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In this episode of the Movement Logic Podcast, Sarah and Laurel are thrilled to interview esteemed exercise scientist Professor Belinda Beck, investigator in the groundbreaking LIFTMOR trial. They discuss the necessity of high-intensity resistance and impact training for improving bone density, comparing it to less effective exercises like Pilates, yoga, and walking. Professor Beck shares insights on her LIFTMOR, LIFTMOR-M, and MEDEX-OP studies, underlining the importance of mechanical loading for bone health. They explore the misleading promotion of devices like OsteoStrong or courses like Buff Bones that do not provide the necessary rate of loading or magnitude of load to impact bone density. The conversation elucidates the mechanisms of bone adaptation and defends high-intensity training as essential for combating osteoporosis.
00:20 Bone Density Course Progress
06:28 Guest Introduction
08:25 Interview with Professor Belinda Beck
16:59 Understanding Bone Health and Research
23:46 Bone Adaptation and Remodeling
36:15 Bone Remodeling and Exercise Breaks
37:52 Exercise Types and Bone Response
39:35 Strength Training and Client Engagement
42:37 Effective Exercise for Osteoporosis
44:00 Impact of Weight-Bearing Activities
48:47 High-Intensity Training for Older Adults
53:14 Impact Training and Bone Health
01:02:12 Marketing vs. Science in Osteoporosis Treatment
01:04:09 Comparing Exercise Programs for Bone Health
References:
Get on the wait list for our Bone Density Course
Episode 53: Your Bones Are Bored
Exercise to prevent falls in older adults: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis
Osteostrong: 3 Things You Should Know
Twelve-Minute Daily Yoga Regimen Reverses Osteoporotic Bone Loss
What’s so frustrating is not only that the medical advice on bone strength (exercise and diet) keeps changing, but that now apparently none of the readily available no-cost exercise options (walking, running, hiking, biking — even Pilates and Yoga) are effective. So what are the other 80%+ of older women who either can’t afford to pay for a program – or have time to go somewhere to participate in it – or have even have access to such a program (eg, rural, small town) supposed to do? Just let our bones crumble? And what about the indigenous populations we hear about who have never heard of these fancy programs but somehow maintain bone strength just with their normal everyday activities?
And who’s to say that in a few months the advice won’t all change again?
Nobody is saying walking, hiking, yoga, Pilates, or biking are “worthless.” That’s a false binary that social media loves to create.
Different activities create different adaptations. Walking is fantastic for cardiovascular health, mobility, mental health, and general function. Yoga and Pilates can improve balance, coordination, mobility, and strength endurance. Resistance training and impact training appear to be more effective specifically for maintaining or improving bone density. Those things can all be true at the same time.
And importantly, exercise is not all-or-nothing. You do not need a fancy boutique program or expensive “bone health” product to challenge your bones and muscles. Carrying loads, climbing hills, manual labor, getting up and down off the floor, resistance exercise at home, jumping, strength work with whatever equipment you have access to, all of these can contribute meaningful mechanical loading.
As for indigenous populations, that’s actually a great example of the fact that humans evolved in physically demanding environments with frequent loading, carrying, squatting, climbing, lifting, and varied movement throughout the lifespan, not just sitting in chairs and occasionally going for a walk.
And yes, recommendations evolve over time. That’s how science works. But that doesn’t mean “nothing is knowable” or that all advice is equally supported. Some recommendations have much stronger evidence behind them than others, and part of our job is helping people distinguish between “this is promising,” “this is plausible,” and “this is actually well supported.”