Older men and women should exercise to protect their bones

• Maintaining good bone density is very important at any age, but it is especially important after age 50.
• The good news is you can maintain---and even improve---bone density with impact loading exercise for your hips, spine and arms.
• Impact loading exercise simply means any exercise that requires you to support your own body weight, including walking, aerobics or weightlifting.
• This type of exercise will cause a stress on the bone that leads to remodeling and a maintenance or improvement of density.
• In addition, certain types of exercise can improve your balance and make falling, and thus fractures, a little less likely.
• Impact Loading Exercise for your Hips and Spine There are many forms of aerobic exercise that place weight on your hips and spine, the most convenient being walking, either outdoors or using a treadmill.
• Other forms of impact loading aerobic exercise are aerobics classes (including step and Tae Bo), hiking, rollerblading, cross country skiing and snowshoeing.
• A complete upper body weight lifting routine, including biceps curls, rows and triceps extensions, will load your arms.
• If you are not currently doing a regular upper body routine, complete the Truestar Exercise profile now to receive a personalized exercise program.
• 1. The standing squat with a biceps curl: Choose a weight that allows you to complete 15 repetitions.
• Stand upright and lower the weights from shoulder height while at the same time doing a partial squat.
• 2. Standing squat with an arm assist: You can either use a dip machine at your health club, or you can make your own dip machine using two chairs of equal height.
• 3. Wall or knee push-ups: You can do a push-up while standing near a wall.
• The farther your feet are from the wall, the more you can load your arms with this push-up.