A couple of weeks ago, this video of seniors in Singapore practicing parkour as a form of strength training and fall practice to avoid injury came across my feed. I loved it!
It also reminded me of a past blog about a time Mandy took a pickleball tumble that ended with her rolling to her side and popping right back up, unhurt — proof that all the goofy floor work and balance drills we do in the studio actually pay off in the wild. Then today, Deb had us practicing falling forward onto the Pilates chair as a form of impact training. It got my wheels spinning. Fall practice, impact and strength training for bone health; they’re all connected.
Lately I’ve been writing my way through what it means to age well — lifespan, healthspan, and joyspan, aging with purpose instead of dread, and most recently, finding harmony among all the pieces of a full life. This post is an extension of that same conversation, except this time we’re getting literal. Because underneath all that purpose and harmony, you still need a skeleton that can hold you up.
I already wrote about bone health basics back in 2024 — what osteopenia and osteoporosis actually are, who’s most at risk, and why now (whatever “now” is for you) is the time to start paying attention. Consider this the sequel. Less “here’s what bone loss is,” more “here’s exactly what to do about it.”
I’ve been dropping hints about this for years. Back in 2021, in a post about counting my blessings at PIH, I mentioned doing heel bumps in a Nia class and smiling because I knew — thanks to Jayne — that they’re great for bone health and strength. Turns out that little gem deserves its own deep dive, because heel bumps (also called heel drops) are a form of impact training which is backed by real research.
Here’s the thing about bones that surprises people: they’re not static. Bones are living tissue that’s constantly being broken down and rebuilt in response to the forces you put on them. This is sometimes called Wolff’s Law — bone adapts to the load it’s under. Stress it appropriately, and it gets denser and stronger. Leave it alone, and it slowly gets weaker, especially as we age and especially for women post-menopause, when estrogen drops and bone loss accelerates.
The exercise science world has landed on two main tools for sending your bones that “get stronger” message: impact training and resistance (weight) training. And research increasingly shows that doing both together is more effective than either alone.
Impact training works because bones respond to force — specifically, the quick jolt that travels up your skeleton when your feet meet the ground. That signal tells your bones to get stronger.
A great entry point is heel drops. Rise onto your toes, then let your heels drop with purpose. A randomized controlled trial in postmenopausal women found that doing 50 heel drops a day plus a weekly higher‑impact class maintained bone density compared to a low‑impact group. It’s a surprisingly big payoff for a tiny move that can be done while you brush your teeth or wait for the coffee to brew.
Once heel drops feel easy, you can gradually progress to small hops and eventually jump‑landing drills. A 12‑month trial in premenopausal women showed that structured jump‑landing improved bone mineral density and bone structure at the hip and spine — meaningful changes in places where fractures matter most. And this isn’t just for women: a pilot study in men found similar osteogenic benefits when impact work was combined with upper‑body resistance training.
How to do impact training safely:
- Start with heel drops: a few sets of ~10, most days.
- Add small hops once the basics feel comfortable.
- Land softly with knees slightly bent, not locked.
- If you have osteoporosis or a recent fracture, get guidance before adding jumps.
- Creative options count too — like Debra having us practicing controlled falls onto a Pilates chair. It’s a controlled way to teach the body how to absorb impact and catch itself, which builds the same kind of body awareness the Singapore parkour folks are after: impact training and fall practice rolled into one.
If impact training gives your bones a jolt, resistance training gives them a pull. When muscles contract against weight, they tug on the bones they attach to — and that mechanical tension is another powerful “get stronger” message. This is part of why weight training matters so much as we age: it’s doing double duty, building the muscle that protects you from falls in the first place while also loading the bone directly.
The standout example is the LIFTMOR trial out of Australia. It paired heavy lifting — deadlifts, squats, overhead presses — with impact work in postmenopausal women with low bone mass. After eight months, participants improved bone density at the spine and hip, got stronger, moved better, and — crucially — had no fractures caused by the training. The key was proper coaching and gradually increasing the load.
The dose that worked was genuinely heavy: five sets of five reps at more than 85% of each participant’s one‑rep max. Gentle, high‑rep, low‑weight training doesn’t send the same signal to bone that real resistance does.
How to do weight training safely:
- Focus on big, functional lifts: squats, deadlifts, presses, rows.
- Increase weight over time — bones adapt only when the challenge grows.
- Get your form checked before lifting heavier, especially on hip-hinge and loaded spinal movements. This is exactly the kind of thing a Pilates background sets you up well for — you already know how to find a neutral spine and brace through your center.
- If you have diagnosed osteoporosis, work with a trained professional. The LIFTMOR protocol is a great example of supervised, progressive loading done safely.
There are two more pieces of the bone-health puzzle: protein and balance training.
Bone isn’t just minerals — about half of its volume is collagen, and collagen needs amino acids to rebuild. That’s why protein matters so much for bone health, especially as we age. Research consistently shows that older adults who eat more protein have better bone density and lower fracture risk. Protein also supports the muscle you’re building through impact and resistance work. Muscle and bone talk to each other constantly, and protein is part of that conversation. It’s not just a “gym macro” — it’s a bone‑building one too.
Balance training doesn’t build bone directly — it protects the bone you’ve worked so hard to strengthen. A narrative review on preventing age‑related fragility fractures puts it simply: exercise reduces fracture risk in two ways — by improving bone integrity (impact + resistance) and by reducing fall risk (balance + strength). The National Institute on Aging echoes this, noting that structured balance and strength programs meaningfully cut fall rates in people at risk.
If you’ve spent any time on a reformer, you already know this: balance work isn’t separate from strength work; it’s baked into good movement practice.
This is also why the “geriatric parkour” program I saw was so compelling. Tan Shie Boon’s classes teach adults in their 50s through 80s how to crawl, roll, vault low obstacles, and — most importantly — get up safely after a fall. Research on his program shows improvements in agility, lower‑limb strength, dynamic balance, postural control, coordination, and “falls efficacy,” meaning confidence in your ability to recover from a stumble. One participant even used the skills to right herself after a runaway shopping cart knocked her down.
Purpose and joy are so important, but so is the physical scaffolding that lets you keep doing the things that give your life meaning — volunteering at a school or a community kitchen without your hip complaining about it, traveling to the places you always wanted to see, playing on the floor with grandkids.
Heel bumps, heavy(ish) lifting, enough protein, and a little balance work: not glamorous, but genuinely some of the best-researched tools we have for staying strong, structurally speaking, for the long haul.
See you in the studio,
