21% Stronger Bones in a Year at 62? Yes, It’s Possible (No Calcium Supplements Needed!)

Bone density is a concern for a lot of people past a certain age, and it can lead to an endless juggling of vitamin and mineral supplements to try to get the right balance. Sachiaki Takamiya advocates for a natural diet- and exercise-based approach instead, showing good results with his Okinawan-influenced Blue Zones diet and lifestyle.

As a caveat, he has not gone through menopause, so this video does completely overlook the implications of that. Nevertheless, even if some of us must get our hormones from a bottle these days, this diet and exercise approach is a very good foundation and the advice here is important for all—we can take all the estrogen we need and still have weak bones if our diet and exercise aren’t there as needed.

From strength to strength

Sachiaki Takamiya’s bone density wasn’t bad the previous year, but this year it is better, hitting 123.4%. This is important information, because it’s easier to achieve an n% increase (for any given value of n) if your starting point is lower. For example, a 50% increase from 1g is 1.5g (so, 0.5g difference), whereas a 50% increase from 20g is 30g (so, a 10g difference). Since his starting value was high, this makes his 21% rise particularly noteworthy—and mean that a reader with a lower starting value will most likely see even better gains, if implementing this protocol.

You may be wondering: isn’t a bone mass density of 123.4% about 23.4% more than we want it? And the answer is that the 100% value is taken from an average peak bone mass in young adults, so having it at 100% is fine, and having it a bit higher is still better—it just means he’s outclassing healthy young adults, less likely to break a bone if he falls, etc.

As for what he ate: he focused on getting calcium and magnesium, as well as vitamins D and K2, all from food sources. Key foods included small fish (sardines, niosi, jaco), nattō, mushrooms, and seaweed (nori, wakame, hijiki). In particular, he emphasizes nattō’s benefits for bones, as well as for the gut, heart, and brain.

As for his exercise: he did weight-bearing exercise and resistance training—including calisthenics and yoga, as well as sport, and simply walking and running. His weekly routine looked like this:

• Monday: heart rate zone 2 jogging (45 min)
• Tuesday: bodyweight HIIT and flexibility (20 min)
• Wednesday: heart rate zone 2 jogging (60 min)
• Thursday: bodyweight HIIT and flexibility (40 min)
• Friday: heart rate zone 2 jogging (45 min)
• Saturday: bodyweight HIIT and flexibility (20 min)

…as well as social sports (e.g. tennis, amongst others), and additional activities such as gardening, and cycling for groceries.

For more on all of the above (this is a very information-dense video), enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

You might also like to read:

• Vit D + Calcium: Too Much Of A Good Thing?
• The Bare-Bones Truth About Osteoporosis
• Which Osteoporosis Medication, If Any, Is Right For You?
• How To Do HIIT (Without Wrecking Your Body)
• The Five Pillars Of Blue Zone Longevity

Take care!