Can you get off the floor without using your hands?

[Anonymous]

No. And I don’t think I’ve ever been able to do that.

I think the real question is whether you can get up from a chair without using your hands or dms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 43, and Japanese (culture of sitting on the floor, where women are taught to get up from kneeling without using hands, because they’re carrying trays and such).

Sitting/kneeling? Without a second thought, since my hands are often full anyway.
Lying down? I prefer to use knees and hands, but sometimes for fun I do it without. Abs!

Yes, I love doing ab roll ups and roll downs! Lie on your back with your legs extended, then use your abs to roll your upper body up off the ground to a seated position, keeping your legs extended and connect to the floor the entire time. It is useful to extend your arms towards your legs with your palms up, for some reason this helps me figure out how to engage my abs and "lift" with them.

Then reverse the motion for sitting back down to lying on the ground, again without lifting your legs or bending your knees.

It's okay if at first you are kind of crunching your body forward in order to create momentum up and down, but the goal should be to smooth the motion out so that it's really just your abs lifting and lowering, without using your head/neck/shoulders to great momentum into the roll.

Great functional exercise you can do at home while watching TV or reading a book or listening to a podcast that can genuinely increase overall fitness!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:52 and can do quite easily from squatting position but not cross-legged. Does the method matter?

The cross-legged position tests hip flexibility and range of motion, which is helpful. But it's still great to be able to do it from squatting! You might consider trying it with the cross-legged position sometimes, using a table or chair arm as an assist, just to work on that range of motion. Also gentle hip opening exercises (even just sitting in a cross legged position on the floor for a little each day) will help with this.

The reason this is helpful as you age is that great flexibility and range of motion in your hips can help you avoid falls as you age, which become a progressively greater risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to be able to do this easily but I have had some bad knee issues and I cannot put weight on them while they are in a deep bend without my IT band snapping over my knee cap, essentially paralyzing me with intense pain until it snaps back. I am exceedingly careful now getting up and going to the floor, as if I were 80. I need to work out more and regain the strength I lost after the last surgery though. Until then I was in very good shape, could still do the splits, hold a 4 minute plank, etc. With age the most stunning thing is just how quickly it goes to put and how hard it is to bounce back.

I recommend continuing to work on it but use an assist (a table, a chair, changing position) to avoid the discomfort with your knees. The more you do it, little by little you will build up strength in supporting muscles and it will make it easier. I have poorly aligned knees, tight hamstrings and IT band, but have regained this ability via PT, even though I still don't have enough flexibility in my hips/kneees to touch my toes from a straight legged position (well technically I can do it if I really round my back but this is bad for your lower back so I don't do it this way).

[Anonymous]

Of course. In multiple different ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All these people who say they are doing it are taking a knee at least.

Absolutely I am not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without hands yeah but not without taking a knee first.

I’m 63 and same for me. I can do it no problem but have to get from sit to knee to stand. I know some people who can go from sitting cross legged to standing but they are like 18 years old. I only know one person over 25 who can do it.

I am 47 and I can do it easily to and from cross legged with no hands/knees. Could be that I am small/petite and have been doing pilates and yoga for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but I was a ballet dancer in my youth, and standing from a seated position was drilled into me when I was six.

I am normal weight, and am either moderately fit or completely disabled, depending on what you’re asking me to do.

[Anonymous]

Wow, nooooo, not even close. I first tried sitting down with no hands or knees and my butt was probably a good foot off the floor.

I thought I'd be able to stand up ok, but could not do that either.

Off to yoga for me!

[Anonymous]

I’m 46 and can do it. No knees. You have to cross your legs as you come up and down. The YouTube video someone posted shows what it looks like (no knees). I am definitely strong and fit. My 47 year old husband cannot do it.

[Anonymous]

Practicing this one thing won't make you immortal. It's predictive because if you don't specifically practice this one skill, then it's an easy correlation to general strength and balance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:52 and can do quite easily from squatting position but not cross-legged. Does the method matter?

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Practicing this one thing won't make you immortal. It's predictive because if you don't specifically practice this one skill, then it's an easy correlation to general strength and balance.

Yeah the “practicers” in this thread are mistaking symptom for illness. You’re not curing the illness by fixing one symptom.

[Anonymous]

44. Can do it cross legged with one foot but not other, probably because one of my legs is twisted. Not far but not an athlete either.

[Anonymous]

It took me a few tries to find a technique that worked. Practice on carpet.