I read an interesting article this morning in Outside magazine. The gist of it is that adult athletes participating in low impact sports (cycling and swimming were specifically mentioned) need to be very careful about osteoporosis. Calcium is consumed when we exercise and apparently the bones aren't triggered to grow unless they are subjected to pretty jarring impact. The kind of thing provided in sports such as running, gymnastics, etc. but not in swimming. The upshot of this is, even though we might be in great shape in many areas, our bones might be in no better shape than the average couch potato's.
A study done on a college basketball team even showed they were losing bone density because they weren't getting enough calcium in their diets. Apparently the 1200 mg of calcium recommended is rarely ingested by most of us, and athletes in heavy training really need even more than that due to the loss of calcium through exercise.
So, the recommendation of the article was to make sure to get enough calcium in your diet either through food or supplements and to get in some exercise in more high-impact sports. The article suggested weight lifting works, but it needs to be sets where failure is reached in eight reps.
I wish I could find a link to the article on the web, but I can't. I did find this from the SPMA web site: www.spma.net/swimosteo.htm
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I recently had a bone scan and learned that at age 31, I already am showing signs of bone loss. Not bad enough to be osteoporosis, but osteopinia, which can lead to osteoporosis. My doctor said it could be caused by a medication I have taken for years, or it could be genetic, that my bones never reached full growth.
I was shocked. I have been swimming Masters (and competing) for three years and swim 4-5 days a week. I drink milk every day and love cheese and other dairy products. I take a multivitamin. Oh, yeah, and I'm well below the age of someone who'd typically have to worry about it.
My doctor said what I've been doing obviously isn't enough to stave off bone loss. And it's permanent. She told me to take a calcium supplement every day and add in weight lifting and/or some other weight-bearing exercise to my routine or the bone loss would continue. The supplement and extra exercise is basically to protect what I have, since I can't get back what I lost.
I guess I'd been living under a rock, I thought exercise was exercise was exercise, that swimming was as good as running or anything else for preventing bone loss. Wish I had heard that years ago, I'd have added other exercise to my regimen.
So, thanks knelson, for posting that message. It's important and there might be people who don't know about the differences in exercise or that they likely aren't getting enough calcium. Can't hurt to mention it to your doctor, just in case.
One thing, though. My doctor said doing any weight lifting would be sufficient. She didn't put parameters on going to failure on eight reps or anything. Now I wonder if I should look further into this.
I recently had a bone scan and learned that at age 31, I already am showing signs of bone loss. Not bad enough to be osteoporosis, but osteopinia, which can lead to osteoporosis. My doctor said it could be caused by a medication I have taken for years, or it could be genetic, that my bones never reached full growth.
I was shocked. I have been swimming Masters (and competing) for three years and swim 4-5 days a week. I drink milk every day and love cheese and other dairy products. I take a multivitamin. Oh, yeah, and I'm well below the age of someone who'd typically have to worry about it.
My doctor said what I've been doing obviously isn't enough to stave off bone loss. And it's permanent. She told me to take a calcium supplement every day and add in weight lifting and/or some other weight-bearing exercise to my routine or the bone loss would continue. The supplement and extra exercise is basically to protect what I have, since I can't get back what I lost.
I guess I'd been living under a rock, I thought exercise was exercise was exercise, that swimming was as good as running or anything else for preventing bone loss. Wish I had heard that years ago, I'd have added other exercise to my regimen.
So, thanks knelson, for posting that message. It's important and there might be people who don't know about the differences in exercise or that they likely aren't getting enough calcium. Can't hurt to mention it to your doctor, just in case.
One thing, though. My doctor said doing any weight lifting would be sufficient. She didn't put parameters on going to failure on eight reps or anything. Now I wonder if I should look further into this.
