A personal trainer says everyone over 40 should be doing this 15-minute workout to keep their bones strong

If you’re worried about becoming frail in your later years, you need to start building bone strength decades in advance.

“Around the age of 40, our natural bone remodeling process shifts,” explains Mark Harris, a certified strength and conditioning coach and ambassador for weighted vest brand Mirafit.

“The body begins to absorb old bone tissue faster than it creates new bone, leading to a steady decline in bone density.”

He explains that this loss of bone tissue continues to accelerate significantly as we age, particularly for women during and after menopause.

“If we do nothing, our bones become more fragile,” says Harris, who recommends regular exercise to combat this.

“Bones respond to two main things: mechanical tension—where muscles pull against the bone during strength exercises—and impact, where forces travel through the skeleton as your feet strike the ground,” he says.

“By including both in your training, you give your body the stimulus it needs to help maintain stronger bones.”

He has chosen the following three exercises because, when performed in sequence, they apply both mechanical tension and ground reaction forces.

“These physical stressors act as an alarm system, signaling the body's bone-building cells [osteoblasts] to spring into action, lay down new tissue, and actively reverse that accelerated bone loss,” he says.

The full workout should take around 15 minutes if you do three rounds of the three exercises:

• Kettlebell goblet squat x10-12
• Standing dumbbell overhead press x10-12
• Pogo hop x20-30sec

Below Harris guides you through each move.

1. Goblet squat

Rounds: 3 Reps: 10-12

How to do it:

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Hold a kettlebell by its rounded body, close to your chest.
• Brace your core, push your hips back and bend your knees.
• Lower yourself as deep as you comfortably can while keeping your chest up and heels flat on the floor.
• Push through your feet to come back to a standing position.

“The hips and femur are among the areas most vulnerable to bone density loss with age, so lower-body strength work should be a priority,” says Harris.

“Holding a weight close to your chest while squatting increases the load through these bones, encouraging the body to maintain bone strength while also building stronger legs and glutes.”

2. Standing dumbbell overhead press

Rounds: 3 Reps: 10-12

How to do it:

• Stand with a straight back and your feet hip-width apart.
• Hold dumbbells at shoulder height with your palms facing forward or slightly inward.
• Lift the weights overhead, keeping your back straight.
• When your arms are fully extended, the weight will put pressure downwards through the arms and into the spine, so pause here briefly.
• Slowly lower the weights back to the starting position.

“Bone health isn't just about the lower body,” says Harris.

“Pressing a weight overhead creates what's known as axial loading, where the weight travels down through the arms and into the spine.

“This loading encourages the body to maintain upper-body bone density while also improving shoulder strength and core stability.”

3. Pogo hop

Rounds: 3 Time: 20-30sec

How to do it:

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your knees slightly bent.
• Bring your weight onto the balls of your feet and push off the floor into a jump.
• Do the movement rapidly, as though you are jumping without a rope.

“Impact is another key ingredient for healthy bones, but that doesn't mean you need to perform high-intensity jumps,” says Harris.

“Simple pogo hops—where you bounce quickly on the balls of your feet—create repeated ground reaction forces through the ankles, legs, hips and spine.”

The trainer says you should keep your movement rhythmic and low to the ground; the goal isn't to hit maximum height, but rather to create repeated ground reaction forces through the ankles, legs, hips, and spine.