Maintaining bone density into older age

[Nooa]

How much strength training do I need to do? I want to maintain a reasonable level of bone density into old age, as osteoporosis runs in the family. I'm coming up to 40 and not likely to start menopause for at least 10 years (based on mother and aunties), but I want to get into a lifelong routine now while I still find it easy.

I currently do 2x 20min HIIT sessions per week - lunges, squats etc using bodyweight only. Also I cycle 10km twice a week on a hilly route. Do loads of walking up hilly terrain (which I know is not strength but just to say i have CV exercise covered).

Is that enough if I continue it? Or do I need to add weights, or do more frequent sessions? I'm after the bare minimum required to avoid snapping bones when I slip on ice 😁

Listen to Stacey Sims. Doesn’t sound like you are doing any strength training right now. But can do weight training at home, eg push ups, pull ups (I use bands for assistance). But yes I can now squat with 80kg on my back so clearly can’t do that at home.

Bodyweight can be a great place to start but has its limits - it's harder to challenge your lower body enough with bodyweight alone but for most people starting out bodyweight is too much for the upper body. Resistance bands take up little room and can be a good place to start. Household items can also help - tins of food or bottles of water make good light weights or a rucksack full of books can add challenge to your squats. Brick House Bones has some good videos on YouTube with light equipment.

Low rep high weight is very effective but it's easy to overdo it and get injured so build up form carefully first.

Important principles are to be consistent with whatever you choose (something you enjoy is more likely to stick) and spread out doses through the week (and ideally day) for maximum impact on bone growth - I am a huge fan of exercise snacking as it becomes part of your routine.

someone was asking earlier in the thread if it’s too late to start - I saw this on instagram this morning :)

www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/deadlifting-in-your-nineties-in-strong-grandma

That’s interesting, I’d have assumed it’d be bad for it, how does it work?

Husband had this, a tumour on his parathyroid gland. He was tired all the time but put it down to shift work. He’s now sent for regular bone scans.

his was found through a regular well man blood test.

Read through with interest.

the podcast I’m about 20 mins in but I have to say I’m finding the orthopedic surgeon very annoying and I’m not trusting anything she says for some reason.

intersting comments about progressive weights…. But where to stop? Because surely you have to stop somewhere right you can’t continue to add weights. I’ve been doing a weekly body pump class fairly sporadically for about 3 months. I genuinely can’t do it with more weight. I tried this morning but it just felt like I was going to do myself an injury so had to stop. But perhaps for some of the tracks I’m not pushing myself enough.

@UnaOfStormhold love the phrase ‘exercise snacking’ never heard of that before! Maybe I need to start this.

and I do at least 10k steps a day so maybe a weighted vest is the way forward. What weight do you start with?

Did he have an operation to remove it? Quite unusual for men to have this! I’m on a help group with 4,400 members and only a handful of them are men.

Bodypump is relatively low weight and high reps. When I did it I found it very hard to add any significant weight - even consistently going twice a week or sometimes more.

When you're lifting weights in the gym it's a lot easier because you can take proper breaks between sets and you're only really aiming to do a few reps at a heavier weight.

At body pump I could only squat around 20kg because you end up doing 100s of fast reps but I can do 60kg in the gym where I'm aiming for 10 reps at most and a one minute break at least between them.

Ooh he’s special! Yep, he did. Looked like frankinsteins monster with the metal clips in his throat.

i think it was quite severe though, he had a blood test on the Monday, on the Tuesday the gp rang and told him to get himself to a and e as soon as. He was in a drip for a couple of days, came out had another routine blood test, hospital fairly immediately on the phone saying please come in, no need for a and e this time come straight to the ward, back on a drip. We are lucky enough to have bupa so he got operated on very quickly.

@Togglebullets thanks. That totally makes sense and reinforces my thought of not going too big and risk injuring myself.

I like body pump because it’s an in person class makes me do it - although the gym seem to cancel it fairly frequently.

exercise snacking is the way to go! Just need to motivate myself

interesting comments about progressive weights…. But where to stop? Because surely you have to stop somewhere right you can’t continue to add weights.

I've always wondered this.

I presume you get to a weight that you cannot go past and continue with it to maintain muscle.

You just keep adding - the increments may be smaller or you may find you’re doing fewer reps at a higher weight until you build the strength. Plus each move and muscle group is different. I can progress pretty quickly with legs and back weights if I’m consistent in the gym but will be stuck at the same weight for lateral raises for my entire life, it feels like!

Something not mentioned but worth considering is your alignment. If you're doing all the right things but misaligned then you aren't loading your bones the way you think you are.
Katy Bowman is really good on this
https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/articles/weight-bearing-status

Coming back to this thread since I’m now reading Strong Women Stay Young. It’s really interesting on how muscles work & so on, and especially the part about how the reps should feel, which made me rethink what I’m currently doing.

But I am slightly amused by the author’s repeating several times that the exercises will make women stronger but smaller, toning them instead of giving them big muscles, which would obviously be unfeminine.

@EmpressaurusKitty you have inspired me! I bought it and it arrived weeks ago but I still haven't opened it 😆 I will start this week. Glad you're enjoying it.

The word toning is rubbish. You build muscle and maintain muscle That is what matters .
progressive overloading isn’t simply about doing heavier because, as you say, at some point you can’t go heavier any more. The volume, ROM, tempo all add to progressive overload.

I use adjustable dumbells too, highly recommend Caroline Girvan as well for strength training.

OP honestly at 40 I would work on lifting as much as you can, you aren’t going to get super built.

1. Hrt
2. caroline Girvan for strength training

Or you just become a powerlifter and make continuing to lift more your entire life 😅

There’s research shows masters lifters (so those over 40) continue to get stronger into their 60s.

Most people will never ever reach anywhere near their full strength potential, so yes you can just keep going adding more weight.

Okay I have now read the book! I like some of the science (although I'm sure there are more up to date sources) and the programme looks pretty good to start with anyway. Unfortunately it's going to have to wait nine months now 🤣 🍼 I'll stick with my bodyweight workouts until I've recovered from squeezing the next (and definitely last) child out.

Is there a vibro machine at your local gym? I've been doing my lunges and side raises on the machine at the local leisure centre. (Osteoporosis runs in my family - Mum was bent double by the time she died.)

Ha! Congratulations @Nooa! Happy healthy 9 months 💐

Ha! Crossposted with the OP! No vibro for you at the moment!

😆 definitely not!