We all know the benefits of regular workouts at the gym — they improve muscle strength, build endurance, reduce the risk of serious diseases, and prevent obesity.

What most of us don’t know is that regular gym exercise builds and maintains our bones, too. Many of us are also not aware that failing to exercise causes the loss of bone mass.

Once we become adults, we can expect to slowly lose bone and muscle mass with every passing year. Thankfully, regular workouts at the gym can help us maintain bone and muscle strength. In this blog, we’ll discuss why we lose bone and muscle as we age and the workouts you can try at our gym in Thornton, Colorado, to keep your bones and muscles stronger.

How Bones and Muscles Weaken in Adulthood

Aging, genetics, and a sedentary lifestyle can all contribute to bone and muscle loss over the years. Certain diseases and medications can play a role, too.

When these factors cause the bones to become very weak and fragile, it’s a condition called osteoporosis.

When we lose muscle mass as we age, it’s called sarcopenia.

Unfortunately, osteoporosis and sarcopenia can merge into a dangerous combination that leads to serious injuries.

Osteoporosis

With osteoporosis, bones become weak and brittle – so brittle that even minor falls, coughing, or bending over can cause a fracture. Fractures related to osteoporosis most often occur in the spine, wrist, or hip.

Throughout our lives, our bones are in a constant state of renewal. New bone is created, and old bone is broken down. In our youth, our bodies make new bone faster than old bone is broken down, so our bone mass increases. After our early 20s this process slows. Most of us reach peak bone mass by the age of 30. (Peak bone mass can vary from person to person due to genetics.) Then, as we get older, the creation of new bone doesn’t keep up with the loss of old bone. This gradual decline can lead to osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis affects women and men of all backgrounds. Those at highest risk are white and Asian women who are past menopause. How likely you are to develop osteoporosis partly depends on how much bone mass you built in your youth. Those who have more bone in their 20s are less likely to develop osteoporosis as they age.

Sarcopenia

From the moment you’re born until the time you turn about 30, your muscles grow larger and stronger. Then, at some point in your 30s, you’ll start to lose muscle mass. This condition is called age-related sarcopenia.

After the age of 30, people who don’t exercise can lose as much as 3%-5% of their muscle mass every decade. Even if you remain active, you’ll still experience some muscle loss.

As you reach your senior years, sarcopenia develops faster. It may speed up as early as 65 or as late as 80 years old. Sarcopenia most commonly accelerates around the age of 75.

Sarcopenia is seen mostly in people who are sedentary and don’t exercise, but it also occurs in people who stay physically active. That suggests there are other factors involved in its development. Experts believe some of those factors include a reduction in nerve cells that send signals from the brain to muscles, lower concentrations of certain hormones (like testosterone and growth hormones), a decrease in the ability to turn protein into energy, and not getting enough protein or calories per day to maintain muscle mass.

Bone and Muscle Loss Go Hand in Hand

People who develop sarcopenia and osteoporosis are considered frail. The loss of muscle makes them more likely to fall, and when they do fall, they’re more likely to break a bone.

That’s why it’s important to maintain both bone and muscle mass no matter what your age is.

Preventing Bone and Muscle Loss at the Gym

Regular exercise is one of the best ways to slow or prevent weakening of the bones, muscles, and joints. Even a moderate exercise program at the gym can help you maintain bone strength, muscle strength, balance, and flexibility.

While any exercise is better than none, let’s take a look at the best exercises to maintain bone and muscle mass as we age.

The Benefits of Weight-Bearing and Resistance Exercises at the Gym

It turns out, the exercises that are best for your bones are great for your muscles, too!

Weight-bearing exercises and resistance exercises are ideal for building bone mass and strength.

Weight-bearing exercises force your body to work against gravity while staying upright. When your feet and legs carry your bodyweight, it places more stress on your bones. This forces your bones to work harder and encourages your body to build more bone.
Resistance exercises like lifting weights strengthen and build muscle. By forcing your muscles to work harder, your body will respond by making your muscles bigger and stronger over time. While resistance exercises focus on increasing muscle mass, they also put stress on your bones and can help build them, too.

