Your bones are your fortress, they form a covering that protects internal organs from harm. Wonder how martial artists can withstand 2,000-pound blows without breaking a bone? Hard bodies, better yet powerful skeletal frames. How do you help the bones develop? You guessed it…exercise. Here’s how:
The number one way to build stronger bones is weight training. This does not have to be grueling weight lifting sessions. Light weight training too has strengthening effects on bone development. The key is putting stress on the bones to force them to toughen up.
When the bones are stressed, the brain sends blood to the areas that feel the stress the most. Blood carry nutrients to those areas and develop them new layers of bone to withstand that stress. Weight training mounts pounds of stress on bones and so their development is enhanced.
Contact sports, especially martial arts have high impact on bone development. No workout tasks the skeletal system like a martial arts workout. From Tai Chi at the crack of dawn, to your living room Tae Bo video, up to the MMA, martial artists engage the skeletal system for development.
The bones of martial artists are different from the rest of us. From years of pounding on things, hitting things, and breaking different things, calcium deposits on the bones to toughen them. When martial artists break stacks of wood or brick, cartilages in the hands and wrist absorb the shock, cushioning the impact.
The calcium structures of the bone get more numerous as a result of the trauma. The stressed areas of the bone break down and are built back up, even stronger, denser, and harder. In fact, they are actually changed.
Martial arts also exercise tendons and ligaments as it stretches them to their limits and force them to become stronger. Drunken boxing, for example, challenges the martial artist to maintain a loose, flexible body, ready to counter attack from any position.
Skate boarding, ice skating, surfing and skiing also challenge balance and coordination, and put a good amount of stress on bones and joints. This strengthens bones, joints and cartilages and enhance development.
Running is one workout that is guaranteed to put some pressure on the bones. Runners generally have strong, well developed legs. As they run, and their feet hit the ground bones and joints take a pounding, and over time and distance the pounding takes a toll on the bones that help them develop. The feet are estimated to hit the ground 1,000 times per mile when we run.
Walking can also have similar impact on bones and joints as running. Though not as helpful as running, walking (especially on sand) exercises tendons and ligaments, plus mounts steady pressure on the entire skeletal system.
One particularly good sport (or workout) for the bones, tendons and ligaments is soccer. It combines the benefits of running, the contacts and challenges of martial arts, and the coordination and timing of tennis. It is estimated that a soccer player runs six miles per game on average. This, of course, does not include the goalkeeper!