Strength Changes Everything

Join us for this replay from the archives to learn more about the benefits of strength training in a fun manner...   In the midst of preparing for the upcoming National Exercise Coach Conference, Brian and Amy play a game of trying to name as many benefits of strength as they possibly can without repeating themselves. As you would expect of something as important to your long-term health and performance as strength training, the ensuing list is ridiculously long and comprehensive. With the National Exercise Coach Conference approaching rapidly, Amy came up with a game to play on the podcast while Brian is busy getting preparations underway. The rules are simple: Take turns naming a specific benefit of strength training until someone gets stumped. The first batch of short and long-term benefits to strength training include: increased bone density, improved metabolism, decreased gastrointestinal transit time, decreased systemic inflammation, enhanced flexibility, improved cognition and brain function, increased level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, lower blood pressure, increased longevity, and decreased disease risk. Diseases that have a reduced risk are: Alzheimer’s and dementia, stroke, type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, and autoimmune diseases. Further benefits of strength training include: increased vertical jump, an easier time getting off the floor and going up the stairs, increased sarcomerogenesis, increased energy, mitochondrial biogenesis, decreased joint pain, improved body image and self-confidence, improved spinal ability, improved cardiovascular health and function, enhanced joint mobility, it helps facilitate and maintain fat loss, it reduces serum insulin levels and improves insulin sensitivity, improved postprandial blood sugar, anti-aging effects, improved circulation, improved muscle density, the release of healthy muscle derived hormones, destressing, a lower resting heart rate, greater endurance, improved mood, better sleep, increased HDL, reversing sarcopenia, overall improvements in general performance in all areas of life. This gigantic list of health benefits is the reason there is the quote: “If there was a pill that contained all the benefits of exercise it would be the most widely prescribed pill in the world.”   Link: exercisecoach.com     This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives to learn more about what is accepted versus what is truth...   In part 2 of this interview, Brian Cygan and Dr. James Fisher discuss the science of strength and why the accepted wisdom of exercise may actually be causing more harm than good. Learn how many exercises you really need during a session, why “cardio” exercises aren’t necessary if you use the right level of effort, and how to keep yourself from getting injured by reducing the range of motion while still getting the fitness results you desire. Beyond the minimum exercise dose, you can add as many exercises as you see fit. There is a balance though. If you add too many exercises it can start to impact the frequency of which you can train. As you increase the number of exercises in one workout, you lengthen the time it takes to recover, so there’s a tradeoff. Recent studies have shown that volume is more important than frequency as well. There is an inverse relationship between someone’s ability to work hard and the length of a workout. Eight exercises seems like the optimal number for clients to be able to give their whole effort for as many exercises as they can. The accepted wisdom regarding the strength and endurance continuum is that to build strength you need a heavy load and fewer reps, and for endurance you use a lighter load and more repetitions. Studies have shown that it doesn’t particularly matter. If your strength increases your endurance also increases. As long as you use a high degree of effort you will get the optimal results. 45 seconds of time under tension is usually enough time to achieve the majority of muscle fiber recruitment if you’re using a high level of effort. Some of this depends on the person and their preference because of the perceptual and comfort differences. Longer times under load are associated with higher degrees of discomfort and negative perceptual responses. Across a broad population, this is going to have a negative impact on motivation and compliance. In order to really optimize strength training, we need to start looking at the individual perceptual response and how that impacts the motivation to stick with a program and give a whole effort during exercise. A common mistake many trainers make is recommending older people use lighter weights and increasing the number of reps they do. This often results in the person feeling sore for days and with little motivation to return to the gym. Working with a moderate load to enhance strength and muscular endurance is better. Bone mineral density is a key variable, especially in females and older adults, and we know that it only improves with impact or heavier loads. With a light weight, we run the risk of not improving bone mineral density which can result in a higher risk of injury. A number of studies show that supervision enhances results and the better the supervision, the better the results. One of the key factors with proper supervision is that they promote and enforce good technique. This serves to keep the correct muscles under tension and prevent other muscles from getting injured. If someone is getting injured in the gym, something about the technique went wrong. Supervision can help you avoid those sorts of injuries. Research seems to indicate that we can actually limit the range of motions for many exercises and still see strength increases throughout the range. Injuries typically occur at the extremes of the range of motion of an exercise, so by eliminating those ranges, you reduce the risk of injury and you can still improve strength. With most exercises, it’s not an acute injury that causes problems, it’s the