Bone-strengthening exercises for women

Updated March 2024 | 4 min read
Words by the Health Agenda Team

Bone-strengthening exercises can help women build stronger, healthier bones at any age. Here's what to focus on to help keep your bones healthy for longer. 

Strong bones are vital for many of the body’s most essential functions including basic movement, supporting the body’s structure, protecting our organs, producing blood cells and maintaining mineral levels.

As we get older, our bone density decreases. When the structure of the bone becomes weaker and more brittle, it can lead to an increased risk of breaks and fractures. This is known as osteoporosis, a disease that affects about 1.2 million Aussies.

Women are more prone to osteoporosis than men, due in part to the loss of oestrogen during menopause. It’s estimated that the average woman loses up to 10% of bone mass in the first five years after menopause.

Thankfully, because bone is living tissue, there are things we can do to improve our bone health at any age. And one of the most beneficial things we can do is engage in regular, bone-strengthening exercise.

Why is exercise important for healthy bones?

Research shows that regular exercise helps build healthier bones because the action of muscles pulling on bone stimulates bone building. The tugging and pushing on bone that occurs during certain movements can help deposit extra calcium and stimulate bone-forming cells, leading to stronger, denser bones.

A study also found a link between stress and bone health, with researchers suggesting that chronic psychological stress could be a risk factor of osteoporosis. Moderate exercise was found to have a positive impact on stress and, subsequently, bone health.

The best bone-strengthening exercises

The best exercise for building bone strength for women includes movement which places strain or stress on the bones, strengthens muscle and improves balance to reduce the risk of falls.

Musculoskeletal Australia recommends including a combination of weight-bearing exercise, resistance training and balance training. Generally, higher impact exercise has a greater impact on bone health than low-impact activities – but it’s important to build up to any high-impact movement slowly.

Weight-bearing exercise

Weight-bearing exercise involves doing aerobic exercise on your feet, with your weight supporting you. This helps produce a force on your bones that makes them work harder. Examples of weight-bearing exercise include:

• brisk walking
• jogging
• running
• skipping
• hiking
• climbing stairs or hills
• dancing
• netball and basketball
• tennis, badminton and other racquet sports.

Resistance training

Resistance training uses weight to make muscles and bones work harder and become stronger. Resistance training can incorporate:

• weight machines
• resistance bands
• hand and ankle weights
• free weights like dumbbells.

Balance training

If you’re finding it challenging to include higher impact activity into your routine, there are gentler forms of exercise that can still contribute positively to bone health by focusing on improving balance and reducing the risk of falls. Examples of balance training include:

• tai chi
• pilates
• yoga
• walking backwards or on an unstable surface
• exercises using an exercise ball.

How much exercise do I need for stronger bones?

Australian physical activity and exercise guidelines recommend that adults are physically active most days. An effective exercise program for stronger bones could include 30 minutes of bone-strengthening exercises on four or more days a week. This can be broken into shorter intervals if that’s more manageable.

• Choosing activities you enjoy will help you stick to a regular exercise routine. And if you’re embarking on a strength-training program, try to target all major muscle groups. This will help protect bones that are most prone to factures, like the hips, spine, wrists and ribs.

You can also consider:

• including short, high-intensity bursts of exercise, like combining one to two minutes of running with four to five minutes of walking
• making your exercise progressively more challenging by adding hills or stairs to your jog, or lifting progressively heavier weights
• varying your exercise routine by targeting different muscle groups on different days, or changing the location of your daily walk.

If you haven’t been physically active in a while, or if you’re recovering from injury, it’s important to seek advice from a GP or physio before starting a new exercise program. And if you’ve been diagnosed with osteoporosis, speak to your healthcare practitioner about which exercises are safe for you.

A convenient way to access a GP

Our partnership with GP2U, an online video GP service, makes it easier for eligible members to access telehealth services. All HCF members with health cover can access a standard GP consultation (up to 10 minutes) for a fee of $50.