Research

Bone health: Weight-bearing activities such as tennis and weightlifting helped teen girls accumulate healthy bone mass, a new study shows.

Researchers led by Dr. Laura Gehrig, an orthopaedic surgeon at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, compared three groups to see which activity would promote greater bone density among 62 girls ages 8 to 17. The groups participated in Olympic-style weightlifting, competition-level swimming or competition-level tennis.

Results supported the theory that activities that required weight bearing helped build bone, while swimming did not.

Osteoporosis is a progressive, degenerative bone disease resulting in reduced bone mineral density and bone mass and increased risk of fractures. It is estimated that half of all white women in the United States will suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime.

The study was presented this month at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' annual meeting.

Tips

Oops: Here are the top 10 mistakes most of us make when exercising, according to the experts at the American Council on Exercise:

• Not stretching enough.

• Lifting too much - or too little - weight.

• Skipping the warm-up.

• Skipping the cool down.

• Exercising too hard: It makes you tired, sore and more likely to skip your next workout.

• Not drinking enough water.

• Leaning on the stairstepper during your workout: It puts your back, wrists and elbows at risk for injury.

• Not exercising hard enough: If you don't see results, you won't be back.

• Jerking the weights up, rather than lifting them in a slow, smooth motion: You're cheating yourself.

• Consuming energy bars and sports drinks: Unless you're training for a marathon, you're probably chewing all the calories you just burned.

Registration

Mini-marathon: Sign up now for the Humana Heart Mini-Marathon, which celebrates its 26th running March 30. The event includes a 15K mini-marathon, a 5K HeartRun, 5K and 10K HeartWalks and a 2K Kids Mini-MaraFun.

For information on the event, and the March 29 Fitness Clinic at the Millennium Hotel downtown, check out www.heartmini.org, or call the American Heart Association, 281-4048. Registration: $30 until March 13, then $35.

Siting

Click: Check out the Fitness Library at www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/library/libindex.htm for a site packed with tips, information and reviews of fitness equipment and books.

Shelf help

Read: Yogaflows (Firefly Books; $19.95) by Mohini Chatlani weaves 12 classic hatha yoga poses into a sequence of moves from beginner to advanced.

Contact Peggy O'Farrell by phone, 768-8510; fax, 768-8330, or e-mail, pofarrell@enquirer.com