against the current. It's not hard, but the actual work to walk against a current increases the level of resistance. The same can be said for walking on sand.

Site Specific

It's important to note when you are exercising specifically to help out your bones, you can only strengthen the areas of bone directly involved in the exercises. So leg exercises are going to build up your leg bones. Upper body exercises will strengthen upper body bones. It's important to use a variety of bone-building exercises rather than just a few and to do them regularly in order to maintain your overall bone health.

While calcium is not the only ingredient in bone health, it is still an important one. So be sure to continue getting your essential, daily allotment of calcium and vitamin D. The great thing about this, is that exercise is good for the heart, it's good for the digestion, it's good for stress and it's good for bones.

When we talk about fitness - we're really talking about a way of life that is so overall good for you, it's hard to believe that we don't exercise more. Age is not a factor, whether you are 6 or 60, getting started on a daily exercise program can improve your quality of life right now and whether you are looking to lose weight, build a healthier heart, manage a health condition or just feel better about yourself - the answer you are looking for is daily exercise.

Why do you exercise?

Related Articles:

Osteoporosis & Weight Loss

Exercise & Heart Disease

Dieting & Arthritis

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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