Strength training builds more than muscles

Most of us know that strength training - with free weights, weight machines, or resistance bands - builds and maintains muscle. What fewer people know is that strong muscles lead to strong bones, and strong bones help minimize the risk of fracture from osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis should concern us all. An estimated eight million women and two million men in the United States have it. It now causes more than two million fractures a year, and experts expect that number to climb. Hip fractures are usually the most serious: six out of 10 people who break a hip never fully regain their former independence. Even walking across a room unassisted may become impossible.

Age-related changes, inactivity, and inadequate nutrition together gradually steal bone mass, at about 1% per year after age 40. As bones grow more fragile, they can break after even a minor fall or a far less obvious stress, like bending over to tie a shoelace.

The good news: research shows strength training can slow bone loss and even build bone, a powerful offset to age-related decline. Activities that stress bones nudge bone-forming cells into action. That stress comes from the tugging and pushing on bone during strength training, as well as weight-bearing aerobic exercise like walking or running. The result is stronger, denser bones.

Strength training in particular offers bone benefits beyond aerobic weight-bearing exercise. It targets the hips, spine, and wrists, the sites most likely to fracture. Resistance workouts, especially those emphasizing power and balance, also build strength and stability, which boosts confidence, keeps you active, and cuts fractures another way: fewer falls.