The exercises to avoid with osteoporosis are the ones that load the spine into end-range bending or twisting: weighted sit-ups and crunches, toe-touches, deep forward folds, and fast repeated rotation such as a loaded golf swing. It is the combination of bending or twisting WITH load or momentum that threatens a fragile vertebra — not movement itself.
The old advice was a flat list of ‘movements to avoid’. The current Bone Fit™ guidance is more nuanced and more useful: it is about limiting certain loaded patterns, not living in fear of your own body.
Limit these spinal loads
Be cautious with spinal flexion (forward bending), rotation (twisting) and side-bending when they are also repeated/sustained, weighted, at end-range, rapid/forceful, or combined. It’s the combination of bending and load that threatens a fragile vertebra.
- Don’t round-and-lift — hinge at the hips with a flat back instead
- Reduce the cumulative slouching and twisting of daily life and work
- Take care lowering a heavy object down from overhead
- For the hip: avoid forced, end-range rotation, and follow any post-surgery limits
| Instead of this | Why it is risky | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Sit-ups and crunches | Repeated loaded flexion — the pattern most associated with vertebral compression risk | Plank, bird-dog, standing anti-rotation press |
| Toe-touches and deep forward folds | End-range spinal flexion, often with body-weight load | Hip hinge with a neutral spine; hamstring stretch lying down |
| Fast, loaded twisting (e.g. repeated golf swings) | Rapid end-range rotation under momentum | Controlled, neutral-spine rotation; anti-rotation holds |
| Rounded-back lifting from the floor | Combines flexion with external load | Hip hinge / deadlift pattern coached to a neutral spine |
What we encourage
Extension is your friend. Strengthening the muscles that hold you tall — the spinal extensors — improves posture and reduces back pain. That’s why the Foundation track is full of gentle extension work, and why every loaded lift in Bone Builder is coached to a neutral spine.