wear and tear over time that creates injuries. For an adult client, the extreme ranges of motion are not helpful, and they can get the fitness results they want with a safer range. If you’re not currently doing any exercise, the best thing you can do is strength training. By doing that you will see cardiovascular improvements at the same time. High intensity training has been shown to improve the cardio-respiratory system within a matter of weeks of starting resistance training. If someone is already a cardio athlete, adding strength training may not improve their performance drastically, but there still will be other health benefits. The idea that you need to do cardio to see cardiovascular benefits and strength training to improve strength is a bit outdated. Strength training with high levels of effort has been shown to stimulate both adaptations. Even cycling, when taken to the highest level of effort, can stimulate similar levels of adaptations to lifting weights. This is why modality doesn’t matter as much as the level of effort involved. Optimal results mean safe as possible, sustainable, with maximum results and minimum time required. This is why so many trainers have landed on strength training as the most effective option. As you get older, strength training becomes a weight loss method, a way to avoid getting injured or sick, and a lifestyle of longevity.   Link: exercisecoach.com     This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives to learn more about the science of strength and how it may affect your fitness plans and goals...   Brian Cygan and Dr. James Fisher break down the science of strength and discuss what the proper level of resistance during training is, the threshold for the effort that you need to achieve to see results, and why some exercises are best avoided if you want to see optimal fitness benefits. Fisher is an exercise scientist in the UK and was a personal trainer for a number of years before becoming a researcher. His area of research was mainly lower back pain and lower back strength and has recently been looking into the perceptual responses to resistance training. He advocates a framework of evidence-based resistance training. One of the first papers published was focused on guiding trainers and trainees on what the research supports and how to exercise the most effectively. In total, Dr. Fisher, in collaboration with researchers from around the world, has published over 100 papers. The part he enjoys the most is the fact that once one paper is published, the research always raises new questions to explore. There is a mountain of evidence that supports the health benefits of resistance training. Ultimately, all the benefits combine and stronger people have a reduced risk of all-cause mortality. In layman’s terms, the stronger you are, the harder you are to kill. The goal of most people with resistance exercise is to have a biological age that is lower than your chronological age. We want to live longer and be able to function as if we were much younger. Resistance training resets the biological clock, sometimes by decades. Studies on older males using resistance training showed they had similar cellular characteristics as men in their 20’s. The first thing you need to understand is that the key is the tension of the muscle doing the work, not just moving an external load. The evidence supports the finding that effort is key, which is where most people go wrong as they fear the hard work. Whole effort is one of the guiding principles of the Exercise Coach. The intensity of effort really matters to trigger the results we are looking for from exercise. There is also a threshold of a near maximal effort to trigger a response from the body. If people are working at a lower intensity, the volume becomes a key factor. If we train to a higher level of effort, the volume becomes unnecessary. For the average person, optimal results can be achieved with two 30 minute-or-less workouts per week. For bodybuilders, there are some questions around doing more training in order to maximize muscle growth, but for most people, they want the functionality of strength and not an increase in size. To get a whole body benefit, the minimum dose of training performed is only three exercises: an upper body pressing exercise (bench press), an upper body pulling exercise (seated row), and a lower body pressing exercise (leg press). Those can be complemented with additional multi-joint movements for other areas of the body that need work. Even under lockdown, people can see positive benefits from doing simple exercises like pushups and lunges. Squats are a unique exercise because it has a high degree of coordination and skill. You can become “stronger” at the squat without really seeing results in other areas because you are just becoming better at moving the weight up and down. This is why the leg press is a more beneficial lower body pressing exercise.   Link: exercisecoach.com     This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about why supervision is key to effective workouts...   When it comes to fitness results, the key to rapid, positive changes is having a coach who  can give you the accountability and motivation you need to work harder and more effectively while still being safe. Brian Cygan and Amy Hudson discuss why supervision is the key to effective strength training, and how when that’s combined with the digital feedback at the Exercise Coach, you can achieve the fitness results you’ve always wanted.   