What Are the Best Weight-Bearing and Resistance Exercises at the Gym?

According to an evidence-based review by Public Health England and the Centre for Ageing Better, activities that have the most benefit for muscle and bone strengthening are listed below.

Nordic walking

Nordic walking is a type of exercise that combines walking with the use of specially designed poles that you hold in your hands. Similar to skiing, the poles help to propel your body forward and engage your arms, shoulders, and upper back muscles. This type of walking strengthens your entire body and increases the intensity of the workout. It also increases your heart rate and burns more calories than regular walking. Nordic walking is often done outdoors on trails, parks, or sidewalks and can be a great way to get outside and get some exercise.

It can take a little time and practice to master Nordic walking, but the good news is, AFAC gym owner Susan Schaffner is a Certified American Nordic Walking Association Personal Instructor. If you’d like to learn more about Nordic walking, make sure to attend Susan’s regular Nordic walking classes at AFAC gym! She’ll show you all the ins-and-outs of Nordic walking and then you can join the group for this fun and effective exercise. Check out our class schedule page or MINDBODY for more information and to sign up.

Racket sports

Racket sports like tennis, badminton, ping-pong, and pickleball also provide excellent bone-strengthening benefits.

At AFAC gym, we hold Pickleball games twice per week! Pickleball is a paddle sport that was created for all ages and skill levels. The game is a combination of tennis, badminton, and table tennis and is played on a badminton-sized court with a slightly modified tennis net.

If you’d like to learn how to play Pickleball and join our games at AFAC gym, go to our class schedule page or MINDBODY to see the days and times and sign up!

Dance

Dancing is not only a fun way to move your body to your favorite tunes. Boogying to the beat is also a weight-bearing activity that helps to increase bone density. Additionally, dancing can help to improve balance, coordination, and flexibility, all of which can help reduce the risk of falls and fractures.

If you love to dance, please join our Dance Fitness Classes at AFAC gym! You can see the days and times on our class schedule page or go to MINDBODY to sign up.

Ball games

Any type of ball games like basketball, soccer, exercise ball workouts, and volleyball are perfect examples of weight-bearing exercises that can strengthen your bones. While this is true at any age, a Danish study examined the bone and muscle health of 295 schoolchildren and looked at the effects of various types of activities at school. Over the course of a school year, the study found that bone density in the legs and body as a whole rose by 44%-46% in children who played ball games compared to those who didn’t. Their muscle strength also rose by 10%.

Resistance Training

Resistance training, also known as strength training, provides a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to bone and muscle building.

During strength-training workouts at the gym, resistance is added to your movements. This makes your muscles work harder and, over time, they’ll adapt by becoming stronger.

While strength training exercises focus on increasing muscle mass, they also put stress on your bones. That means strength training offers some bone-building capacity, as well.

Any type of strength training activities will help you maintain and build muscle mass. Some examples of strength training workouts to try at AFAC gym include:

Keep in mind that you don’t always need weights or other equipment to participate in strength training. As the name suggests, body weight exercises like planks, lunges, sit-ups, chin-ups, pullups, and step ups use your own body weight to add resistance to exercises and build muscle.

A general guideline is to strength train every major muscle group at least twice per week. The personal trainers at AFAC gym would be happy to show you all of our strength training options and help you design a program to meet your needs and fitness goals.

Build Bone, Muscle, and More at AFAC Gym

Show your bones and muscles some love by giving them regular workouts at the best gym in Thornton, Colorado — Adventure Fitness Athletic Club. Our gym has the equipment, classes, personal trainers, and support you need to keep your body fit and functioning at any age. Our team of personal trainers can assist you with tailoring a strength training and cardio program that will provide you with the results you’re hoping for.

If you’re not a member of AFAC gym but would like more information, please stop by and speak to our team. For more information and assistance, you can also contact our gym owner, Susan, at 720-849-0245 or susan@adventurefitness.club.