62 year old mother wants to train but is worried about her past fractured vertebrae

[weakmang]

She fractured 2 vertebrae in her upper back about a year ago while carrying something big with uneven load distribution, probably had a rounded back etc (office worker her whole life) and has been diagnosed with Osteoporosis (I don't think it's considered "severe" and pretty common for older women I think?)

She wants to start resistance training with weights (goblet squats and RDL's) but she is concerned about the potential to suffer a similar inury again.

How safe do you think it would be for her if she starts very low and uses good technique etc? Is she worried for nothing?

Thanks for any possible insight

[Austin Baraki]

I cannot give you a quantification of risk here, however I am confident that at her age (still relatively young), NOT training for the rest of her life will put her at markedly higher risk of further decline and health complications compared to the orthopedic risks of training. I agree that starting low and going slow is the right move.

[weakmang]

I cannot give you a quantification of risk here, however I am confident that at her age (still relatively young), NOT training for the rest of her life will put her at markedly higher risk of further decline and health complications compared to the orthopedic risks of training. I agree that starting low and going slow is the right move.

Thanks Austin. I'm going to make her a very minimalistic routine since I know she won't stick with something like the beginner template for very long. Do you think that upper back work would be very important in her situation? Such as dumbbell rows. Right now she seems to like goblet squats and I had her doing some RDL's with just the bar today. She also does a few pushups on her knees every other day with a small range of motion at this stage

[Austin Baraki]

I think full-body training would be wise.