It’s been said that the most forgotten variable in strength training is supervision. There is plenty of research that verifies the personal health benefits of strength training but we need to remember that the vast majority of those studies are supervised. The researchers are effectively acting as personal trainers who are supervising and providing motivation and guidance. Other studies have shown that supervised strength training leads to greater strength increases than unsupervised training. The smaller the coach’s class size, the greater the effect. When researchers looked at supervised strength training with seniors, they found that when the supervision stops the results diminish or regress, even if the participant continues in a program on their own. The supervision of strength training is the key to making it effective. At the Exercise Coach, the coaches are present to make a difference in three areas: safety, effectiveness, and efficiency. When we talk about safety we are referring to not only keeping a session injury-free, but also that workouts can be continued over the long-term. A qualified professional is going to be watching the form and techniques used while also choosing the right loads and machines for the task. Your workouts should be designed for you and your body, focusing on your current levels of fitness, strength, and ability. The effectiveness of an exercise session is determined by the level of stimulus being applied to the body. Effort levels are of paramount importance and supervision provided by a personal trainer has to bring about higher levels of effort than an individual could manage on their own. Studies have shown that people are capable of producing more force and working harder when someone is present and giving them verbal encouragement and accountability. Digital feedback from the exercise machines, when combined with supervision, further increases a person’s ability to produce force. In order for strength training to be effective, you have to pay close attention to form and technique. This is something that a trainer can provide more effectively than someone exercising on their own. Many people fail to achieve the fitness results they are looking for from exercise because they are unable to exercise at the right intensity. It’s also possible to work at too high of an intensity and get injured. A coach helps you achieve the optimal intensity for your body. The Exercise Coach creates plans that are personalized and optimal for each individual. When it comes to efficiency, clients never have to wonder which muscles to exercise or what to do next. The coaches get everything set up according to plan. This allows the client to focus on their form and their goal and makes it possible to deliver those results with a 20-minute workout. When you work harder, it decreases the time it takes to see improvements in your fitness, which is why we optimize every second of every workout. A trainer’s supervision means that you are going to work harder, but the encouragement of a good team will make it enjoyable.   Link: exercisecoach.com     This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about isolation vs compound exercises...   Amy and Brian explore the question “Should you pre-exhaust your muscles with isolation exercises before taking on compound movements?” Find out why the idea of the pre-exhaustion sequence is actually hurting your fitness progress and why putting compound exercises at the very beginning of your exercise program is the key to getting the most results in the shortest amount of time. Pre-exhaustion is the idea that performing an isolation exercise prior to a compound exercise is more effective in training that particular muscle. This is mainly due to the experience and burn involved. Research out of the UK looked at pre-exhaustion to see if it had a positive effect on the fitness results of a group of athletes and they found that there was no significant difference. Pre-exhaustion training provides no greater benefit when compared with other exercise programs that involve more rest between sets or by a program that prioritises compound movements over isolation movements. This supports the approach of the Exercise Coach where you perform big movements first. Doing movements that involve a lot of muscle mass generates a greater hormonal result for the body which leads to better systemic results. By starting off with the larger, more difficult movements first you get the additional hormonal benefit which will make the following isolation movements a bit easier. Compound movements being performed early in the workout without isolation movements in front of them also allows the Exercise Coach to get better fitness data on their clients. You tend to get better results on exercises that you prioritize earlier in a workout.   Link: exercisecoach.com     This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about the right movements and how they may give you more time...   Discover the secret to amplifying your total-body fitness results while also spending less time at the gym. Find out why multi-joint movements can have a serious positive impact on your strength and physical fitness while taking less time to perform, as well as which exercise is the most effective movement in The Exercise Coach program. The aim of The Exercise Coach is to design workouts that are total body focused, safe, and effective while also maximizing workout motivation and consistent adherence. All exercise can be broken down into two kinds of human movements. These are multi-joint movements, also known as compound movements, and single-joint movements, also known as isolation movements. Chin-ups are the classic example of a compound movement whereas a bicep curl is an isolation movement. No matter how you move, it will always fall into one of those two categories. The Exercise Coach prioritizes compound movements due to their effectiveness and efficiency. They give you more of the results you want from an exercise program in the shortest amount of time possible. Researchers studied the effects of compound movements and found significant differences when compared to isolation movements because of their hormonal effects on the body. The leg press is perhaps the most important exercise within The Exercise Coach fitness program because of the way it delivers a total-body systemic effect. The Exercise Coach allows you to maximize results and minimize time, while providing safe and comfortable exercises to perform, which is why so many clients are able to stick to the program for the long term. Adding in compound movements to your exercise program releases a hormonal effect that will amplify the results you are looking for in other areas of the body.   