Weekend Challenge: Complete Upper Body Toner - Save Our Bones

This weekend, we’re going to focus on the often-overlooked bones and muscles of the arms, hands, shoulders, and chest. These are very important areas that need to be addressed, especially for women. In fact, I share with you research that shows women generally have weaker upper body muscles than men.

But don’t despair, ladies, because it’s also been shown that men and women have nearly equal lower body strength. The good news is that weight lifting increases bone density for both genders. We’ll take a look at the data in today’s post.

And of course, strong bones begin with strong muscles, so first, let’s explore the muscles that are worked in the Complete Upper Body Toner, and why they are important for building bone.

Why:

Building bone through weight-bearing exercise involves the action of muscle on bone (per Wolff’s Law), which stimulates bone density.

Your muscles are responsible for holding your bones in alignment, and for preserving the ever-vital processes of motion, gait, and balance.

The Complete Upper Body Toner targets the following muscle groups.

  • The Pectoral muscles, or pecs, are the main muscles in the chest. The pectoralis major is the most visible, spreading over each side of the chest from the shoulder to the sternum (breastbone) in a rough fan-shape. In women, the pectoralis major lies under the breasts, so it’s less visible when toned.

    The pectoralis minor is much smaller, and lies below the major. It originates at the top ribs and attaches to the upper, medial surface of the shoulder blades.

    These muscle groups work together to move the arms. The pectoralis major pulls the humerus (upper arm bone) laterally, vertically, and rotationally. Both sets of pecs are involved in the action of deep breathing, pulling up the ribcage to make room for the expanding lungs. Deep breathing is crucial for your bone health and health in general, as it plays a direct role in alkalizing the body.

  • The Triceps brachii runs along the back of the upper arm, and their primary job is to straighten the arm by bending the elbow. The “tri” comes from the threefold nature of the muscle – the long, lateral, and medial heads.

    The long head actually begins at the outside of the scapula, and runs close to the inside of the arm. The lateral and medial heads begin at the top back of the humerus. All three attach at the back of the elbow joint.

    Toned triceps not only help with appearance. They are important muscles for strengthening the bones of the arms.

  • The Hand flexors are key players in the hand’s amazingly intricate motion. There are 6 on the palm or anterior side: the carpus radialis, flexor carpus ulnaris, and palmaris longus. The other three are the digitorum superficialis, flexor digitorum profundus, and flexor pollicis longus.

    These all originate at the base of the upper arm, with the first group attaching in the wrist bones on the palm side. The other group inserts at the phalanges bones in the hand and work to flex the fingers and thumb.

    The intricate mechanism of the wrist and hand involves some rather delicate bones, but you don’t usually hear of exercises to strengthen these areas specifically. But the fact remains that strong hand and wrist bones are key in preventing fracture.

  • The Abdominals are known as the “tummy muscles,” often shortened to abs. But the abs also include the obliques, which run along your sides and work together to twist the torso from side to side.

    The deepest muscle layer of the abs is the transversus abdominus, which stabilizes the trunk and helps keep your internal abdominal pressure stable. The rectus abdominus lies more superficially down the front of the torso, from the ribs to the pubic bone. This latter group of abs is the most visible.

The Complete Upper Body Toner targets all of these important muscle groups.

How:

This exercise is performed lying down, so grab your exercise mat and a couple of small weights. You can use cans of food or bottles of water if you don’t have a set of weights; the typical food can or water bottle weighs about 1 pound. If your fitness level requires more of a challenge, feel free to use heavier weights.

  1. Lie on your back with your knees bent.
  2. Keeping your feet together, raise your knees up. Your knees will be bent at an angle slightly larger than 90 degrees.
  3. Hold the weights in a bench press position – that is, with the palms facing down toward your knees.
  4. Hold your arms straight up above your chest, and then bend your elbows to bring the weights out and down. Your upper arms and elbows will touch the floor.
  5. Bring the weights back up and repeat.
  6. Do 8 to 10 reps, then rest for a few minutes and do another set of 8 to 10 reps.

While this exercise is excellent for anyone, women in particular can benefit from these moves, as you’ll read next.

