Keep Getting Off the Floor

"One of the most valuable movement skills you can maintain isn't found in a gym exercise. It's your ability to get down to the floor and get back up again."

There's a movement I think adults should avoid giving up unnecessarily.

Getting down on the floor.

And more importantly...

Getting back up.

It's easy to stop doing.

Maybe your knees feel a little stiff.

Maybe getting up isn't as smooth as it used to be.

So you start avoiding the floor.

Makes sense.

The problem is that avoiding a movement doesn't give you much opportunity to maintain it.

The less often you perform a movement, the less familiar and comfortable it tends to become.

Over time, what was once easy starts feeling difficult.

And eventually, difficult starts feeling impossible.

Getting Up Requires More Than You Think

Getting from the floor to standing asks a lot from your body.

Your hips and ankles have to move through meaningful ranges of motion.

Your legs need to produce enough force to lift you.

Your core has to control your position as your weight shifts.

Your balance has to adjust as you move from multiple points of contact back onto your feet.

That's a lot packed into a movement most of us never thought twice about when we were younger.

Kids do it all day.

They sit on the floor.

Play on the floor.

Get up and down repeatedly without a second thought.

Adults gradually stop.

I think that's worth paying attention to.

Use It So You Don't Lose It

The body adapts to what it regularly practices.

If getting up from the floor remains part of your life, your body has a reason to maintain the strength, mobility, coordination, and balance required to do it.

If it disappears completely, those qualities can gradually decline.

That doesn't mean everyone should spend their workouts getting on and off the floor.

It simply means there is value in maintaining movement options that may become important later in life.

Because independence is often built on simple abilities we rarely think about until they're gone.

Start Where You Are

If getting off the floor feels difficult, that's okay.

The answer isn't to avoid it forever.

It's to find an appropriate starting point.

That might mean:

• Using a chair or sturdy support

• Modifying your position

• Improving hip and ankle mobility

• Building leg and core strength

• Practicing simpler transitions first

From there, you can gradually progress.

The goal isn't perfection.

The goal is maintaining capability.

Keep Your Options Open

I don't care whether you can get off the floor without using your hands.

That's not the point.

The point is keeping as many physical options available to you as possible.

The ability to move confidently through different positions gives you freedom.

Freedom to play with grandchildren.

Freedom to garden.

Freedom to recover if you end up on the ground unexpectedly.

Freedom to participate in the activities you enjoy.

Because maintaining movement isn't really about what you can do in the gym.

It's about preserving what you can do outside of it.

And one of the simplest ways to do that is to keep getting off the floor.

— Coach Shelby & The Shelby Trained Team