Link: exercisecoach.com     This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn the truth about stretching before and after exercise...   Before you jump into your next exercise session, learn why what you’ve been told about stretching is completely wrong and how it can actually increase the odds of you getting injured. Brian and Amy explore some common myths regarding stretching before and after exercise and discuss whether or not stretching is a necessary component of strength training. Do you need to stretch before you work out? There are a lot of prevailing myths around stretching and exercise and people are usually coming at this from one of two angles, either to prevent injury or to increase performance. In terms of preventing injuries, stretching has been shown in a number of studies to have no impact on the likelihood of injury. Even with uncontrolled environments like a sport, stretching doesn’t seem to have an effect on the odds of getting injured. There is a difference between stretching and a dynamic warm up, which is something that can be beneficial before physical activity. In strength training, the key to preventing injuries is to control the forces that the body is exposed to. Clients in the Exercise Coach undergo no intentional stretching before exercising. Static stretching before an activity does not reduce the odds of an injury, but it does have a negative impact on performance. Over a hundred studies showed that static stretching reduced the strength of the muscle by at least 5%. Stretching is like loading a muscle so it makes sense that it would reduce the muscular capacity. When it comes to stretching after a workout, there are a couple of things that people believe. The first is to reduce muscle soreness. The trouble is soreness is not a good indicator of whether or not you performed an effective workout and not everybody gets sore after strength training. Several studies showed that stretching, before or after exercise, has no impact on delayed muscle soreness. To actually prevent muscle soreness one of the best things you can do is get your body into motion sooner. It can take delayed muscle a couple days to set in, so getting in your next workout can prevent that. A common myth regarding strength training is that it will make your muscles tight or inflexible. It’s not the case that muscles lose flexibility as they get bigger, so the idea of stretching to prevent tightness is based on a false assumption. Resistance training has been shown to actually improve flexibility, not reduce it. It’s very common, especially people who have experienced the effects of aging, that when they start to engage in a safe and effective strength training program that they will start to move better too. The best way to gain flexibility is through the safe and controlled exercises available at the Exercise Coach. When we perform strength training, especially eccentric training, our bodies produce new proteins that contribute to making our muscles more flexible, which doesn’t happen with static stretching. The main takeaways regarding stretching is that you don’t need to do it to prevent injuries before exercise and it’s not necessary to prevent soreness or stiffness. It’s okay to stretch to relax, but it’s not a necessary component of a strength training program.   Links: exercisecoach.com   This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about oxygen intake and masks...   Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a lot of talk about whether or not wearing a mask during exercise is a safe thing to do. Amy and Brian breakdown the studies and science behind wearing a mask and oxygen intake, and reveal why The Exercise Coach program makes wearing a mask a minor detail in the pursuit of fitness results. Covid has made wearing a mask much more common but a lot of people are wondering if it’s okay to wear a mask while exercising. At the beginning of the pandemic the Exercise Coach committed to following the various guidelines, and that includes requiring masks. Generally speaking, wearing a mask is not going to hamper your workout. A good example would be how athletes have been using altitude training masks to increase physical performance for years. They don’t strictly simulate being at a higher elevation, but they do increase the effectiveness of your lungs and breathing capacity. At ground level, we get all the oxygen we need to perform optimally. When we feel wiped out and exhausted from exercise, it’s not due to a lack of oxygen. Even with a surgical mask, you have more than enough oxygen. Studies have been completed that show there isn’t an impact on physical performance when wearing a surgical mask. They looked at the effect on blood pressure, heart rate during exercise, oxygen saturation, and carbon dioxide levels. If you have a chronic lung disease talk to your healthcare provider before performing exercise while wearing a mask. For healthy people, wearing a mask during exercise is not harmful. The Exercise Coach has seen thousands of clients over the past year and they are still getting results despite the mask. Many of the clients are actually surprised at how little impact a mask actually has. The fact that the program is brief and the studios are kept cool and well ventilated makes the workout experience quite enjoyable, even with a mask on. The workouts are still intense and effective, and since they emphasize the lowering portion of the training they net better results than traditional strength training while reducing the requirement for your body’s cardiorespiratory output to increase. Eccentric training produces more force and gets you more benefits. An emphasis on the lowering portion is an advanced training technique, yet it’s more comfortable.   Links: exercisecoach.com   This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about how smart scales can be important to your fitness journey...   