Study Highlights Gender Differences In Muscle Strength

Canadian researchers examined the characteristics of the biceps and the quadriceps (specifically, the vastus lateralis) in groups of men and women. They found larger muscle fibers among the men, particularly in the biceps, accounting for their more notable upper body strength. Another factor the researchers noted is the lower proportion of lean muscle tissue in women’s upper bodies. There was not a significant gender difference noted in the vastus lateralis, the muscle in the upper leg.1

This helps explain why women find pull-up exercises more difficult than men. We simply have less muscle mass in our upper body, which means we should pay attention to upper body workouts to prevent fractures in those crucial areas.

Interestingly, women’s lower body strength is almost identical with men’s, and it’s been shown that women have an advantage over men in physical endurance.

But regardless of gender, lifting weights is a key component in the fight against osteoporosis, and a scientific study shows us why.

Study Proves That Weight-Lifting Increases Bone Mineral Density

When the bone mineral density of 40 male competitive weight lifters was measured against a non-weight-lifting control group, the whole-body bone density of the weight lifters was clearly superior. The interesting thing is that the weight lifters had retired from the professional arena years ago, but the positive effects remained in their bones.2

The study notes in conclusion that:

“There was no difference in BMD for any region between active and retired weight lifters that was not explained by difference in age.”2

I’m not suggesting that all Savers start a career in competitive weight lifting! But the indications from the study are very relevant for those who wish to reverse osteoporosis through diet and exercise. The bottom line is, weight-bearing exercise and osteogenic loading increase bone density.

The Good News Is: You Don’t Need Special Equipment To Build Your Bones

I am also not suggesting that you need to buy a collection of expensive weights or pay for a gym membership. The Densercise™ Epidensity Training System was developed with convenience and universal appeal in mind. Bone-building exercise should be accessible to everyone.

That’s why Densercise™ does not require any special equipment and you can do it at home. And if you don’t have weights, as mentioned earlier – cans of soup or bottles of water are an excellent replacement.

Bone Exercising Made Easy!

Learn the 52 exercise moves that jumpstart bone-building – all backed by the latest in epigenetics research.

Learn More Now →

The benefits of weight lifting can easily be achieved with the moves in Densercise™. And the best part is that, as the research I brought you today has shown, your bone-building efforts will pay life-long dividends.

Feel free to share your experience with weight-bearing exercise or your thoughts on today’s challenge by leaving a comment below.

Have a great weekend!

References:

1 Miller, A.E, et al. “Gender differences in strength and muscle fiber characteristics.” Eurpean Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology. 1993. 66(3): 254-62. Web. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8477683

2 Karlsson, Magnus K., Johnell, Olof, and Obrant, Karl J. “Bone mineral density in weight lifters.” Calcified Tissue International. March 1993. Vol 52, issue 3, pp 212-215. Web. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00298721

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Comments on this article are closed.

  1. Neena mirpuri

    Thank you for the news update.Very imformative and useful.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      You’re welcome!

  2. Kelsey Fickling.

    Thanks Vivian for the Upper Body exercise. My doctor told me while my oxygen in my blood is 98% – I need to strengthen my chest and arms. I know I’m so weak in my back, arms and hands. I’ve been following you since I was 75 (I think). I’m now in my 88th year and have never taken the “bone building drugs “. I’ve become a bit lazy regarding exercise – I do my own raking leaves and gardening – watering etc. Bless you, Kelsey. Australia.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Thanks for sharing your story and for joining the Saver community, Kelsey!

  3. D Weynton

    Hi,
    Please send me your news letter. For some reason I haven’t been getting the emails for a month. I enjoy keeping up to date with all the latest info and weekend challenges/ excercises.
    Thanks,
    Daphne

    • Customer Support

      Hi D,
      I’m sorry you’re not receiving the information! To make sure you’re signed up, please click on this link:

      https://saveourbones.com/start-here/

      and then click on the blue button on the right that says “Click Here – It’s Free.” 🙂

  4. alice simpson

    please, please send me your newsletters as for some reason I haven’t received them for two weeks. I have been getting them for many years and can’t understand why they have stopped as I certainly did not stop them.

    • Customer Support

      Hi Alice,

      I’m not sure why you stopped receiving the emails; it’s possible that you clicked on the “unsubscribe” link in one of the emails by mistake – that’s easy to do. To make sure you start receiving Vivian’s emails again, just sign up at this link:

      https://saveourbones.com/start-here/

  5. alice d. simpson

    I seem to no longer be getting your newsletters. As I have been enjoying them for many years would it be possible to start sending them to me again.

