14/04/2026
Half of women in NZ/AUS will develop osteoporosis by 65.
HALF!
Most won't know it until a fall changes everything.
And most of those women spent decades doing cardio.
Here's what the research actually says:
Cardio doesn't protect your bones.
Running, spin, and aerobics improve cardiovascular fitness.
They do almost nothing for bone density.
After menopause, oestrogen drops and bone loss accelerates dramatically without the right stimulus.
Strength training does help.
New meta-analyses confirm: resistance training combined with weight-bearing exercise produces the best bone density outcomes in post-menopausal women.
This is now consistent across multiple large studies published in 2025-2026.
The window matters.
The decade around menopause is when intervention makes the biggest difference.
Women who start strength training in their 40s and 50s enter their 60s and 70s in a completely different position to those who don't.
The numbers are hard to ignore:
→ 30-50% of women over 65 who fracture a hip never regain full function
→ Mortality after hip fractures remains above 20% within 12 months
→ Post-menopause, men have MORE oestrogen than women, the hormonal shift is that dramatic
This isn't about looking a certain way.
It's about being able to walk, lift, and live independently at 80.
It's about not being a burden to the people you love.
The women I see thriving in their 70s aren't the ones who did the most cardio.
They're the ones who got strong.
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