You know the song “If I Had a Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies? They fantasize about what they’d do with a million dollars (this was written in the 90s… not now, when a million dollars just gets you about a third of a condo in Toronto).
Well, in this article, I’ll fantasize a bit too – what I’d do with a client who had osteoporosis, and had no limits – financial, time, and nutritional compliance wasn’t an issue.
In all of my articles where I feature client success stories, I always list the obstacles they had in their way. And despite that, my team and I are able to help clients quite nicely.
But what if there were no obstacles?
- They had enough money to exercise with a trainer each workout (the majority of our clients work with their trainer 1-2 times per week, with an additional 1-3 on their own)
- They had enough time to exercise the necessary amount
- They had no problems with nutritional compliance
If all these conditions were true, what kinds of results could someone like this expect? These are not guarantees, but rather predictions:
- If a client had a T score of -1 to -2.5, they could probably improve by about 0.8-1.5 points in 1 year.
- If a client had a T score of -2.5 to -3.5, they could probably improve by about 1.0-2.0 points in 1 year.
- If a client had a T score of -3.5 to -5, they could probably improve by 1.5-3.0 points in 1 year.
- If a client had a T score of less than -5, they could probably improve by over 3 points in 1 year.
Basically, most people can go from full-blown osteoporosis to either osteopenia, or no osteoporosis at all in about 1 year. Make no mistake about it – even 1-2 times per week with a trainer, and 1-2 on your own would still yield about 80% of these results.
But if a client had no limitations, what would I do with them? What would be the “Cadillac” version of the osteoporosis reversal program? This is what that article will be about. And if you see yourself in this position, and would like to give it a shot, just fill out the application form on our home page.
The Ultimate Exercise Routine for Osteoporosis
I’m not going to go into the nitty-gritty of how I would design an exercise program for osteoporosis. I’ve written about that extensively in other articles, including a couple client success stories, and my entire book on that topic.
Rather this is going to be a description of the Cadillac version of that program.
It first starts with an evaluation of a client’s T score. Where the client has the worst T score is where we would prioritize. I’ve seen clients with as much as a 2.5-point gap between 2 areas. In other words, the wrist might have a score of -3.9, and the lower back (lumbar spine) might have a T score of -1.4. So one part of the body has severe osteoporosis, and another part has mild osteopenia.
The area with the worst T score gets the most exercise. If all areas are equal or close to it, it’ll be a similar amount of exercise all around.
Yes, we can give exercise prescriptions for clients to follow on their own. And lots of them do, and get great results. But why do I think we can do even better if all of their workouts were with a trainer? A couple of reasons:
Appropriate Progression
With our osteoporotic clients, I find that they are too conservative with their progressions. They are too scared to raise the weight in different exercises. Their muscles and bones can handle it. Their mind can’t.
When you get the diagnosis of osteoporosis, you feel fragile, and constantly concerned about doing the wrong thing. But a personal trainer knows when you’re ready to progress to the next weight, and when you’re not (not every personal trainer – just ones who have special training in osteoporosis). So the difference between doing all the workouts with a trainer vs. 1-2 with a trainer and 1-2 on your own would be as much as missing 20-30% of the strength you could have had if all the workouts were with a trainer.
Rep-by-Rep Adjustments
Sometimes, you’re doing an exercise, and for whatever reason, it starts to hurt. The trainer can make an adjustment right then and there, and you continue the exercise pain-free.
On your own, a few things can happen:
- You can push through the pain, and make it worse
- You just skip the exercise, and miss out on the benefits
- You can try to modify it yourself, and miss out on the effectiveness
Nutrition
Fortunately, nutrition for osteoporosis is a lot easier than nutrition for something like diabetes, which involves a lot of removing.
With osteoporosis, there’s nothing to really remove. There isn’t a single food that lowers bone density/strength.
With osteoporosis, it’s all about adding. And there’s really one major thing to add – protein (if you thought it was calcium and vitamin D, you’re wrong. I cover why in the first chapter of my book, on osteoporosis myths). There’s also a minor thing to add – vitamin K. But many foods that are high in vitamin K are also high in protein. That’s why protein is the real focus.
It’s easier to add things to your diet than remove things. But despite that, easier is not easy per se.
When my team and I calculate the protein requirements of our clients, as well as how much they’re currently getting, they often eat about 50-70% less than they should be.
Once they realize how much protein they need to be eating, they conclude “that’s so much protein.” But it’s not. It’s actually not what would be considered a high-protein diet. It’s just more than they’re currently getting.
And it’s much easier to consistently get the right amount of protein when you’re seeing someone 3-4 times per week, who monitors your nutrition all the time.
Sure, you may be on track on your own most of the time. But having accountability from someone helps you squeeze out the extra 10-30% in protein intake.
Supplements
And yes, I would have my clients taking certain supplements for osteoporosis (hint: not calcium or vitamin D), but I find that compliance to supplements is usually not an issue.
So this would be my Cadillac version of the osteoporosis program. Even the regular program works great, and you’d still get 80-90% of the results. But the bump in compliance would get it about as good as possible, and allow you to significantly improve your T score, and reverse osteopenia and osteoporosis.
As a result, you can:
- Enjoy activities like hiking, travelling and more
- Play with your grandkids without the fear of fracture
- Get more toned
- Have more energy to get more done in your day
…and more.
If you want to see whether or not the osteoporosis program is for you, just fill out the application form on our home page, and we’ll see whether you qualify.
