What's the best forms of exercise to increase bone density?

@bonesmcgee I hear you on this one. I kept going with pickleball for a while but my DXAs got worse and worse so I gave it up. My doctor told me I should continue but just play carefully. But what I love is going all out so I knew that would not work for me. Gave up badminton also. I exercise a lot and fairly intensely but in a very controlled and thoughtful manner. I enjoy the exercise I do but it's definitely not fun like a sport.
I found a substitute that's fun and challenging which is the VR game Beat Saber. It can be as intense as you want it to be. You chose the level of difficulty. I use it as a HIIT workout. It was a complete surprise to me being sort of a neo-luddite but I've fallen in love with Beat Saber. Even if I could improve my bone health enough to return to pickleball and badminton I would keep playing Beat Saber also.

@mayblin I recommend Stuart McGill to everyone. He ran a low back research lab at a Canadian university for many years and has several books on low back problems, the core and athletic performance. His "McGill's Big Three" is quite famous as a safe effective core foundation routine. His book The Back Mechanic is for the lay person with back pain but you don't need to have back pain to use his methods and ideas. The book helped me quickly greatly improve low back and hip pain/weakness that had been going on for 45 years despite many many attempts to solve the problem. I do a number of core and theraputic exercises but McGill's are the essential ones.

@awfultruth thank you so much for the tip! I looked up McGill’s big three and realized the side plank and bird-dog are in my routine! The 10 second isometric practices are great which is missing in my routine but I’ll definitely adopt it!

Do you find the first pose “curl up” challenging? I could barely hold 5 seconds for some reason. Maybe I didn’t do it quite right

Thanks a lot!

I have been working with the Bone Clinic in Australia. The Clinic is run by a Dr. Beck, a researcher at Griffith University, and many women come in and do exercise for bones at The Bone Clinic. These exercises are proven to help bones. They can personalize a training program. I am 63 and I went from -4.5 T-score in my spine to -4.0 over two years with only exercise and supplements.
However, when I took an 8 month break from the exercises (due to a broken metatarsal, Covid, just didn't do them) I started up where I left off and I broke another vertebrae. It is critical that after not doing the exercises for a time to start back at the minimum weights. During that 8 month period my T-score in the spine dropped back to -4.4. The reason I had started up my exercise program again is that I found 3 new vertebral fractures on the Dexa and thought I'd better get back to exercises. My muscles are strong enough to go back to where I was but NOT my bones!
The Exercise Physiologist advised me not to do flexion of the spine. The E.P. mentioned they have many women with fractures who are able to do the exercises and they've never had anyone fracture when following their guidance.
When fractures are healing my back feels weak and is weak and I can't lift much of anything. It is definitely hard to take. When my fractures are healed my back feels deceptively strong and it is difficult to remember what I need to do.
I hopes this helps others.

@mayblin Well I've been doing the McGill "no curl curl up" for 9 or 10 years maybe and I don't remember if it was hard to hold. It's easy now. Side planks were always the hardest and least pleasant for me. I do remember that my core was basically asleep when I started doing these kind of movements. I saw a couple of "experts" before I just started following McGill's book. They would tell me to do this or that movement using this or that muscle and I would be like "how?". I wouldn't have a sense of how I could move or use those muscles.
BTW, I don't usually hold for 10 seconds. McGill himself sometimes says 5-7 seconds. Not sure what his latest opinion is but I know that he does not think longer holds are necessary or even a good idea.

Hello! Does anyone know if any studies show that using a rebounder can lead to a stress fracture, e.g. in the foot or elsewhere? Thank you!

Walking on firm ground like a sidewalk or street. The pounding forces the minerals into your bones best.

To those that mentioned the “curl up”- if you are referring to laying on your back and curling your spine and trunk up as in a sit up - that truly should be a “no go “ for those with osteoporosis issues . Spinal flexion postures/ positions should always be avoided!!

@ans and anyone who reads this thread, in McGill's big three, it is actually "NO CURL curl up". YouTuber Zack Henderson explained it very well. I tried it, the posture tightens six packs very well! But i had trouble in doing isometric hold for 10 seconds. I think my neck and shoulder muscles are weak. Each person is different, we definitely need to do what's safe for us. Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

Dr. Loren Fishman, Columbia University School of Medicine, has ongoing studies of yoga poses that build bone density. You can Google Dr. Fishman, 12 Poses vs Osteoporosis to see the routine and hear his explanation. His work is also accessible at http://www.sciatica.org