Weight-bearing exercise — any activity where your body works against gravity — supports bone density, muscle strength, balance and joint health at every age. From a brisk walk to weightlifting, regular weight-bearing activity is one of the most reliable investments you can make in long-term health.
What is weight bearing exercise?
Weight bearing exercise is where our body works against gravity, lifting, pulling or moving objects and working different muscle groups. Essentially, unless in a pool or using a machine which helps us move, many activities are weight bearing. Activities involving weight bearing include:
- Climbing
- Yoga/Pilates
- Hiking
- Circuits
- High impact aerobics
- Dancing
- Cycling
- Weightlifting
Whatever your fitness levels or age, there are options to everyone to do some form of weight bearing exercise.
Below we discuss the benefits of weight bearing exercises and implementing them into your exercise routine.
What are the benefits to weight bearing exercises when young?
Weight bearing exercise has been found to have positive effects on both our muscles and bones.
Firstly, from a young age (During puberty and adolescents), weight bearing exercise has been found to be beneficial to bone development. Weight bearing when younger can have the following effects:
- More activity and load bearing exercise can stimulate bone development
- Increased bone mineral density
- Improved bone strength
- Activities such as racket sports, dancing, gymnastics and weight bearing exercises positively develop bone development
Are there further benefits to weight bearing exercises when an adult?
Many people may consider weight bearing exercises to be about weightlifting, gaining large amounts of muscle, maybe for a sporting reason or just to be more muscular. However, weight bearing exercise, whether intense weightlifting or doing simple body weight exercises, are beneficial to our health in a number of ways.
Firstly, some facts on our bones and how exercise effects them:
- Bone is like muscle, a living tissue that responds positively to exercise
- Our bone mass reaches its peak between 20 and 30 years old, after which it can already start to deteriorate
- Regular exercise can negate these effects and promote bone growth and increase/maintain bone strength
Consistently being active in weight bearing activities (3 or more times a week) is great for your health, but it should be done consistently. When we are adults, weight bearing exercise can help with:
- Muscular strength
- Muscular endurance
- Coordination
- Balance
- Flexibility
These benefits also help to protect our joints, as working them stimulates the fluids in joints more (synovial fluid), meaning they are more mobile!
What are the benefits to weightlifting (resistance training)?
Weight bearing exercises such as those above certainly have great benefits to them. But let’s look more closely at weightlifting (resistance exercises) which is a form of more intense weight bearing exercise.
Weightlifting (or resistance training), requires individuals to use machine weights or lift free weights, meaning we overload our muscles to get them to work harder than usual. With weight training consistently performed, benefits can include:
- Stronger and leaner muscles
- Burning calories efficiently, helping with fat loss
- Improved heart health
- Increases bone strength
Weight training also has other benefits which may not be firstly associated with it, however, there are other ways it can help individuals, especially later in life. As we get older, we may have some forms of physical illness or injury, or the simple fact as we age, we lose muscle mass and strength. Effective weightlifting can help with:
- For those over 60, performing weight training can decrease their likelihood of falls
- A lowered risk of injury, especially to the back area
- It helps to manage our blood sugar levels
- Our quality of life when older is improved, as daily tasks are easier
- It reduces the chances of developing osteoporosis (weak and brittle bones)
Are there other options when we get older for weight bearing exercise?
As we get older, going to the gym and lifting actual weights may not seem right for you or may not be possible. However, there are many other types of resistance training you can do. Below are some other forms of resistance training you can do when older:
- Resistance band training
- Tai Chi
- Bodyweight exercises
- Yoga
Even walking is classed as a weight bearing exercise, which is excellent for a number of reasons, including reducing the chance of Osteoperosis, or helping stop the condition getting worse. If you are interested in finding out more about the benefits to brisk daily walking, click on the link here, where we discuss the many health benefits of it.
Conclusion
From research conducted, it is clear there are benefits to weight bearing exercise to people of all ages, young to old. As well as this, we don’t have to see weight bearing exercise as trying to lift big heavy weights all the time, it can be as simple as a body weight exercise class, yoga or even a walk! We also don’t have to solely do weight bearing exercise, including it in a mixed workout plan will still see benefits from it. Have a look at our articles on HIIT training to see how it can impact your life!
Studies discussed in the article
Hunter GR, McCarthy JP, Bamman MM. Effects of resistance training on older adults. Sports Med. 2004;34(5):329-48.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15107011/
Colberg SR, Sigal RJ, Yardley JE, Riddell MC, Dunstan DW, Dempsey PC, Horton ES, Castorino K, Tate DF. Physical Activity/Exercise and Diabetes: A Position Statement of the American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care. 2016 Nov;39(11):2065-2079.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27926890/
MacKelvie, K. J., Khan, K. M. and McKay, H. A. (2002) ‘Is there a critical period for bone response to weight-bearing exercise in children and adolescents? a systematic review’, British journal of sports medicine, 36(4), pp. 250–257.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1724536/
Title: Exercise for your bone health
Author: National institute of health
https://www.bones.nih.gov/health-info/bone/bone-health/exercise/exercise-your-bone-health