3 Exercises to Build Bone Density & Strengthen Your Body

The importance of maintaining and improving your bone health as you age cannot be underestimated. Here we’re looking at movements that will help to strengthen your bones, reduce fracture risk, and promote overall health.

Perfect if you know this is an area you need to focus on this year.  

Build bone density with these 3 effective exercises

1. Back squat

For this exercise I’m using a barbell. You’ll see from the video that the barbell should sit on the upper part of the back, just above the shoulder blades, not on the neck. This is important.

Take the barbell off the stack, then take a couple of steps back. That's your start position.

To perform the back squat correctly you’ll need to bend at the knees, flex at the hip and maintain a neutral posture through the spine. Don’t worry about dipping too low, just go down as far as you can, making sure to push your knees outwards as opposed to letting them collapse in.

If you’re unsure, watch my demo.

Why is a back squat particularly beneficial for building bone health?

I put the back squat at number one, because the overriding principle of building bone health is load.  The muscles need to experience and go through load so they pull on the bone. That means you’re achieving compressive action throughout the skeleton.

The fact that the barbell in this exercise sits on the top of the back offers a number of advantages:

• You’re not taking the weight of the barbell with only your hands - so your hands aren't a limiting factor in the load you can lift.
• The bar’s position on the top of the spine means there is compression going right down through your spine, down into your pelvis and then down through both of your legs. This is allows you to manage a heavier weight.

Yes, to do this exercise you’ll require some core strength as well as some hip flexibility to get down into the position, but holding that bar across the back really does improve stability and reduce the need for strong grip strength, which you’re unlikely to have without training it. 

Back squat – variations

Really the variations are about increasing load. You can use the bar at 20 kilos or use two slightly lighter dumbbells. Be aware, if you choose this route you won't be able to go as heavy, because your grip will limit what you’re able to lift.

I understand it may feel a bit scary going into a back squat using a barbell if you’ve not tried one before, but it will be more beneficial due to the higher load.

You shouldn’t do more than about six reps, so try to gauge the weight accordingly. Ideally when you get to the sixth rep you should be at your limit. You shouldn’t be able to complete another rep.

Don’t start here though.

I always recommend starting with higher reps with a lighter weight and building up. This makes sure you have the technique down and you’re starting to understand the load. Then when you’re able to, build up to six reps. Then start to go heavier because, ultimately, that’s what will help you to build and maintain good bone density.

2. Overhead Press

Whether you choose a barbell or dumbbells for this exercise, the overriding principle is it needs to be heavy. You need to be able to complete six reps – if you can do more, it’s not heavy enough.

And you’ll need to be able to complete 3-5 sets. Think short reps, long rest to get the most from it. Again, you want the load to be going down through the body.

The advantage of the overhead press as an option, is that it gets the arms and shoulders going. If the barbell is too heavy at 20 kilos, start with lighter dumbbells, gradually reducing reps and increasing load. Then move over to the barbell once you can do 10 kilos in each hand.

I advise watching the tutorial from around 06:00 to make sure you’re getting the overhead press technique correct. But just a couple of important points to remember - make sure you have your hands greater than shoulder width apart and split your stance if you feel you need more stability.  

Each rep, push the weight over your head then pause for a second before you come back down to rest on the top of the chest. Focus on creating a vertical line up through your body Don’t arch your back as you press up and make sure you’re not holding the weight in front of your head.

Unlike the back squat with the barbell, this is bringing the arms into the equation, sending the load down through the shoulder blades and spine.

This movement won’t work the legs like the back squat did. But you’ll benefit from the muscle contraction again, helping to improve tendon strength and muscle strength as well as bone density.

3. Deadlift

As I explain in the tutorial, I left this one until last because there are a couple of limiting factors that might impact your ability to really get the most out of this movement. One is grip strength, the other is the range of movement – being able to get down and hold on to the weight.

You’ll see I’m using a hex bar here – with handles to raise the height of the bar, so the range of movement becomes less of a limiting factor.  

So what is a dead lift? Put simply, it’s lifting from the floor, using more of the hip and less of the knees. Remember - the squat used more knee, less hip.

Start with the hips shoulder width apart.  Hinge at the hips to hold the handles in the centre, stand up straight and then do the same movement in reverse. Once again you can watch the tutorial from around 09:40 to make sure you’re lifting correctly. Hold in a standing position for a moment to maintain tension and then drop down again.

If you’re struggling with this due to grip strength, use the tactics we employed previously. Start with more reps at a lower weight and as you gain weight, reduce reps. Don’t rush it – this may take you weeks to build up. And, alongside, I would recommend working on your core strength so you can maintain a solid torso as you go through these movements.

As with the other two exercises, here it’s about getting the load going down through the body. In fact, in healthy individuals who are training, your deadlift should be stronger than your squat. This will better build bone density and improve your bone health by compressing the whole body from shoulders down to floor.

But if you’re just a beginner at this it’ll take some time.

Be patient. Do the right things consistently and I promise you it’ll pay off.

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