Brian and Amy discuss the pros and cons of a smart scale and how using one properly can help you stay motivated and on track to hit your fitness goals. You will also learn how to avoid one of the most common mistakes people make with a smart scale that can derail them in the first few weeks of their fitness journey. What is a smart scale and how are they different? The major difference is the measurement of body composition and the connectivity of the associated apps. These kinds of scales allow you to more accurately track your relevant fitness metrics, and what gets tracked gets improved. Smart scales use a technology that has been around for decades called bioelectrical impedance. When you step on the scale it sends a small current through your body and can use the speed of the result to measure various body composition metrics. Getting the measurement of body composition regularly is a great way to see progress. When pursuing a fitness program, it’s important to track more than just bodyweight because of the increase in muscle mass and reduction of body fat. One issue that occasionally comes up when someone first starts using a smart scale is that you might notice that your body fat is going up, even though you may be losing weight and gaining muscle. This is because the measurement is based on the hydration within your body and that’s one of the first things someone sheds when beginning an exercise program. If you’re starting a new fitness habit, the first couple of weeks of smart scale measurements may be a bit misleading. It’s important to realize that the results will be more consistent and reliable over time. Smart scales are intended to be used at the same time each day. Hydration levels fluctuate throughout the day so using them at the same time will give you more consistent measurements. It’s also important to get more data points and measure your weight more often. When you get into a rhythm of measuring with a smart scale you can get enough data to say something meaningful about the trend over time. The pattern tends to look like a sawtooth on the day-to-day scale but over time you will be able to see the overall trend. All physiological changes tend to follow the same pattern. When it comes to which scale to purchase the app that comes along with it is very important. Accuracy and reliability are what you should be looking for. Knowing how much lean mass you have in your body is powerful information to know and a good indicator that your fitness and health are moving in the right direction. Maintaining optimal health and fitness is a journey, and a smart scale is a great tool that tells us we are moving in the right direction. They can also be a tool to fuel your motivation and assure you that the investment you are making is actually propelling towards the health and fitness you’re after.   Links: exercisecoach.com Six Tips to Make Your Scale a Super-Tool | Exercise Coach: exercisecoach.com/6-tips-to-make-your-scale-a-weight-loss-and-wellness-super-tool   This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about how strength training can help people with osteoporosis...   Learn why strength training is the foundation to rebuilding bone strength and bone density and why osteoporosis isn’t a permanent sentence. Amy and Brian break down the research around bone density and strength training, what exercises you should do to strengthen the most vulnerable parts of your body, and what exercises you should avoid completely.  Many people are recommended to engage in weight bearing exercise to help deal with the effects of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis and osteopenia affect millions of people of which 80% are women. Research indicates that as many as 1 in 4 women over the age of 65 have low mineral content in their spine or femur. Just moving around isn’t going to cut it in terms of reversing osteoporosis. People can be very active and still suffer from osteoporosis. You need to exercise in more meaningful ways to deal with osteoporosis and this means proper strength training. Strength training improves every system of the body for the better, and this includes the skeletal system. The goal of this kind of strength training isn’t to increase bone mineral density; the aim is to prevent future fractures. When you look at it that way, strength is the lead domino in that it improves strength, balance, and bone density. Sarcopenia also weakens the bones as well as the muscles as we age, so aiming for strength first will also address osteoporosis. Strength also acts as a shock absorber in the case where you experience a high impact force. There are two schools of thought on how strength training affects bone density. The first says that the results are sight specific and load dependent. The second says that it’s due to hormonal factors. Other research shows that your bones will not get stronger without sufficient loads. We need the bones attached to the muscles to be loaded in order for our bodies to send signals to the bones to get stronger. We need to perform exercise that directly loads the bones we want to strengthen, as well as perform exercise that creates the metabolic stimulus that elicits a full spectrum release of miocines. Building stronger bones takes time - up to multiple years to really turn around bone loss - which is often more time than it takes to see other health and fitness results. This is a path we have to travel in order to apply the level of muscle loading we need to grow stronger bones. Bone strength is a marathon, not a sprint. The very first step to improving bone strength is to begin a safe, effective strength training program. There are a few exercises that should be prioritized to strengthen bones, typically movements that address the hips, legs, and lower back. For anyone with osteoporosis, they should avoid overhead pressing movements and twisting movements.   Link: exercisecoach.com     This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.