RUNNING IS NOT A GOOD BONE-BUILDING ACTIVITY

If you’re looking to improve your bone health, adding plyometrics & strength training to your routine can help tremendously.

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Running is a huge part of many of our lives & has a multitude of positive physical & psychological effects, but it’s just not a good way to build bone.

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Optimal bone-building stimuli appears to be everything distance running is not: high-impact, short-duration loads with plenty of recovery in between. 

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Bone gets stronger via short bouts of high-impact loading. After just 20 loading cycles, bone loses >95% of its sensitivity to loading - meaning that after less than a minute of running, the bone cells are no longer responding in a way that leads to stronger bones. 

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Distance running is a repetitive, low-impact stimulus, so bone cells desensitize and stop responding to it pretty quickly. They do, however, resensitize after a period of rest - studies show resensitization occurs around 4-8 hours after a bout of loading. 

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So if you’re trying to improve bone health, just running isn’t going to cut it - bone cells need more excitement.

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This doesn’t mean you have to trade in your running shoes for lifting shoes - you can have it all by adding short bouts of resistance training & plyometrics into your routine (provided it’s gradually & appropriately progressed, of course!)

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Here are some principles for exercise that optimize bone-building:

• High-impact, multidirectional loads e.g. plyometrics

• Low rep, heavy strength training

• Short duration, high frequency sessions

• 4-8 hour recovery periods

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Looking for a running + strength program that accounts for bone health & history of bone injury? Contact me below!