After 60, staying active is not only about keeping your muscles strong. Your bones also need regular movement. Weight-bearing exercises place healthy stress on your bones, helping them adapt to the demands of everyday life.
As we age, maintaining bone strength becomes increasingly important. The right combination of weight-bearing activity, resistance exercise and balance training can support bone health, mobility and independence.
What Are Weight-Bearing Exercises?
Weight-bearing exercises are activities where you support your body weight against gravity while standing and moving. Walking, stair climbing and dancing are common examples.
Healthy Bones Australia explains that exercise for bone health should include a combination of weight-bearing impact exercise, progressive resistance training and balance exercises.
Resistance training also supports bone health, but in a slightly different way. When your muscles work against resistance—such as weights, resistance bands or your own body weight—they pull on your bones and create a stimulus for them to adapt.
This is why variety matters. Walking is valuable, but it does not need to be the only exercise in your routine.
Why Weight-Bearing Exercise Matters After 60
Bone is living tissue that continually changes throughout your life. As you get older, bone loss can begin to occur faster than new bone is formed, which can gradually reduce bone density.
Regular movement gives your bones a reason to keep adapting.
Activities that place an appropriate load through your skeleton can help support bone strength, while resistance exercises strengthen the muscles that help you move, lift and stay steady.
Strength training also offers benefits beyond building muscle. As Prevention Australia highlights, resistance exercise can contribute to areas such as bone health and physical function.
For older adults, these benefits have a practical purpose: helping the body stay capable of handling everyday movement.
Stronger Bones Support Everyday Life
Bone health can sound like something happening invisibly inside your body, but its importance becomes clearer when you think about everyday activities.
Consider how often you need to:
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get up from a chair
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carry groceries
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climb stairs
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lift a laundry basket
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step onto a curb
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walk around your home or neighbourhood
These activities depend on more than bone strength alone. They require your muscles, joints, balance and coordination to work together.
Maintaining strength can make everyday tasks more manageable, while good balance and coordination help you stay in control as you move.
Your brain plays an important role in this too, constantly processing information about your body's position and adjusting your movements. We explore this further in Balance Starts in the Brain: Why Coordination Matters as We Age.
Weight-Bearing Exercises for Stronger Bones
There is no single exercise that suits every person over 60. Your mobility, strength, balance, exercise experience, and bone health should all influence your routine.
Some common weight-bearing exercises for older adults include:
Walking: An accessible way to stay active on your feet while supporting general mobility and cardiovascular health.
Stair climbing: Challenges the legs and hips as you move your body against gravity.
Dancing: Combines weight-bearing movement with coordination, balance and changes of direction.
Sit-to-stands: Strengthen the muscles used to rise from a chair while using your own body weight as resistance.
Squats: When appropriate, controlled squats strengthen the lower body and can be progressed by adding resistance.
Resistance exercises: Dumbbells, resistance bands and body-weight movements can strengthen muscles and provide additional loading for bones.
You do not need to perform every activity. A routine should start at an appropriate level and progress gradually.
Is Walking Enough for Bone Health?
Walking is a weight-bearing exercise, which means your bones support your body as you move against gravity. It is a great way to stay active, maintain mobility and add regular movement to your day.
However, walking alone may not provide enough stimulus to maximise its benefits for bone health. Because your body becomes accustomed to familiar movements, the same walk at the same pace may place less challenge on your bones over time.
Healthy Bones Australia explains that weight-bearing activities that involve greater impact—such as stair climbing, dancing and other suitable impact exercises—can provide a stronger stimulus for bones than ordinary walking.
This doesn’t mean you should stop walking. Instead, consider walking as one part of a varied bone-friendly routine. Depending on your ability, adding different weight-bearing movements and appropriate resistance exercises can give your bones and muscles a wider range of challenges.
The goal isn’t to find one “perfect” exercise. It’s to keep your bones appropriately challenged through different types of movement.
Starting Weight-Bearing Exercise Safely
If you have been inactive for some time, start gradually. Exercise should challenge your body without asking it to do more than it is currently prepared for.
This is particularly important if you have osteoporosis, osteopenia, a history of fractures or significant balance difficulties. Some higher-impact movements may not be appropriate for everyone.
Focus on controlled movement, appropriate resistance and gradual progression.
Your age alone does not determine what exercise you can do. Two people of the same age can have very different levels of strength, mobility and exercise experience.
Keep Moving at Home with Telehealth
Consistency is one of the most important parts of staying active. Having a regular exercise routine can make it easier to keep working on strength, balance and mobility throughout the week.
At Summit Health Solutions, our Telehealth Exercise Program gives seniors the opportunity to participate in guided group exercise from home. Sessions provide a convenient way to keep moving without needing to travel to an exercise facility.
Weight-bearing and strengthening activities are not about trying to exercise as you did decades ago. They are about continuing to challenge your body appropriately so it can support the activities you want and need to do.
Keeping your bones and muscles active today can help support movement, confidence and independence in the years ahead.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are good weight-bearing exercises for people over 60?
Walking, stair climbing and dancing are common weight-bearing exercises. The best choice depends on your strength, mobility, balance and bone health.
2. Is walking a weight-bearing exercise?
Yes. Walking is weight-bearing because your body works against gravity. However, combining it with other suitable weight-bearing and strengthening activities can provide a greater variety of challenges for your bones.
3. How often should older adults do strengthening exercises?
Australian guidelines recommend muscle-strengthening activities at least twice a week for older adults. Your routine should still reflect your fitness, health and experience.
4. Can you do weight-bearing exercise with osteoporosis?
Often, yes, but exercise should be appropriate for your individual fracture risk and ability. If you have osteoporosis or a history of fractures, seek professional guidance before trying unfamiliar or higher-impact activities.
5. Do you need heavy weights to strengthen your bones?
Not necessarily. Body weight, resistance bands and dumbbells can all provide resistance. The key is using an appropriate challenge that can be gradually progressed.
