Getting Up Off the Floor Is a Skill Worth Practicing

FLOOR TO STANDING · MOBILITY AND BALANCE

Most people never practice getting up off the floor until the day they have to. Yet it is one of the most revealing movements you can do, and one of the easiest to rehearse in your own living room.

Lowering yourself to the floor and standing back up draws on nearly everything that keeps you capable: leg and hip strength, ankle and hip mobility, balance, coordination and the confidence to shift your weight. It is also a movement that quietly drops out of adult life, because chairs, beds and car seats mean we rarely need it. This guide explains what research has found about floor-rising ability, how to test yourself safely, and a step-by-step progression that makes getting up off the floor feel easier week by week.

Why getting up off the floor tells you so much

The best-known research comes from Claudio Gil Araújo and colleagues at an exercise medicine clinic in Rio de Janeiro, who use a simple sitting-rising test. In a study published in 2012 in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, they tested 2,002 adults aged 51 to 80 and followed them for a median of 6.3 years. Each one-point increase in the 10-point score was linked to a 21 percent reduction in mortality, and people in the lowest score range had five to six times the risk of death of those in the highest.

A larger follow-up appeared in 2025 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. Among 4,282 adults with an average age of 59, followed for about 12 years, those scoring 0 to 4 had a 3.8-fold higher risk of death from natural causes and a sixfold higher risk of cardiovascular death than people with the highest scores. Araújo has suggested that the test captures elements of fitness beyond aerobic capacity, including flexibility and balance.

These findings are associations. A low score does not cause poor health, and factors such as body weight, joint pain and existing illness can affect both. The practical takeaway is more hopeful: each component of the movement can be trained, and practicing it builds abilities you use every day, from gardening to playing on the floor with a child or a dog.

How the sitting-rising test works

The instructions used in the research are short: without worrying about speed, sit down on the floor and then rise again, using the minimum support you believe you need. Most people cross their legs on the way down and on the way up. Sitting and rising are each scored out of 5 points, for a combined score from 0 to 10.

What happens	Effect on your score
Sit or rise with no hands, forearms or knees for support	Full 5 points for that phase
Place a hand on the floor or on your leg	Minus 1 point for each support
Use a knee or forearm for support	Minus 1 point for each support
Visible wobble or unsteady execution	An additional, smaller deduction
Both phases combined	A total between 0 and 10

Try it on a carpet or exercise mat, beside a sturdy chair or couch, ideally with someone nearby. Skip the test and ask your doctor or physical therapist first if you have had a hip or knee replacement, have a current injury, live with significant back or joint pain, or have been told to avoid deep bending. Treat your score as a starting point rather than a verdict.

What usually limits the movement

When getting up off the floor feels hard, the cause is usually one or two weak links rather than the whole chain. Identifying yours tells you what to practice.

• Ankle mobility. Stiff ankles make it difficult to fold into a deep squat or kneel comfortably.
• Hip mobility. The cross-legged position and the move onto one knee demand rotation and flexion at the hips. Our guide to bending, reaching and moving more freely includes helpful hip drills.
• Leg strength. The final push to standing is essentially a deep squat or lunge under your full body weight.
• Balance. The moment you shift from kneeling onto one foot is where most wobbles happen. For related drills, read our article about staying steady on stairs and uneven paths.
• Knee comfort. If kneeling hurts, a folded towel or cushion often helps, and a clinician can check for an underlying problem.
• Familiarity. If you rarely spend time on the floor, the movement can feel uncertain even when your body is fully capable.

A progression from chair to floor

Work through these stages over several weeks. Move on only when the current stage feels easy and steady for five repetitions, and keep a sturdy chair beside you throughout.

Stage	Drill	Move on when
1	Sit-to-stand from a chair without using your hands	You can do 10 smoothly
2	Sit down to a lower surface, such as a step or low stool, and stand	Five repetitions feel steady
3	Half-kneel: lower one knee to a cushion while holding the chair, then stand	It feels easy on both sides
4	Tall kneel to half-kneel to standing, one hand resting lightly on the chair	You barely need the chair
5	Lower all the way to the floor using the chair, sit briefly, then rise	It is smooth with one hand of support
6	Floor to standing with less help: one hand, then fingertips, then none	You feel in control every time

Many people find a side-sit or kneeling route easier than the cross-legged method used in the test. Any route that gets you down and back up safely is worth practicing; you can refine your style later as strength and mobility improve.

Practicing a safe get-up after a fall

Falls become more common as the years go by. The CDC reports that more than one out of four older people fall each year, and that falling once doubles the chances of falling again. Rehearsing the floor-to-standing sequence now means the movement is familiar if you ever need it.

Guidance from Michigan Medicine lays out a clear sequence for getting up after a fall, which you can practice slowly on a mat:

1. Lie still long enough to check whether you are hurt.
2. Gently roll onto your side, then slowly come up onto your hands and knees.
3. Look around for something sturdy, such as a chair without wheels, and carefully crawl to it.
4. Put your hands on the chair, then bring one foot flat on the floor while the other knee stays down.
5. Slowly stand, turn your body and sit in the chair.
6. Stay seated for a minute or two before you try to stand or walk.

If you fall and are hurt or cannot get up, do not force it. Stay calm and call out for help, or use your phone or an emergency call device. Keeping a phone within reach when you are home alone, especially on stairs, in the garage or in the garden, is a sensible habit at any age.

Building floor practice into your week

A few minutes is enough. Get down to the floor and back up three to five times during a television break, or finish each walk with one slow floor transition on a mat. Pair the practice with strength sessions, since squats, lunges and step-ups build the leg strength the final rise demands, and with balance work such as the single-leg stands described in our one-leg balance test guide.

Retest yourself every month or two and write down how much support you used. Small improvements, such as going from two hands to one, represent real progress in strength, mobility and confidence. Over time, getting up off the floor should feel less like an obstacle and more like an ordinary part of moving through your day.