Our bones are alive, in fact, your bones are continually remolding. The way you eat and exercise has a lot to do with the way your bones remold.
Collagen is a glue like substance made up of vitamin c and water and this makes up the structure of our body such as skin, bones, teeth, blood vessels, cartilage, tendons and ligaments so that includes all connective tissue in our body.
Calcium is a mineral that is stored in the bones so that it can be used whenever it is needed for many of our body’s vital functions. Our bones are made up of a combination of these two substances, Collagen and Calcium.
Our bones give off calcium and as they do that new bones are molded. The body always needs calcium so it will take it from your bones if the supply is low. This determines how the bones are remolded. Bones remolded with less calcium will tend to be brittle so eating a diet high in calcium is you first order of business.
As we get older bone production slows down. Our bones start loosing the ability to reshape new bones, over time the bones become less dense, brittle and more at danger of getting a fracture.
We have all hear of osteoporosis, that is the disease that accelerates the loss of bone tissue but natural aging is a culprit as well. Osteoporosis is most noticed by a humping over in the back, it can be slight or it can be quite severe.
The good news is that the rate of bone loss can be minimized by regular strength training. Lifting weights and Yes, that includes Pilates. During a mat work out you utilized your body weight for resistance and the equipment utilizes springs to allow for resistance.
Find out about resistance training, click here
The discipline of Pilates gives you the same benefits of a weight training. In addition to exercise make sure you get good amounts of calcium.
Study after study shows that you can slow the rate of bone loss just by walking and adding a resistance training to your exercise program along with good nutrition. Nobody wants to walk around with a stooped back or be susceptible to fractures.
The best thing to do is to build the bone density in your 20’s, 30’s and 40’s with exercise and good nutrition.
Did Joseph Pilates create the fountain of youth? You can be the judge of that but he did live a healthy life well into his 80’s. You too could grow old with Pilates, as us boomers get older it is more fashionable to grow old gracefully.
Find out more about Pilates by clicking here
