Build Stonger Bones With Weight Training

Why is weightlifting important for all ages? Aside from improving overall health and strength, weightlifting can improve bone density and help prevent osteoporosis as we age. In an article posted by the Harvard Medical School, "Osteoporosis should be a concern for all of us. An estimated eight million women and two million men in the United States have osteoporosis. It is now responsible for more than two million fractures each year, and experts expect that number will rise. Hip fractures are usually the most serious. Six out of 10 people who break a hip never fully regain their former level of independence. Even walking across a room without help may become impossible.". So, how does weightlifting increase our bone density? To put it simply; as we train with weights our body is stressed, our body responds to this stress by increasing the strength of the structures to meet the demands placed on them. This increased stress on the muscle causes the body to increase the size of individual muscle fibers, which increases the bulk of the muscle. When our muscles increase in size, we are able to generate more force through them. This in turn causes increased stress on the tendons that attach the muscle to bone, and as a result the stress on the bony attachment for that tendon. As previously stated, our body will respond to stress by strengthening the bodies structures. The force generated by the muscle and tendon on the bone cause the body to lay down more bone matter increasing the thickness of the bone itself at the attachment site. It is in this way that we can improve the quality of bone in our skeletons as we age and help prevent the development of osteoporosis.