What are some types of exercise that can improve bone health?

    Written by:
    Brady Holmer

    Fact-checked

    by:

    Rachel Hathcock, Graham Walker
    Last Updated: May 16, 2025

    To improve bone health, dynamic exercises that induce high strain, such as progressive high-load resistance training and high-impact activities like jumping and running, should be performed at least twice a week with heavy loads. Although walking is often recommended, it may have minimal effects on bone density, and endurance exercises like swimming and cycling offer little benefit for bone formation.

    To improve bone strength, exercise should be dynamic, induce a high strain on the bone, and be applied rapidly in multiple directions. One way to achieve this is through progressive, high-load resistance training.[1] For the best effects, it’s important to utilize a heavy load (80%–85% of your maximal strength), perform training at least twice per week, and involve major muscle groups. High-impact, high-load exercises, such as jumping, bounding, skipping, drop jumps, and (to some extent) running, are also effective for stimulating bone. Incorporating these exercises 4–7 times per week at a dose of 10–50 “impacts” per day appears to be optimal.[2] Combining high-impact exercise with vitamin D and calcium or progressive resistance training can lead to further improvements in bone health.

    Walking is often recommended as a way to maintain bone health. However, some meta-analyses suggest that walking has minimal to no effects on BMD, likely because the impact isn’t high enough.[3][4] In addition, prolonged endurance exercises like swimming, and cycling — while beneficial for cardiovascular health — provide very little osteogenic (bone-forming) activity.[5]