Males achieve peak bone density by the age of 25.
This means you have your teenage years and early twenties to get your bone mass to its highest potential. After 25 it starts to go down each year and accelerates after 50. This is when you can have all sorts of bone problems like brittle bones and fractures.
Do the work now, and your future self will thank you.
The good news is the work required has been detailed in the eBook under muscle development and nutrition. But a brief summary is here.
Do this:
Dynamic Exercise – Bone Stressors: Team sports like basketball, soccer, footy. Running, skipping rope, box jumps. These movements create ground shock and stress the bones. The bones strengthen in response to this stress.
Resistance training: Lift heavy things, tendons pull on the bones, and this signals them to increase bone density to handle it.
Mix it up
Your body is capable of many different movements. The best way to increase your bone density is to introduce different exercises and skills each year.
Continue to play the sports you love but try something new each year. Try boxing, muay thai, wrestling, BJJ, archery, swimming, sprinting etc.
Each different sport or skill you learn demands a new challenge on your body, this new challenge increases your bone density.
Nutrition
Read the eBook for a full run down on your nutritional needs. For a quick summary:
- Get enough Vitamin D (through sunlight and food). Allows the body to absorb calcium from the intestines.
- Get enough calcium from your food.
- Eat good quality proteins, vegetables, salads and dairy.
- Avoid smoking and excessive alcohol.
- Don’t be too skinny and don’t be obese.
This is the time you want your body to be running at full revs, so you need to give it the right fuel. You need at least three meals a day of nutritious food which contains fruit, vegetables and protein. Lots of protein, because it is the building block of muscle.
The enemy of the growth spurt is fatty fast food and sugary drinks. The only growth this crap assists with is making your belly bigger. Your body reflects what you put into it.
Don’t miss this opportunity to maximise your growth spurt.
The more time you spend on your arse in front of a computer screen the more time you are wasting of your growth spurt. So quit reading this and get out and exercise (then come back and read some more.)
Do these basic things and your 50-year-old self will thank you. Your old arse can chop wood and lift weights without being scared of fracturing a hip!