You may have heard that doing weight-bearing exercise is important for pre-venting and indeed reversing osteoporosis.

But how much do you need to do and what exactly do you need to be doing?

An 8-month clinical study aptly named the LIFTMOR trial demonstrated that it is possible to increase bone mineral density through lifting heavy weights.

In this study the group that performed twice-weekly, 30-minute supervised sessions of 5 sets with 5 repetitions of four specific weight-bearing exercises outperformed the group doing a low-intensity exercise programme.

The three weighted exercises were a deadlift, an overhead shoulder press and a back-squat, with one impact exercise - a jumping chin up with drop-landing.

Note that it's really important to challenge yourself and lift as heavy as you can.

I highly recommended that you start with supervision from a qualified PT to ensure your posture and breathing is correct to avoid injury.

As your strength increases you can gradually increase the weight you're lifting. The key is to be continually challenging your bones and sending them the message that they need to keep rebuilding aka staying strong.

After my osteoporosis diagnosis in 2021 I started deadlifting and got to the point of being able to lift 70kg - which I was extremely proud of at the time.

The effort paid off in my next DEXA scan, which showed I was actually reversing my osteoporosis.

In the last 2 years, however, I've switched gyms, changed my exercise pro-gramme and even though I've been doing weights I clearly haven't been lifting heavy enough as my most recent DEXA scan showed little improvement on the 2023 one!

I'm disappointed but determined to get back to the deadlifting.... watch this space!