This surprisingly simple everyday habit makes a big difference for bone health

 With your risk of falling stronger bones means less likely to break. Which is another reason to do stairs constantly.

Two and a half years ago I bought a 4 level condo, 7 steps per level, that is what will keep me travelling to Europe for decades to come. Not doing steps is tantamount to giving up on life.

This surprisingly simple everyday habit makes a big difference for bone health

How often do you choose the stairs over an escalator or elevator? If the answer is rarely, you might want to reconsider. Bone density naturally declines with age, but for women, that process accelerates after menopause, according to Betsy Grunch, MD, a board-certified neurosurgeon specializing in spinal surgery. Fortunately, you can do something about that. “Bones are living tissue. They’re constantly remodeling and adapting to the forces placed on them,” Grunch explains.” And one simple way to do that is by taking the stairs. Read on to find out why that helps.

Why Taking the Stairs Is Good for Your Bones

Bones are similar to muscles in that they get stronger when you use them, explains Pasha Ehsan, M.D., a physiatrist board-certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation with Providence St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, California. “Bones respond to stress and impact,” Ehsan says. “When you put force through a bone, such as stepping firmly on a stair, the bone cells sense that pressure. This triggers the body to build more bone tissue and make the bone stronger over time.”

You want to be careful not to pound too hard, warns William Workman, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon at DISC Sports & Spine Center and adjunct clinical associate professor in the department of orthopaedic surgery at Stanford University. “Excessive pounding can irritate joints and potentially lead to overuse injuries like stress reactions or stress fractures if the body doesn’t have time to recover,” Workman says. “Just taking the stairs instead of the elevator adds the kind of weight-bearing activity that helps keep bones strong.” 

More Tips for Keeping Bones Healthy

Taking the stairs is a simple way to get in weight-bearing activity, but it isn’t a replacement for regular exercise. “Stair impact can be a helpful supplement to other exercises, but it can also be a good starting point for people who don’t have a regular workout routine,” Ehsan says. “It’s accessible, quick, and doesn’t require equipment.”

 Related video 1 exercise to boost leg strength in seniors (Bob and Brad) 

Grunch says even 10-15 minutes of stair climbing or light jumping three to five times a week can help stimulate bone remodeling. 

I can't jump at all, not even an inch off the floor, which is bizarre since my left leg still has massive power!

However, she stresses the importance of incorporating strength training to help maintain muscle mass as well. “The stronger your muscles are, the better they protect and stimulate your skeleton,” she says. What's more, healthy bone tissue also relies on overall healthy habits, like not smoking and getting enough protein, vitamin D, and calcium. “The big takeaway is this: bone health is built over years, not weeks. Small, consistent stresses like taking the stairs add up,” Grunch says.

Read the original article on Real Simple

At 57, these are the exercises I’m doing to prevent falls in later life

 

I can't jump at all, not even an inch off the floor, which is bizarre since my left leg still has massive power! Demand your competent? doctor give you EXACT PROTOCOLS to accomplish this!

At 57, these are the exercises I’m doing to prevent falls in later life

I’m bounding across the gym, springing as far as I can with every great leap. Then I’m dashing up and down, sprinting as fast as I can. Why am I flinging myself around the room at 57, as if my life depends on it? Because, in a way, it does. I want to reduce my risk of a fall in my 80s.

Most of us know that we should strength train to ward off age-related muscle loss. Yet there is another physical ability that drains away with the years, and it’s even more critical than muscle strength in preventing falls and fractures in later life – power. Power requires strength but relates to how fast you can move.

It’s crucial because the faster you can right yourself if you trip over the cat, the less likely you are to fall flat and crack a hip. Jon Roberts, technical director at Evolution Longevity clubs, says: “Power’s all about speed of reaction.” He adds: “With falls, as you lose your balance – how quickly can you react to that loss of balance? That’s what prevents falls.”

Power is the reason why, in midlife, my fitness regime includes not just slow, controlled muscle-building exercises, like deadlifts, but also speedy, springy movements that require sudden bursts of force.

Related video: Fitness program helps folks stay strong after 50 (FOX 13 Tampa Bay) 

“The difference between a strength exercise versus a power exercise is that for power, you’re using less weight, but using speed as your added resistance,” says Roberts.

