By Tim Begley
When we think about exercise, we often think about the immediate feeling: the burning muscles, the heavy breathing, or the fatigue. But the goal of exercise—especially for bone and joint health—isn’t just to make you tired. The goal is to trigger a beneficial adaptation.
Here is a truth that might surprise you: Exercise actually makes you weaker in the moment. If you lift weights for an hour, you leave the gym fatigued. It is in the rest and recovery phase that your body adapts, remodels, and heals to become stronger than before.
To get those benefits for your bones, we need to find the right balance between the amount of exercise and the type of exercise. Today, I want to break down exactly how resistance training builds bone density and how you can do it safely.
The Anatomy of Bone Loading
To understand how we strengthen bone, we need a quick anatomy refresher. Picture your knee. You have your quadriceps (thigh muscles) which attach to a tendon, and that tendon attaches to the bone.
When you contract your muscles—like when you stand up from a chair—the muscle pulls on the tendon, and the tendon pulls on the bone. This pulling force is what signals your bones to become denser and stronger.
The “Goldilocks” Load: How Heavy Should You Lift?
Research on bone health (much of which is focused on women over 50, though it applies to everyone) points to Progressive Resistance Training as the gold standard. But how heavy is “heavy enough”?
If you lift a weight that is so light you can do it 50 times, you aren’t creating enough stimulus to change the bone structure. On the other hand, a “1-Rep Max” (the absolute most weight you can lift once) places massive load on the bone but is risky and dangerous for most people.
The Sweet Spot: We aim for an intensity where you can perform about 8 repetitions. This is heavy enough to bend the bone slightly (on a microscopic level) to trigger growth, but light enough to perform safely.
A Secret for Safety: Eccentric Loading
If the idea of lifting heavy weights sounds intimidating, here is a technique I love: Eccentric Loading.
Muscles have three ways of working:
- Concentric: Shortening (lifting the weight up).
- Eccentric: Lengthening (lowering the weight down).
- Isometric: Holding still (like a plank).
We are naturally stronger when lowering a weight than we are lifting it. You can use this to your advantage. For example, on a knee extension machine, use two legs to lift the weight up, and one leg to slowly lower it down. This allows you to load the bones and joints safely with a weight that might be too heavy to lift with just one leg.
The 2-Day Protocol
You don’t need to live in the gym to see results. The research recommends resistance training just two days per week. This allows for that crucial rest time we talked about earlier.
A simple, effective routine takes about 20 to 40 minutes and should include a mix of Single Joint (focusing on one specific area) and Multi-Joint (functional movements) exercises.
Sample Routine:
- Lower Body:
- Knee Extension: Great for isolating the quad and tendon.
- Squats: A multi-joint movement that works ankles, knees, and hips. Start with bodyweight and progress to holding a weight or bar.
- Upper Body:
- Pushups: Can be done against a wall, a counter, or on the floor.
- Tricep Extensions: Simple dumbbell exercise lying on your back.
- Core / Stability:
- Dead Bug: Excellent for core strength while keeping your spine safe.
- Plank: An isometric hold that builds stability.
How to Start (Without Getting Hurt)
If you are new to this, do not start with heavy weights immediately. Spend the first month or two using lighter weights and higher repetitions (around 15 reps).
Use this time to master your technique of the movement. Once your form is perfect, you can slowly increase the weight and lower the reps down to that 8-rep range to really target bone health.
Want Support Getting Started?
Check out my class schedule or contact me about 1-on-1 training. I offer both services remotely (online) and in-person (on Mayne Island).
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Tim Begley 