Serious. Do it. Every day. It is a great exercise. Get down on the floor and get up again. Over and over. At least 10 times. For some of you it might be easy, fine then, make it challenging, put a book on your head, hold a glass of water, chew gum, don’t use your arms, do it on one leg, who cares, just make it an exercise for you that challenges your body and your brain. That way your brain will be trained and it will know how to get up.
If it is already a challenge, then do it. And do it again. Start off however you can. Use a couch, a chair, a person, a cane, a dog, whatever . . . .just get down, and get up at least five times. Keep doing it every day until you can do it more and without help.
Whether it is a challenge or not, while you are doing it, think about it. Think about what muscles you are using to get up. Try to get down on the floor differently every time, think about all the different muscles you are using. Also, try getting up differently, thinking about all of those muscles.
No, this will not increase the size of your muscles, for some of you it won’t even tone them, but if you try to make it a challenge it will challenge your muscles. Balance and being able to get up are a key part of health that we just either don’t think about or we take it for granted. But it really is a great exercise, right up there with the push-up, but maybe more functional.
Of course this is just ONE exercise of many that I believe qualifies as a functional exercise. And for a lot of you it should not be your only workout, but for some it might be a start and a good start.
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