Jumping in midlife could prevent a broken hip

 I learnt the critical importance of power two years ago, at 55, when a private bone scan at Evolution revealed I had osteoporosis. Two years on, my power moves – part of three-times-weekly targeted strength training sessions with an Evolution PT – have significantly increased my bone density. “Power creates torsion on the bones,” says Jon Roberts. “Powerful movement puts a force on the bones which can help strengthen them.” But along with stronger bones, I can now sprint for the bus with a solid chance of staying upright if I trip. Sarcopenia makes headlines, yet evidence shows that motor power capacity reduces faster with age than muscle strength, and that this loss of power is more strongly associated with reduced function and age-related decline. Scientists are taking note, and the aptly named Dr Geoffrey Power, associate professor at the Neuromechanical Performance Research Laboratory at the University of Guelph in Canada, was a keynote speaker at the third international annual seminar on “powerpenia” in Brazil earlier this year. “It’s something that people should really be paying attention to,” he says. “We notice losses in power – loss of strength and slowed movements – occurring before we have the loss of muscle. It’s proposed as an earlier biomarker of impaired function in ageing.” Happily, there’s a lot you can do at home to boost your power and avoid frailty and falls in later life. 

How to tell if your muscles are powerful enough

When I started training, I hadn’t done any fast, explosive movement such as sprinting, tennis or jumping for decades. I didn’t notice I was losing power because all my activities – swimming, yoga, slow runs – were careful and deliberate. But there can be subtle signs. Dr Power says that tripping more often can indicate declining power. Plus, “You can notice gait speed slowing. Fear of falling starts to come into play. Really slowed movement is the strongest indicator that maybe muscles are not generating as much power as they used to.”

To gauge your power, try the jump test, says Jon Roberts. You’ll need some Post-it notes. “You stand, arm extended, and stick the Post-it on the wall.” Then, he says, “bend from the knees into a squat movement and jump as high as you can. Keep your arm fully extended and stick a new Post-it note at the highest point you can reach.”

Jump test: measure how high you can jump by comparing the height of two Post-it marks on a wall.

(Not possible at all, I can't jump!)

You’re measuring the height difference between the first and second mark, and, if someone can time you, reaction speed. “That relates to how powerful you are. That’s the ultimate test.” For men aged 50-59, a jump height of 33-39cm is in the “acceptable range”. For women aged 50-59, it’s 24-28cm. Whereas 50cm is considered “high power” in men aged 40 and over, and 40cm is “high power” in women of the same age.

Jumping 90cm or higher? You’re “elite” (or an NBA player).

Leg power doesn’t just prevent falls, it’s also good for your brain

Roberts cites a study, Kicking Back Cognitive Ageing, published in the journal Gerontology in 2016 by scientists at King’s College London. Over 10 years, they tracked 324 healthy female twins, aged 55 on average. At the start, each had her leg power measured via a single, explosive push against a pedal, “as if performing an emergency stop in a car”. Researchers found that women with more leg power when the study began showed less decline in memory and mental processing speed over the following 10 years. Roberts says: “Leg power was the most consistent predictor of how well the brain aged.”

What I do – and why

There’s one snag with power moves – you can’t just jump straight in and start doing them, or you risk injury. I didn’t attempt kettlebell swings or medicine ball throws until I’d become fitter and stronger. “You need to strengthen the muscles, the tendons, you need to have coordination and improve function,” says Dr Power. “Then individuals can do power-type training. This involves increasing movement speed, and starting to focus on the idea of explosive contractions – or ‘rate of force’ development.”

My training sessions include lunges, squats, lateral pulldowns and bench presses, progressively increasing the weights I work with. This has built stronger bones, increased my muscle mass and strength, and, as Dr Power notes, such work “ultimately increases power as well.”

But to turbocharge power, I do the following moves:

Five ways to test and build power

1. Visualise your power move

Just thinking about doing an exercise fast can improve function. It’s called “ballistic intent”. Tell yourself, “‘I’m going to do this squat, and in my head now, I’m planning that it’s going to be an explosive movement,’” says Dr Power. “That in and of itself can improve the rate of force development.”

2. Kettlebell swing

Kettlebell swing, using explosive hip power to drive the weight to chest height.

(If I get mine down to 5lbs. I can do this.)

Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Place the kettlebell on the floor a short distance in front of your feet. Hinge at your hips, with your knees bent and back flat. Brace your core and upper body. Grasp the kettlebell handle, lift it off the floor and use the power of your glutes to snap your hips forward until you’re upright, swinging the kettlebell to chest height. “This is a power exercise as it requires speed and acceleration to make the kettlebell move,” says Jon Roberts.

