D1TRAINER wrote:
...Lots of runners develop stress fractures, right? The best way to fight it is by strength training. This is common knowledge...Amazing what "common knowledge" gets wrong on a regular basis.
Actually impact sports provide more skeletal strain and hence better at stimulating growth and strength in bones. Stress fractures occur not through a lack of "strength" but over-use. A lack of muscular endurance surrounding the calves and shins may help reduce the incidence of stress fractures (one of the argument for barefoot or minimalist running).
Weight training does improve bone density but no-where as much as impact sports.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19197207