As we age, it’s common to lose both muscle mass and bone density—two factors that can contribute to injury in older adults. And while most of us already know that strength training can help build up our muscles to prevent that problem, fewer know how to help build bone density to achieve the same aim.

The good news is that experts have an answer: It turns out that jumping exercises are considered best for building stronger bones. The key, they say, is to hit the pavement with a certain amount of “ground reaction force,” helping to stimulate bone growth. For those new to the concept, this is the equal and opposite force our bodies receive from the ground as we bring our weight down upon it.

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“Lots of people have questions about how hard they have to jump to stimulate formation of new bone, and in general there’s a cutoff of an activity creating a ground reaction force that is three times your body weight to stimulate new bone formation,” Joscelyn Wittstein, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, explained in a recent social media post.

She notes that the ground reaction force created with walking is about 1.5 times your body weight, while running is about 2.5 times your body weight. Jumping rope, often hailed as the best option, is actually somewhere in the middle—”15 percent less than running, but 40 percent more than walking,” Wittstein says.

So, what’s the best way, according to the surgeon? Wittstein says that you can create a ground reaction force that is more than four times your body weight by trying “drop jumps with a vertical rebound”—essentially jumping off an elevated surface of eight inches, landing, and jumping once more in place. The doctor demonstrates the exercise by jumping off the lowest stair in a staircase, since these typically measure 7 ¾ inches.

If this exercise seems a bit odd, that’s a good thing. Emily Stein, MD, MS, the co-director for the Skeletal Health and Orthopedic Research Program at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, recently told the The Washington Post (WaPo) that if you want to build bone density, “You have to surprise the bone. You have to do something different.”

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The gains may seem modest, but Wittstein assures they’re worthwhile: If you do 30 reps of the exercise three times per week over six months, you should be able to increase hip bone mineral density by about one percent.

However, even less frequent exercise could still provide benefits, said Pam Bruzina, PhD, a professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri, also in conversation with WaPo: “A little bit of jumping two or three times a week could go a long way in benefiting your bone health throughout your lifespan.”

However, there’s just one important caveat—without the accompanying muscle, these exercises could themselves lead to a higher incidence of injury. Be sure to build up both bone density and a stronger body for safer exercise and better results.

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