Top sports to keep your bones healthy this National Fitness Day

Today marks National Fitness Day 2021, and it is a great opportunity to highlight the role that physical activity plays in helping us to strengthen our bones.

When people think of the benefits of physical exercise, they often forget about the benefits this has on our bone health. In fact, recent research by the ROS has found that only 34% of adults try to look after their bone health, compared with 64% who try to be a healthy weight.

As winter creeps in, it’s even more important to think about ways we can keep our bones healthy. Weight-bearing and muscle strengthening exercise can help rebuild our bone strength and reduce risk of fractures.

What is weight-bearing exercise?

You are weight bearing when you are standing, with the weight of your whole body pulling down on your skeleton. Weight-bearing exercise with impact involves being on your feet and adding an additional force or jolt through your skeleton – anything from walking to star jumps.

Here are our top exercises to get you moving this National Fitness Day:

1. Tennis

If you’re feeling inspired by superstar Emma Raducanu’s recent win at the US Open, why not try tennis for yourself? This is an excellent weight-bearing exercise that can also be a really fun social activity.

Every time you hit the ball, you’re stressing your racquet arm, wrist and shoulder, as well as working your hips and spine with all that running around.

2. Running, jumping and walking

If you’re looking for quick and easy weight-bearing exercise to improve bone health; running, jumping, and walking is for you. A study in 2002 found that walking four hours a week gave participants a 41% lower risk of hip fractures, compared to walking less than an hour a week.

Brisk walking is better than slow walking, but you can adapt your speed to your current fitness level.

Running, jumping and walking is free too, and you can do it anywhere, anytime, even on the spot for a five-minute burst.

3. Dancing

As we welcome Strictly Come Dancing back onto our screens this month, why not join in the fun and dance alongside your favourite competitor?

Our Ambassador Craig Revel Horwood has recently highlighted the importance of this for bone health,

“It’s really important to build a bone bank for the future and do weight-bearing exercises. If you’re a kid at school and you don’t like sport, then it’s really good to dance. People like dancing more than anything else and you don’t even notice you’re doing yourself a favour for later on in life.”

What is muscle-strengthening exercise?

When your muscles pull on your bones it gives your bones work to do. Your bones will respond by renewing themselves and maintaining or improving their strength.

1. Weightlifting

To strengthen your muscles, you need to move them against some resistance. Increasing muscle resistance can be done by adding a load for the muscles to work against, such as a weight in your hand, using an elastic muscle resistance band or using your body weight during a press up.

Every gym has a trainer who can design a workout for your legs, back, shoulders, and arms. They will tailor this to your fitness levels and can make huge improvements to your bone health.

2. Swimming

If you’re still feeling inspired by the Olympics this summer, why not take up swimming. This is a great sport to take at your own pace and build up muscle throughout the body, without putting too much pressure on them. You can also get creative by combining two great bone health sports and join an aqua dance class such as aqua aerobics or aqua zumba.

The ROS recommends starting new sports activities with an instructor in a gym or leisure centre to get the right advice about which weights or machines to use – and most importantly, learn the correct technique. Building up gradually according to your fitness level and muscle strength is essential.

Find out more about exercise for osteoporosis and exercise for bone strength.