High-intensity resistance and impact training
Also called: HiRIT, high intensity resistance training, heavy lifting for bone
What it means
High-intensity resistance and impact training (HiRIT) is a supervised exercise approach that combines heavy weight lifting (like deadlifts, squats, and overhead presses) with impact moves (like jumping) to load bones hard enough to encourage them to stay strong.
For people with low bone density, this type of challenging, well-supervised strength and impact training is one of the better-studied ways to put healthy mechanical stress on the spine and hip.
High-intensity resistance and impact training, often shortened to HiRIT, means lifting fairly heavy weights (close to your near-maximum effort) combined with impact activities such as jumping or drop landings. The idea is that bones respond to mechanical stress — lift and load them hard enough, in a safe and progressive way, and they're more likely to maintain density than with light activity alone, such as walking.
This approach has been studied in supervised programs for postmenopausal women with low bone mass, often involving exercises like deadlifts, overhead presses, back squats, and controlled jumping or drop landings under close professional supervision. Some research suggests this kind of training may help support bone density at the spine and hip compared with lighter home exercise, though results vary and more research is needed.
HiRIT is not for everyone — it's typically built and supervised by trained professionals, and it isn't appropriate for people with certain conditions, like prevalent vertebral fractures, recent joint replacement, or very low functional reserve. It hasn't been shown to prevent fractures or cure osteoporosis; it's one tool, among several, for supporting bone and muscle health. Anyone considering it should talk with their doctor or a qualified trainer familiar with their bone health first.
How sure is this?
Graded Strong Clinical Evidence: Supported by multiple well-designed clinical studies in humans. Read each study with its grade in mind. One study is a piece of the picture, not the whole of it.
Supervised heavy lifting combined with jumping is a well-studied way to load bones and help them stay strong.
Where this leads
WordHiRIT combines heavy lifting with impact. Curious about the actual study that showed this kind of training helped women's spine bone density?
Where the Academy teaches it
This page is the short version. The lessons teach it in full, with the context around it and a quiz to lock it in.
Related words
The LIFTMOR trial was a study showing that supervised, heavy twice-weekly lifting over eight months helped…
Resistance training is exercise where your muscles work against weight or resistance, like squats, deadlifts, or…
Progressive overload is the training principle of gradually increasing the load, intensity, or difficulty of…
Impact loading is exercise, like jumping or hopping, that sends a sudden, forceful jolt through the skeleton,…
Ground reaction force is the push-back force the ground gives your body each time you step or move against it.
Wolff's Law says your bones adapt to the loads you put on them, getting stronger with use and losing density when…
Education only, not medical advice. Decisions about tests, medications and treatment belong with your own doctor. OsteoStrong does not diagnose, treat or cure any disease.
