Bone strength is a key component to ensuring a healthy and active lifestyle. You can gain bone strength in a variety of ways such as diet, higher impact aerobic activity and weight training. The exercise options are not necessarily the most popular. Higher impact exercises have been seen as causing more joint injury and weight training causing a more bulky look. Although that may be true for some women, if you are safe and perform the exercises correctly they are the most useful way to keep your bones strong and healthy.

Higher impact exercise and weight training puts stress on the bone that helps it grow stronger over time. Here are some great aerobic exercises that can build up your bones:

 Skipping – even if you don’t have a skipping rope you could do the motion of skipping getting both feet off the ground at the same time

 Jumping jacks

 Jump squats – go into a low squat with your feet shoulder width apart and jump up as high as you can landing in that nice low squat again

 Lunges with a jump switch – get in a regular lunge position and then jump up switching the position of the legs

 Stutter steps – get in a squat with your feet shoulder width apart and just take little steps moving side to side and front and back

 Cross country ski – both legs are straight, one forward one back, and do a jump switch where both the legs and the arms switch sides – right leg forward with left arm forward and vice versa

Perform these in succession doing a march for one minute and the exercise for one minute up to 20-30 minutes. Good luck! This is tough!

Some weight training exercises that will help build up your bones are:

 Bicep curls – hold hand weights with palms of hands facing out in front and lift the weight up – you want to have the same control up as you do down

 Tricep dips – sit on the very edge of a chair with your hands on the edge; move your bottom just off of the chair and lower yourself down and up using only your arms.

 Shoulder raises – raising your arms straight out to shoulder height and then back down to your sides

 Wall sit – find a wall and squat up against it; try to get your thighs parallel to the ground

 Lunge – go into a nice long squat with your legs as far apart as you can keeping your balance and hold it one side until you can’t anymore…then switch

 Squat – tailor to your wants; wide squats works more of your inner thighs (feet wider than your shoulders); narrow squats work more of your butt and hamstrings

For lean, toned muscles do 2-3 sets of 12-15 repetitions of each weight exercise. You should feel tired by the end. If you don’t, you need to increase your weight for next time.

Good luck getting those strong bones that will keep you feeling younger longer!

Keep Well…Kristy