3. The 10m sprint

10m sprint: time yourself over 10m to assess your power and speed, with faster times indicating better power

(Can't run at all, spasticity prevents the left foot from being straight and has no free swinging lower leg!)

Mark out a 10m strip. Time yourself to sprint that 10m distance. For men over 50, an acceptable time is 1.85-2 seconds, and for women, 1.95-2.1 seconds. For men, sprinting 10m in 1.70-1.85 seconds is a marker of good power. For women, it’s 1.80-1.95 seconds. Keep practising to improve power.

4. Single-leg sit-to-stand

Single-leg sit-to-stand: test your leg strength and stability by rising from a chair on one leg.

(Impossible, can't keep the left leg raised when trying the right leg. And the left leg doesn't have enough power and control to do this.)

Sit on a chair that’s slightly higher than knee height. Place one foot on the floor, keep the other raised, place your hands on your hips, brace your core and go from sitting to standing. Do as many quality (non-shaky!) repetitions as you can before changing legs. Ten to 14 reps in 30 seconds is a good score.

5. Standing medicine ball throw

Standing medicine ball throw to build explosive upper-body power

(Absolutely impossible, my fucking failures of doctors and therapists never cured my spasticity so I could flatten my left hand)

Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Hold a 2kg medicine ball at your chest with your hands on each side of the ball. (Goal Attack vibes.) Throw the ball away from you, as far as you can, and have a partner mark its landing point. Normal power for women over 50 would be a distance of 3.5-4.5m. For men aged 50 and over, throwing a 3kg ball 6-9m indicates good athletic power. “The weight of the ball is important for the test protocol,” says Roberts. “However, regularly throwing a ball as far as you can in a chest throw position is good training.”

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5 Simple Exercises To Build Ankle Strength—and Why It Matters for Your Fitness Routine

 Your competent? doctor did give you ankle exercises to prevent ankle rolling post stroke, right! Oh No, you DON'T have a functioning stroke doctor, do you? And your board of directors is so incompetent they have NO standards for excellence in their hospital! Sounds like the hospital needs to be reconstituted! I use the BOSU ball for this purpose, round side down, more challenging but less likely to roll the ankle.

5 Simple Exercises To Build Ankle Strength—and Why It Matters for Your Fitness Routine

While ankle strength isn't typically a central training focus, it’s an important aspect of healthy movement patterns that affects your entire fitness routine and everyday life. Here are five exercises to build your ankle strength:

1. Single-Leg Balance Drill

NickyLloyd / Getty Images

Balance is one of the simplest—and most underrated—ways to build ankle stability. Your ankle relies heavily on proprioception (your body’s sense of position), and better balance improves joint awareness and reaction time.1

Here's how to do a single-leg balance drill:

(I've failed the one leg standing test of the Berg Balance Scale from the 

beginning, now 20 years later(age 70) I still fail.) 

Stand tall with your gaze forward.

1. Lift one leg so your knee is at 90 degrees and you’re balancing on one foot.
2. Hold the position for 30-60 seconds, and then switch sides. 

Tip: You can progress the exercises by closing your eyes, turning your head, or standing on an unstable surface like a foam pad.

2. Calf Raises

Video at link.

A staple for ankle stability and strength, this movement trains your calf muscles, which support the ankle joint and play a key role in walking, running, and jumping. It’s best to do these slowly and controlled so you get full activation.2

Here's how to do a calf raise:

1. Keep your feet shoulder-width apart and create a slight arch with each foot by pressing your big toe into the floor.
2. With equal toe pressure, lift your heels off the ground as high as you can.
3. Pause for a moment at the top and feel the contraction.
4. Slowly lower with control before completing more reps.

Tip: The next step is to add more resistance to progress this exercise. Hold dumbbells in your hands for a bigger challenge. 

3. Tibialis Raises (Wall-Supported)

This exercise works the front of your shins, called the tibialis muscle, which is just as important as your other calf muscles for ankle stability. Each step or landing requires your ankle to control how your foot lowers to the ground, which is driven by the tibialis anterior. When it’s weak, the foot drops uncontrollably and increases stress on the ankle. Stronger tibs create smoother, more stable landings.3

Here's how to do a wall-supported tibialis raise:

1. Lean your back against a wall with heels about 6–12 inches away. 
2. With control, lift your toes toward your shins as high as you can.
3. Pause at the top, feel the contraction, and slowly lower. 
4. Do as many reps as you can until you notice you can’t lift as high during the next rep.

