We keep saying it here at Concentric Fit, but the body very much follows the motto of “use it or lose it!” Wait until you see how this applies to our bones!

Bone adapts itself to whatever stress is put upon it. Some astronauts found that they lost up to 20% of their bone density after spending a period of time in zero gravity environments. Without the stress of gravity on the bones, they lost that density as it was no longer needed in zero gravity. Use it or lose it! We often only think of muscle as adapting but our bones are extremely adaptable as well and are constantly turning over bone tissue! Consistent exercise and physical activity play a huge role in increasing bone density and strength.

There are two types of bone tissue: compact bone and spongy bone. Compact bone is that thick and tough outer wall of bone which can be very thick. The inner spongy bone is inside the compact bone walls made of little beams or “webs” of bone tissue. The shape and orientation of the spongy bone adapts to the day-to-day stress put upon your body. The more resistance training you do, the more your spongy bone orients itself to successfully handle that stress.

Having both push and pull exercises are important in your consistent resistance training program, not just for aesthetics or muscular symmetry, but for the dynamic architecture of your spongy bone. Luckily, most exercises with a moderate level of intensity will stimulate the bones with both compressive (pushing) and tensile (pulling) forces. If the weight during an exercise is too light, you’re probably not stimulating the muscles enough to affect bone density.

At Concentric Fit, we often ask our members and clients during training if a weight is too light or too heavy. It is a subjective but helpful meter to track the difficulty of a workout. We use a 1-10 scale, 1 being “I could lift this weight all day” and 10 being “I couldn’t do another rep or another pound.” Using this scale, aiming for a 7 or 8 on your main lifts with proper form and safety is probably ideal for most people most days. This is likely enough stimulus to get the bone density benefits if you are being honest with your scale.

Opening up your understanding and perspective of exercise as an extremely potent method to increase your health, vitality and quality of life for your whole life is so important. To approach exercise with a negative, punishing, or resistant attitude only limits your own potential health and personal enjoyment of the things you like doing. Our bodies are designed to enjoy and benefit from physical movement. You will be rewarded inside and out for including fun physical activity into your weekly routine now and into your golden years.

Need help putting together a balanced, functional, and totally cool workout routine so you can enjoy your life? Sign up early for our self-guided online training program with workouts sent right to your inbox. You’ll follow what we do in the gym with out in-studio members. It’s awesome. Email us for more info.