We do this exercise called the “Get Back Up” at our Group Personal Training sessions.
Everyone hates it.
Funny how we hate the REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF.
[bctt tweet=”THE STUFF YOU HATE THE MOST = THE STUFF YOU NEED THE MOST”]
It seems so simple and it is, but it’s crazy effective when it comes to making you better.
Did you know that your ability to get down ( and I’m not talking about your dance moves) and get back up from the floor can predict how long you will live?
Pretty crazy eh?
But a really cool study carried out on over 2000 “NORMAL” people aged 51-80 in Brazil is more than a little interesting.
It’s a really simple way to measure your flexibility and strength that is very functional to your daily living.
As people age the risk of falls is greatly increased, but when your strong and flexible it decreases.
The study wanted to find a way they could quickly test and score people without any fancy equipment.
They came up with the Brazilian Getup.
It’s basically sitting down on the floor from standing and getting back up without the use of your hands, knees, forearms or side of the legs.
It’s scored 1-5 for sitting and 1-5 for getting back up, giving a 10 point scale.
This is the scary part, if you score less than 8 results show you are twice as likely to die within the next 6 years.
If you score 3 or less then your five times more likely to die compared to those scoring 8 or more.
Holy shit, thats fricking SCARY but also really important how you can quickly determine your risk and take action.
I know your “DYING” to give it a try and find out your score so heres a link to the article with a how to guide.
http://discovermagazine.com/2013/nov/05-sit-down
Also I’ll post a video of me scoring above an 8, in our FREE facebook group…
Not a member?
It seems really simple but it’s not easy to score a 10 far from it.
If your below an 8 it’s not the end of your world you can easily work towards improving your strength and flexibility and at the same time live long and prosper ;)
This month we have a get up challenge, you can get involved for FREE and join our facebook group just follow the link.
It involves 30 Get Ups every day for the month of January, and you can spread them out through the day.
Do me a favour and post your score, or if your feeling adventurous post a video we can get a laugh :p
Robert