Tip: Progress it by inching your feet further away from the wall. 

4. Step-Down Control Drill

Alexandr Sherstobitov / Getty Images

This drill strengthens the ankle through loaded dorsiflexion (when your foot and shin move closer together), which is how your body actually uses the joint during movements like walking, running, and squatting. It also reinforces proper alignment—training your knee, ankle, and foot to work together, which is essential for healthy movement patterns. 4

Here's how to do a step-down control drill:

1. Stand on a step while creating a slight arch with your foot and maintaining big toe pressure. 
2. Slowly lower one heel toward the ground as you step off the box.
3. Once you land, step back onto the box and repeat the slow descent back down for more reps.

Tip: Make sure to keep your knee tracking over your toes so it doesn't collapse inward. You can progress this exercise by holding weights in your hand or going even slower on the descent. 

5. Lateral Hops

Video at link.

A more advanced drill, this plyometric exercise trains ankle stability through explosive movement driven by a coordinated effort of your strength, speed, balance, and reaction time.

Functionally, lateral hops train the ankle to rapidly absorb and reapply force, especially in the side-to-side direction where most ankle sprains occur. They improve reactive stability, meaning your ankle can quickly adjust to unexpected shifts in position, like stepping on uneven ground or quickly changing directions. 5

Here's how to do lateral hops: (This is totally impossible for me, I have never been able to jump since stroke)

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your core tight.
2. In a coordinated effort, explosively hop to the side by bouncing off your toes while keeping your arches engaged as best as possible to prevent your knees from collapsing inward.
3. When you land, immediately hop back to the starting position from your toes and repeat in a dynamic fashion, making sure to land softly and with bounce.

Tip: If you find the explosive side-to-side movement too much, you can practice hopping to the side and sticking the landing each time. Reset and then hop back in the other direction. As you get more comfortable, you can start doing it faster and eventually with shorter ground contact time. 

Why It's Good To Have Strong Ankles

Strong ankles improve balance, power, and injury resilience. Weak ankles, on the other hand, can contribute to instability, poor movement mechanics, and a higher risk of sprains or overuse injuries. Whether you’re walking, lifting, running, jumping, or doing HIIT, ankle strength is foundational.6

Power up! Could force be the secret to supercharging your fitness?

 I can't do this with my left leg at all, proven by not being able to jump off the ground at all.

Power up! Could force be the secret to supercharging your fitness?

Discover why health experts suggest incorporating power, the ability to generate force quickly, into your fitness routine to stay active longer

The power of wall balls

 Ask your competent? doctor to get you 100% recovered to be able to do this. Impossible for me, left hand will not open, I can't jump at all and can't get my left arm past my shoulder while standing. 

The power of wall balls

Throwing a heavy ball at a wall provides a full-body workout in a single move.

January 7, 2026

By Matthew Solan, Former Executive Editor, Harvard Men's Health Watch

• Reviewed by Kaitlyn Buckwell, MS, CSCS, TSAC-F, Contributor

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Bouncing a ball against a wall is one of the simplest pleasures of childhood. For adults, it's one of the best ways to increase strength, power, and endurance.

For wall ball exercises (commonly called "wall balls"), you squat with a large ball in your hands, then rise explosively, throwing the ball high against a wall. You complete the move by catching the ball and dropping back into a squat, ready for the next repetition.

Wall balls use lower-body strength and power while engaging multiple muscle groups at once: the chest, midsection, buttocks, legs, and shoulders. The steady up-and-down movement also boosts the heart rate.

"Not only are wall balls an effective full-body movement, but they also can improve your ability to perform daily tasks like lifting, reaching, and getting up and down from a seated position," says Kaitlyn Buckwell, a strength and conditioning specialist with the Center for Sports Performance and Research at Harvard-affiliated Mass General Brigham. "The constant throwing-and-catching motion can also improve coordination and balance."

Choosing the right wall ball

A wall ball is 14 inches in diameter (think of a large-sized pizza) with a soft synthetic leather or vinyl shell and a textured surface that makes it easier to throw and catch. You can purchase the balls online. They're also available at most gyms or stores that sell sporting goods.