How to Improve Bone Density | SilverSneakers

Keeping your bones strong is smart at any age. Well, how do we do that? Well, weight-bearing and strength-training exercises are best to maintain bone density. Performing exercises to improve posture and balance can also help. I'll take you through one circuit today that we'll repeat twice, and that will include three main areas of focus, our spine, our hips, and our wrists. If you like this video, click subscribe to our channel, and be sure to check out our live class schedule at silversneakers.com. You will need a chair and a set of dumbbells today for this routine, so go ahead, grab your equipment, and let's get started. Let's get started. Our first two exercises, we'll use just the chair. A bird dog is gonna start us off with this routine today, so I'm holding onto my back of my chair for just stability. I'm simply gonna raise my arm and leg at the same time, opposite arm and opposite leg. Here we go. So lift and lower. Touch that chair for balance and stability. Opposite arm, opposite leg. Extend the arm straight out and up, and the leg back behind you, leading with the heel. This is a great exercise to strengthen the spinal muscles, which promote good posture, stability, and balance. Nice and slow and controlled. Last one right here. Our next exercise is standing hip abduction. So I'm also gonna use the chair for just a little bit of balance and stability here. We're simply gonna lift our leg out to the side and lower it back down. We'll do one leg at a time. Here we go. Stand tall, soft bend in the knee in the supporting leg. Lift and lower. Don't forget to breathe through all these exercises. Inhale and exhale. The chest upright, body upright as you lift your leg away from you. Hips are nice and square. Three, two, one. Let's do that left leg. Holding onto my chair, same. We're just gonna lift and lower. One. Three. We're gonna do a squat reverse lunge combination. So standing tall and proud, feet comfortably apart. Weights down at the sides. We're gonna simply start with a nice easy squat. Send the hips back and down. Stand tall and then you're gonna step back into a reverse lunge. We'll alternate that lunge. All right, are you ready? Here we go. Inhaling and exhaling. Squat. Stand tall, reverse lunge left. And now right. You can limit your range of motion with the squat and with the lunge. Let's talk about good form and posture, all right? Hips and butt come back. Weight is in the heels, chest is tall. Squeeze the backside right there. Limit your range of motion with this lunge, ensuring that the knee isn't coming over your toe. Let's go ahead and get one more full set in. Squat and then lunges. Great. Our next exercise is seated in our chair with our weights. So this is wrist extension. We'll start us off. I'm simply gonna hinge forward and let my forearms just rest here on my thighs so that I've got a little bit of range of motion. Now, lift those weights up towards the ceiling and then go ahead and release nice and controlled. Lift and lower. We're strengthening the wrists, the forearms. This is a great exercise. My palms are facing up and lower. Let's get one more in. Now this next exercise, wrist flexion. So my palms are facing down. Again, my forearms are just resting on my thighs. It's also great to do on a table. And I'm just going to do the opposite movement, but still lifting up towards the ceiling and then lowering. Let's go ahead and do this together. Lift and lower. Best to do this one with light weights, one twos or three pounds. It's challenging, so you can even use water bottles. Let's do two more repetitions. Lift and lower. Last one. All right, that was our circuit. Let's go ahead and do it one more time. So we're going to stand up, put our weights down. We'll start with our standing bird dog. All right, so make sure that you're not hyperextending, holding onto the back of the chair. Hips are nice and square. Press the leg out behind you, lead with the heel and lift that arm at the same time. Can you lift, squeeze right here? Not only great for our spine, but for our glutes as well. A common error with this exercise is hyperextension, just like that. Did you see that? Extending too far back, so it's just a little lift. Big breaths, inhaling and exhaling. Last one to finish. Standing hip abduction. Let's start with that right leg. My left, your right. I'm holding onto the chair here for just a little stability. Stand tall, lift the leg away from you. Hips, knee, toe, all pointed straight ahead. Lift with control, slight bend in that supporting leg. Nice work. Can we do three more? Let's do it. Two, last one. Same exercise, other side. I'm slightly turning from you, holding onto my chair, but I'm using my, let's do left side. Here we go. Lift, big breaths, inhaling and exhaling. Let's do three more. Two, last repetition. Squat and lunge combination. Let's go ahead, pick up those weights. Feet comfortably apart, stand tall and proud. Now remember, we're gonna squat down, lowering our hips back and down. Let's do it. Squat, squeeze the backside, step back, left leg. Now right, squat, reverse lunge. Limit your range of motion if you need to. Just a little lunge, push off, lunge, push off. Back to our squat. Exhaling as you lower, inhale as you lift, squeeze the backside of the body. Last set here. Press through the heels and lunge. Great, last exercise in our circuit here, our wrist extension and flexion. So let's go ahead and take those weights, take a seat. First, wrist extension means palms are facing up, holding onto my dumbbells, extending my arms and wrists right off the edge of my knees. So I have a little bit of room here. Range of motion, really. All right, let's go ahead and do it. Lifting those weights up towards the ceiling and down. Lift and lower. Lift, nice and controlled movement. Let's do two more repetitions here. Last one. Now right into wrist flexion. So meaning, palms facing down, same position. If it's too much bent over, go ahead, stretch it out. Let's get right back in it. All right, lift and lower. Can you see that? Lift and lower. Working my wrists here, how about you? Let's do three more together to finish out our workout today. Two, last one, and done. Nice work today. Weight-bearing and strength training exercises are best for your bones, especially for the upper back. But keep in mind, finding the safest, most enjoyable activities for your overall given health and the amount of bone loss you have is important. There's no one size fits all prescription. Don't forget to check out our live class schedule at silversneakers.com, and I hope to see you all again soon. Have a great day.