    • Customer Support

      Hi Alice,
      It’s great that you are interested in Vivian’s free e-mails, updates, and newsletters! It’s hard to say why you stopped receiving them; it’s possible that you clicked on the “unsubscribe” link in one of the emails by mistake – that’s easy to do.

      To make sure you start receiving Vivian’s emails again, just go to this link:

      https://saveourbones.com/start-here/

  6. Margaret Beidler

    I have scoliosis & osteoporosis in my hip. I also have osteo arthritis In both knees and my hands. I am afraid to take any of the osteoporosis prescriptions . I am trying to follow your helpful excercises on save the bones. Thank you for your help.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      You are welcome, Margaret, and I want to thank you for being a part of the Save Our Bones community! Keep up the good work.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      I wish you great success, Margaret! Because arthritis is usually caused by an accumulation of acid in the body, the pH-balanced diet in the Osteoporosis Reversal Program may be just the thing to relieve the inflammation in your knees and hands. 🙂

  7. Janet Kuehnlein

    What do you think of shingle shots?

  8. Lee

    Thanks Vivian,
    Love your weekend exercises. Great exercise for upper body. Will get on to doing these as after heavy day digging & pulling lawn grass from garden beds I could hardly move my wrists & when laying in bed if I moved my hands it was very painful! Have had a fractured wrist & numerous rib fractures.
    On subject of ‘flu vaccinations my husband & I haven’t had these for years now even though we could’ve had them free at work. My hubby has only just got ‘flu this year with over 6 years & none. He is a teacher & has had lots of contact with sick kids & teachers. My daughter isn’t happy with us – her family are always vaccinated! Not for us … rather try & be healthy naturally.

  9. Mona

    Why are you against flu shots and what else are you against?

    Appreciate your throughts on this.

  10. Sally

    I followed the osteo cleanse regimen and found that at the end of the week I was nearly pain free. Can I continue with this program or is it inadequate nourishment for the long term?

  11. shula

    THANKS

  12. Helen

    Hi Vivian,
    Thank you very much for this one. It should be very helpful for me. I have had pain in my chest in the area where I had a mastectomy about 20 years ago. This does happen to me occasionally when I use that side of my upper body too much for lifting and so on.
    I cannot do all the exercises because I have osteoporosis and get compression fractures if I am not
    very careful.
    Thanks for your continued information.
    Warm regards,
    Helen

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Hi Helen,
      It’s great that you listen to your body and understand your limitations, and then go ahead and work within those perimeters. 🙂 I hope today’s exercise works for you!

  13. Lacy

    Hi Everyone, After much research and then finding this site “Save Our Bones” I made the decision to forgo a Prolia injection for a safer, natural way to save my bones. I am looking forward to sharing with other who may be having similar experiences both negative and positive,

    • Meg

      Lacy, I have had a similar experience. After a couple of bone scans the doctor was concerned and told me I had to either take Fosamax or have injections of Prolia. I did neither. That was some 8 years ago. I started on my own research & regimen. Then I found the “Savers” site. I have incorporated the diet & exercises into my daily life. I’m doing well so far! I do not regret my decision those years ago. Good luck to you..just keep moving, exercising and get as much info as you can. This site is a fantastic site for anything to do with our bodies…but particularly osteopenia/osteoporosis. m

  14. Char

    I have studied all your info, and agreed with most until I see you recommend against flu shots., etc!!! Really I’m surprised and disappointed.

    • Caroline

      There is much incorrect information put out by the pharmaceutical companies that make and sell the vaccines. Here are a few facts that one can verify by doing a little research.

      Many flu vaccines contain toxic mercury. There are documented cases of brain damage and dementia resulting from the vaccines.

      The benefits are minimal. . . 98.5% of people who get the shot still get the flu. At the same time, 97% of people who don’t get the shot don’t get the flu!

      The pharmaceutical companies cannot keep up with the viruses, which develop new strains each year. So the shots are often for an older version of the virus and of no benefit for the newer strains.

      Vitamin D is far more effective than flu shots at preventing the flu.

      I encourage everyone to do their own research and not depend on the message of the companies that produce the vaccines.

      • Sheena

        Brilliant explanation Caroline, could not have summed it up better.

        Char, Vivian has got a more detailed article on this if you need more info: “The Flu Shot: Everything You Need To Know”

        Vivian, thorough and perfect as usual.

        Accolades!
        Sheena

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