I've been seeing more and more people working out with medicine balls at my gym. I'm trying to do more strength-training exercises to prevent osteoporosis.
Medicine balls do seem to be making a comeback.
Roughly twice the size of a basketball, and weighing from two to 20 pounds, they were popular back in the 1930s and then disappeared until this recent resurgence. One reason they fell out of vogue was because the old-fashioned balls were filled with paper and cotton, making them moldy and smelly when they got wet. To protect against osteoporosis you should be doing both aerobic exercise and strength training. Strength training also offers protection against osteoporosis. Studies at Tufts University in Boston have shown that postmenopausal women who engage in strength training can actually gain, rather than lose, bone mass.