carry the weight and stress of your movements. Increasing the strength of muscle gives joints greater support and helps align the bones. When muscles become stronger the joints don't slide around as much and they are more likely to work correctly. Exercise improves bone density. Maintaining a healthy body weight is helpful for managing joint pain. Zion is wise to trim the fat because that isn't benefiting the joints. He just needs to make sure he maintains flexibility to keep range of motion to help prevent injury.