Resistance training, because it targets the muscle loss doing most of the metabolic damage and it loads bone at the same time. Two or three sessions a week alongside a hundred and fifty minutes of general activity is the evidence-backed combination.
Muscle first
Austin patient guide: why resistance training leads
Muscle starts going in the forties, well before the last period, so a woman beginning resistance work in Austin at 45 is not starting early. Muscle mass declines steadily from the forties, and muscle is metabolically active tissue. Losing it lowers resting energy expenditure, worsens glucose handling and reduces the load on bone that keeps density up.
Resistance training is the only intervention that reliably slows that loss. Two or three sessions a week working the major muscle groups is enough, and it does not require a gym.
It also improves balance and bone density at the same time, which matters because fractures generally need a fall to happen first. Related reading: what to expect first, patient guides and bone health and osteoporosis go further into it. For Austin women already diagnosed with low bone density, that combination is the argument for resistance work over another walking program.
