Your Bones Are Listening: The Importance of Weight Bearing

We often think about exercise in terms of our muscles. We want to become stronger, more flexible, more coordinated, or improve our balance. But there is another part of our body quietly responding to the way we move: our bones.

Our bones are living tissue. They are not simply a framework that holds us up. Throughout our lives, they are constantly adapting to the demands placed upon them.

One of the ways we can support healthy bones is through weight-bearing movement.

So, what does weight bearing actually mean?

Weight bearing simply means that your bones are experiencing and supporting a load—usually your body weight—while working against gravity.

Standing is weight bearing.

Walking is weight bearing.

Climbing stairs, dancing, squatting, lunging and jumping are weight bearing.

Even supporting yourself through your hands on the floor is a form of weight bearing.

It doesn't necessarily mean picking up a heavy weight.

When we place an appropriate amount of stress through our bones, we give the body a reason to adapt. Mechanical loading can stimulate bone-forming cells and encourage the maintenance of stronger, denser bone.

This is one reason movement becomes increasingly important as we age.

Your bones respond to what you ask them to do

Think about your bones as living structures that are paying attention to the environment you create for them. If we regularly ask our bodies to stand, walk, push, pull, lift, balance and support our own weight, our bones receive information that they need to be able to handle those demands. But there is an important piece here:

Not all weight bearing is the same.

The amount, direction and speed of the load matter. Higher-impact activities tend to provide a stronger stimulus to bone than gentle, low-impact movement. Resistance training can also provide a significant stimulus because the muscles pull on the bones as we work against resistance.

And the bones that receive the load are the ones that receive the benefit.

For example, walking is wonderful weight-bearing activity for the legs and hips, but it doesn't provide the same loading stimulus to the bones of the upper body. A well-rounded movement practice therefore has value in offering different ways for the body to experience load.

Where does this fit into our classes?

This is something we are already exploring in our movement practice.

When you stand, your feet and legs are supporting the weight of your body.

When you shift your weight from one foot to the other, you are changing how that load travels through your body.

When we bend and straighten the legs, we are asking the lower body to work with gravity. When we come down to the floor, kneel, or support ourselves through our hands, we change our relationship to gravity again.

And when we move from the floor back to standing, we are asking the body to organize itself through several different relationships with weight and support.

These may seem like simple movements, but they give us something incredibly valuable:

practice feeling how we are supported.

Weight bearing is also about awareness

For me, this is where weight bearing becomes especially interesting.

It isn't only about making the bones stronger. It is also about how we experience our relationship with gravity.

Can you feel your feet connecting with the floor?

Can you notice where your weight is distributed?

Can you shift your weight without losing your balance?

Can you allow your bones to receive the support of the ground rather than constantly holding yourself up?

Can you feel the difference between pushing into the floor and simply collapsing into it?

These questions bring weight bearing into the realm of proprioception our body's ability to sense where we are in space and how we are moving.

Rather than simply telling the body what position to make, we give it information to respond to.

The floor gives us information. Gravity gives us information. Our bones, joints, muscles and nervous system are constantly receiving and responding to that information.

We don't have to fight gravity

Sometimes we think of gravity as something we have to overcome. But in movement, gravity can also be a partner.

We can use it to feel our connection to the ground.

We can allow our weight to travel through our feet.

We can push into the floor and feel the response.

We can shift, spiral, reach and move while maintaining a relationship with the ground beneath us.

This is part of what I love about movement practices such as Gyrokinesis® and Yoga Narada®: we are not simply moving muscles around in space. We are developing a more refined relationship with support, sensation, breath, gravity and the environment around us.

A little more weight. A little more awareness.

As we move through life, maintaining strength and healthy bones becomes increasingly important, not just for exercise, but for independence.

Strong bones are one piece of the picture. Strength, balance and coordination are also important because they can help us move with greater stability and may reduce the likelihood of falls and the injuries that can result from them.

So the next time you come into class and I ask you to notice your feet, shift your weight, press into the floor, support yourself through your hands, or move from the floor to standing, remember:

You are not just moving your body.

You are giving your body information.

You are practicing how to organize yourself around gravity.

And you are giving your bones an opportunity to experience the loads they were designed to respond to.

Your bones are listening. Let's give them something good to hear.