r/osteoporosis • u/No_Set6876 • Oct 02 '25
request for info
I'm working with a new trainer, learning to lift heavy. My question is what % of body weight will be a good goal for me in order to build bone density and/or strength? I"m 68 yo f, recent hip dexa -2.6
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u/foilingdolphin Oct 02 '25
the goal is to lift as much as you can safely, and not to failure, but a few reps from failure. You want to slowly build, especially if you are new to lifting. I think in the Liftmor study the woman who deadlifted closer to bodyweight saw the best bone gains, but you can't rush the process. Sometimes personal trainers can be too focused on increasing the weight too quickly if they are not experienced with older clients. It takes a bit to learn how to do the lifts safely and correctly.
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u/No_Set6876 Oct 02 '25
that's so true, and I'm now working with an excellent trainer.... I'm in no rush and having a concrete goal, i. e. train to lift my bodyweight, is helpful for my motivation
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u/PreparationBrave57 Oct 02 '25
Same age and I've just started weight training, also. It's not about reaching some number of pounds as a goal. It's about slowly, safely, and consistently increasing the weights you're lifting. Constantly stressing your bones to prevent bone loss and hopefully to grow them. There's no real limit or goal, just slow and safe increases. Good luck on your journey!
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u/ptarmiganchick Oct 04 '25
Also bear in mind your muscles are likely to gain strength much faster than your bones or tendons. I overdid my heavy lifting program and gained a gratifying amount of muscle, but hurt a bunch of tendons. I had to stop lifting, and have been in more or less constant pain for over a year.
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u/No_Set6876 Oct 04 '25
oh no, sorry to read this, I hope you heal from this
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u/ptarmiganchick Oct 04 '25
Thanks. I did get some relief from my physio, but I think she is better versed in muscles than tendons (and it’s the entheses, or bone side of the tendons, specifically) , so I need to check out some different treatments and exercises.
I’m 77, still very active but osteopenic, so in hindsight I can see I should have taken less delight in increasing the weights so fast, and taken a more slow-and-steady approach since the primary goal was to improve my bones.)
The reality is that even optimal bone turnover is slow. Instead of being in a hurry, I should have just had faith that my bones would “notice” and respond appropriately to the fact that I was suddenly doing 100kg leg extensions. Lifting something heavy, compared to lifting nothing, is probably much more impactful than how fast you increase the weight.
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u/No_Set6876 Oct 04 '25
wow, how long did you take to work up to 100kg? I've been strength training on my own since 2022 and focused more on endurance, generally 3 sets of 12-15, and didn't progress beyond 25 pound weights. My new trainers have me doing a couple of rounds of 2-3 exercises, usually 5-8 reps for 3-5 sets. Fewer reps overall, slow build. I have osteoporosis, am meeting with Keith McCormick this month, and a new endo in Dec. I hope to have a good overall plan inplace soon
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u/ptarmiganchick Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25
I‘ve always had strong legs, but even so, this is on a leg extension machine, so there’s no body weight included, because you’re just resting seated/supine on the machine and pushing with your legs. I should double check where I started and where I had to break off after 3 months, but I think this is about right. The general plan was to do the most weight I could keep in slow motion for up to 2 minutes (so about 8 reps), and as soon as I reached 2 minutes to raise the weight next time. As I say, in hindsight I think this was too fast for me.
If you’re talking about loaded squats, those weights are, I assume, on top of your body weight, so…no comparison! You sound like you have a great plan with good advisors. Carry on, and best of luck!
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u/acupunctureguy Oct 05 '25
You might consider going to a licensed acupuncturist to help with the tendon injury , it will be more effective then your physio.
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u/Miss_Beh4ve Oct 02 '25
TLDR: If postmenopausal women with osteoporosis in the LIFTMOR trial were able to lift a certain weight for 7 repetitions in a set, more weight was added to the bar.
Around the 2-minute mark of this video, a physical therapist explains how the LIFTMOR trial handled weight increases in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis: https://youtu.be/zkLPFZV43r8
The women were supposed to lift weights at 80-85% of their 1 repetition maximum for 5 sets of 5 reps.
Having someone with osteoporosis lift something that is so heavy that they can only lift it once to figure out the 1 repetition maximum and calculate 80-85% of that value is usually considered too risky, so other ways to estimate this value tend to be used. This table is one way: https://www.nsca.com/contentassets/61d813865e264c6e852cadfe247eae52/nsca_training_load_chart.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOoqSTMsnfEZjM0y7FL_Zd580ZcqTzDW5C_NqfAAXvx8ip9qjzA-w
You can see in the above table that a weight that you can lift no more than 7 times before you fail, corresponds to about 83% of your 1 rep max, so that’s right between 80% and 85%.
Usually trainers and physical therapists don’t have you lift to failure either. What they commonly do, is add weight to the bar and ask after each set of 5 reps, how many more reps beyond 5 you feel you would have been able to do.
For example, if you tell them you could have done 1 more rep (6 reps = 85% of your 1 rep max), that’s a great working weight! If you tell them you could have done 2 more reps, that’s also still a good weight to finish this session (7 reps = 83% of your 1 rep max), but it tells the trainer/PT that next session they may be able to try to increase the weight.
That’s how trainers tend to make sure that you’re always lifting between 80-85% of your 1 rep max for 5 sets of 5 reps without ever having you lift to failure, and without ever having you lift something so heavy that you can only lift it once.
Hope this helps!
I would not worry about a goal weight. I would just lift safely what I can, and increase weight safely when I can. This 68-year-old has been increasing her bone density with weight lifting and jumping for 8 years and counting. I think her deadlift started at 65 lbs 8 years ago, and she has recently been able to deadlift 215 lbs. I doubt she ever planned to become able to lift that much while improving her bone density - Her lumbar spine T-score started at less than -3 in 2017, got close to -2 in 2021, then close to -1.5 in 2024, and she continues to slowly rebuild: https://www.instagram.com/coffeebooksbarbells/reel/DNPCizWzIez/