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Daily exercise makes you feel healthy and fit. In addition, it ensures that your bones and muscles become stronger and it ensures that your cartilage remains good. Healthy food, with sufficient vitamins and minerals, is also important for healthy muscles, bones and joints.

Strong muscles
In your body, more than 600 muscles work together every day. One muscle allows you to move, the next allows you to breathe, and another allows you to digest your food. To keep your muscles flexible, you need to exercise regularly.

Healthy eating also helps, because you need protein to keep your muscles flexible and strong. Also, magnesium , calcium , potassium and vitamin D play a role in maintaining smooth and strong muscles. It is known, for example, that a deficiency in magnesium can lead to muscle cramps. Pregnant women and athletes are therefore advised to take magnesium supplements to prevent a deficiency and muscle cramps.

strong bones
Your whole life your body makes bone and breaks down bone. When you are young, there is more bone building than bone breakdown, making your bones bigger and/or stronger. After your 45 th this turns around and there is more bone breakdown than bone building in your body.

“Calcium supports your bones” , that is known to most people. Mainly thanks to milk and other dairy products, most of us get enough calcium every day. But just taking in calcium isn’t enough; your body also needs vitamin D to absorb enough calcium.

Because after you 45 e bone loss is faster than the bone, it is especially important that age to make sure you get enough calcium and vitamin D.. For this reason, ACSM and CDC advises women over 50 and men over 70 to take extra vitamin D supplements.

Also, phosphorus , magnesium , manganese , zinc and vitamin C help keep your bones healthy.

Flexible joints
Between the bones in your joints you will find cartilage, which ensures that your joints can move smoothly and painlessly. This cartilage springs along like a kind of cushion when you move your joint or when there is pressure on it. Vitamin C plays an important role in the production of cartilage.

Keep moving!
It’s quite an open door; but healthy food alone is not enough to keep strong bones and lean muscles. Movement is also very important! ACSM and CDC therefore recommends the following Exercise Guidelines .

Adults:

Exercise is good, more exercise is better!
Make sure you exercise at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity throughout the week, for example by walking or cycling. Longer, more frequent and more intensive exercise provides an extra health benefit.
Do muscle and bone strengthening activities at least twice a week. Are you over 70? Then combine these activities with balance exercises.
Don’t sit still too much!

Children aged 4-18 years:

Exercise is good, more exercise is better!
Make sure you exercise at least 60 minutes of moderate intensity throughout the week, for example by walking or cycling. Longer, more frequent and more intensive exercise provides an extra health benefit.
Do muscle and bone strengthening activities at least 3 times a week.
Don’t sit still too much!