Society of Certified Senior Advisors: Jump Around! Best Exercises for Bone Health

Did you vibrate your bones today? If you’re looking to build bone density, your answer should be yes! Here’s why–and how to add weight-bearing exercise into your routine.

Pop quiz: remember Newton’s Third Law of Thermodynamics? “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” To understand how weight-bearing exercise can build bone density, let’s start with a little physics refresher course.

When you jump on a flat surface, thanks to the trusty gravity we can count on here on Earth, the ground is there to meet you. That gravitational force is one of the two main components of weight bearing exercise, according to Margaret Martin of MelioGuide. The other key component is your muscular force, which stops you from collapsing when your body lands after your jump. When the force of the ground meets the force of your muscles, the meeting “create[s] vibrations that talk to your bones,” says Martin. Amazingly, these vibrations stimulate cells in our bones–namely mesenchymal stem cells. These stem cells possess the potential to turn into bone, cartilage, muscle, or fat, and the vibrations of jumping encourage them to choose bone.

What Else Can I Do to Build Bone Health?

Ask your doctor if any of your medicines may cause bone loss.
Eat foods rich in calcium and Vitamin D, like dairy, soy products, and leafy greens.
Quit smoking and reduce or eliminate alcohol.
Understand your risk factors and consider asking your doctor for a bone density test. It’s recommended that all women over 65 schedule one.

Thanks to this responsive quality of our cells, the thermodynamic forces of weight-bearing exercise enable our bodies to build bone and prevent further bone loss. Pretty cool, right? Everybody, but especially people with osteoporosis or low bone density, can take advantage of physics to support bone health. Here are three different kinds of exercise you can try today.

Jumping for bone health

If you want a gold star from your doctor, next time she asks what you’re doing for exercise, tell her you’re practicing plyometrics. It’s a fancy word for jumping, and a great way to get your bones vibrating. Jump training has been shown to build bone density, and when practiced correctly, it’s safe and effective for older adults.

Try It: Here’s the most basic plyometrics exercise to get you started: ankle hops.

Bend your knees and hop in place. Start with two sets of five hops.
With time, increase to ten hops.
ou can also increase the benefit by jumping a little higher.

Walking for bone health

Is walking a weight-bearing exercise? “It is weight-bearing,” says Martin. “However, how fast you walk will dictate whether or not it’s fast enough to stimulate your bones.” She notes a study that found that 3.1 miles/hour is sufficient to benefit hip health. Speed matters because, as we walk faster, we hit the ground with more force, and our muscles have to work harder to keep us from falling. It’s Newton again: those two equal and opposite forces, the ground and our body, need to meet with enough force to vibrate our bones and build bone density.

Try It: Here’s Martin’s suggestion for how to increase your walking speed to about 3 miles per hour. She recommends taking two short walks per day of 20 minutes each. You’ll have more energy to move faster when you split up a longer daily walk into shorter ones.

In the first 5 minutes of your walk, warm up by walking at your normal speed.
Then, when you’re ready, decide to walk from one landmark to another as quickly as you can; for example, from this mailbox to that one.
Walk at your normal pace for a minute or two, and then pick another set of landmarks for your mini-sprint.
Repeat this pattern for the rest of your walk, twice per day.

Over time, your baseline walking speed will increase. In the meantime, you’re getting the bone-building benefits of these high-intensity walking intervals. Martin stresses that people who are building their balance should still walk, but they’ll need to pay extra attention to their balance while walking quickly.

Water-based exercise for bone health

Aquatic exercise builds less bone compared to land-based exercise, since it isn’t technically weight-bearing. But a 2022 study found that aquatic exercise can help build bone density among older women. And, precisely because it’s lower-impact, exercising in the pool is a great option for people who are in pain or at a high risk of bone fracture. And it’s good to remember that building bone density isn’t everything; studies show that water-based exercise can make a difference in reducing pain, building muscle, and just improving quality of life.

People who have osteoporosis may try aquatic exercise for the first time when it’s recommended to them by a doctor as a safer, more comfortable option than weight-bearing exercise.

Try It: If you’re just starting out with aquatic exercise, try these simple movements to get a feel for standing in the water:

Take big steps forward through the water. Then, try taking long sideways strides.
Stand holding the side of the pool, and lift one knee up, keeping your back straight. Then, extend that same leg out straight behind you. Repeat with the other leg.
Stand with your feet hip-width apart and float your arms on the surface of the water, elbows straight but not locked, with the water height a little under your armpits. From your core, move your torso and swing your arms back and forth.

Remember, you don’t need expensive equipment to make weight-bearing exercise a part of your daily routine. Walking with a buddy, joining the YMCA, and practicing strengthening exercises on Youtube are all great lower-cost options. Try these free strengthening videos from Margaret Martin or a la carte sessions from MelioGuide.