Last week my mom fell and broke her hip.
She’s 73 and hasn’t worked out much during her life, so it wasn’t a huge shock to learn she broke the neck of her femur straight through.
While poor mom is stuck in a facility learning how to walk again, I am reminded of the importance of strong bones, especially as a 40-something involved in a combat sport.
Bone breaks are one of the fastest ways to derail your jiu-jitsu journey — but fractures are unfortunately common in grappling.
What most people don’t realize, however, is your bones are adaptable tissue. Like muscle, they respond to the stimulus you give them. And the right training and recovery habits can make your skeleton stronger, denser, and far more resilient to the rigors of combat sports.
Here are five proven ways to strengthen your bones and reduce your risk of fractures on the mat.
1. Load Your Skeleton — Train Against Resistance
When it comes to building stronger bones, nothing is more effective than applying load. This doesn’t just mean heavy barbell lifting—although that works. It also includes other forms of resistance that create meaningful mechanical stress on your bones.
Bone tissue adapts when it’s subjected to tension, compression, or torsion. This is known as Wolff’s Law, and it means bones grow denser and stronger in response to the loads they bear.
Compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, carries, and overhead pressing are great examples—but so are isometrics, heavy club and kettlebell work, where you create and resist tension across multiple joints.
The key isn’t just movement—it’s force. If you’re creating high muscular tension through resistance, and that tension transmits through your bones, you’re laying the groundwork for stronger skeletal tissue.
How to apply this:
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Incorporate loaded compound lifts 2–3x/week
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Add high-tension isometric holds (30–90 seconds)
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Include functional loading like carries, landmine lifts, and heavy club movements to stress bones across planes
2. Use Impact and Plyometrics to Stimulate Bone Adaptation
It might sound counterintuitive, but controlled impact is good for your bones. Activities that involve jumping, sprinting, or landing create a high rate of force development that directly stimulates osteoblasts—the cells responsible for building new bone.
Even low-impact drills like skipping, hopping, bounding, and jumping rope can safely load your bones while improving your coordination and elastic capacity.
Hill sprints are another low-risk, high-reward option. But if you have the experience and technique, try depth jumps, box jumps, drops, and single-leg work.
How to apply this:
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Add 2–3 short plyometric sessions per week (jump rope, skipping, hill sprints)
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Incorporate drills into your warm-ups or off-the-mat training
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Focus on quality, springy, soft landings with control
3. Prioritize Protein for Bone Matrix Strength
Most people associate calcium with bone health—but bone is just as much protein as it is mineral. In fact, about 50% of bone volume is made of collagen, the structural protein that provides flexibility and toughness.
If your diet lacks adequate protein, especially as you age or train intensely, your body can’t maintain the collagen matrix that gives bone its integrity. That means more brittleness and less resilience.
Protein also helps increase levels of IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor), a hormone closely tied to both muscle and bone growth. It works alongside mechanical loading to stimulate bone-building activity.
How to apply this:
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Aim for 0.8–1g of protein per pound of bodyweight daily
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Include collagen-rich sources like bone broth or collagen supplements (especially when combined with vitamin C)
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Prioritize protein post-training to aid recovery and bone remodeling
4. Dial in Your Vitamin D and K2 Intake
You can train perfectly and eat a protein-rich diet—but if you’re low in Vitamin D, your bones will still suffer. Vitamin D helps regulate calcium absorption, and without it, the calcium you consume often gets excreted or misdirected.
Vitamin K2 is equally important. It acts like a traffic cop, directing calcium into the bones and away from soft tissues like arteries and kidneys.
Many active adults are insufficient in both vitamins, especially in northern climates or those with limited sun exposure.
How to apply this:
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Get your Vitamin D levels tested (optimal is typically 40–60 ng/mL)
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Supplement with D3 + K2 if needed
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Eat K2-rich foods like fermented cheeses, egg yolks, and grass-fed dairy
5. Support Hormones and Recovery for Bone Regeneration
Bones don’t just grow during training, they regenerate during rest. Your hormonal environment, sleep quality, and recovery practices play a massive role in your bone health over time.
Chronic stress, sleep deprivation, and under-eating suppress critical anabolic hormones like testosterone, IGF-1, and growth hormone—all of which are essential for bone remodeling and repair.
If you’re overtraining or under-recovering, your risk of injury, including bone fractures, skyrockets—especially as you age.
How to apply this:
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Sleep 7–9 hours consistently
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Avoid overtraining or under-fueling
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Incorporate breathwork and parasympathetic practices to manage stress
Final Thoughts
These methods might not rival mom’s shiny new titanium hip, but they’re your best shot at coming close.
You can build a skeleton that holds up to the stress of grappling.
Start treating your bones like the adaptable tissue they are.
Train with force, load your joints, and fuel and recover properly.
Over time, you’ll build a frame that’s hard to break—on the mat or off.
WHENEVER YOU’RE READY, THERE ARE 3 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU:
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