ReanthReflections

Get Down, Get Down, and Jump Up!

cwr
Chris Richardson
cwr
Chris Richardson

There's a lot of talk these days about the sit-rise test. It's not clear why it's suddenly become so popular, since the original study was published more than a decade ago (reprint) — but we'll take it as good news!

The key point of the test is that it seems to be a very strong predicter of all-form mortality. That is, the worse you perform on the test, the more likely you are to die soon!

From our perspective, the point isn't the test itself. Rather, the ability to do the test moderately well (say, a score of 8 out of 10), is a good indicator of how much you've been moving like a human!

We all know that we sit too much. Whether it's at our desk for work, or in the car, or on public transit, we all spend way too much time at this in-between point, where we're not standing and we're not on the ground. There's a lot of awareness around this, and many people are taking steps (e.g., standing desks). But while standing up more is great, it's not enough — we also need to get down!

It's like anything else — use it or lose it! If you want the strength and flexibility to sit down on the ground and stand back up, well ... you need to spend some time on the ground!

The best way to do this is, of course, to make it part of your daily life. For starters, spend more of your free time on the ground:

  • go on picnics

  • sit on the beach

  • go camping and sleep in a tent

  • etc...

But even if you do all of these things, you still probably won't be doing it enough. So, depending on where you are in your life, do as many of these things as you can:

  • play on the ground with children (your children, your grand children, your nieces and nephews ... find some kids!)

  • take a martial art

  • start doing yoga

The martial-art suggestion is particularly interesting, because it's less obvious. But even martial arts that are known for saying "never get on the ground", like Okinawan karate, will still have you spending a fair bit of time on the ground — kneeling when others are demonstrating, stretching, doing warm-ups, etc...

Bottom line, if you can't score 8:10 on the SRT, you need to be spending more time on the ground! Get down so you can get up!

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