When people talk about longevity, they often assume that your lifespan relates to your genetics, supplements and/or nutrition, sleep hacks, or the latest fitness trends. While these factors play a role in long-term health, one of the most powerful indicators of longevity is much simpler and it begins on the ground.
The Research Behind Floor Transitions for Longevity
Research continues to reveal that the ability to get on and off the floor regularly and with ease is directly linked with how well you age.
This simple movement that we performed frequently in our younger years is a predictor of mobility, balance, independence, fall risk, and overall functional well-being as we grow older.
The floor is a training ground for aging well and an important reason we include floor work and transitions from the floor in all our LYT yoga classes.
Why Do Floor Transitions Matter?
Getting on and off the floor requires a coordinated combination of mobility, strength, and balance.
Practicing floor transitions for longevity works on hip and lower leg mobility and strength, core integration, and balance. If any of these parts are not working as well, the whole movement feels harder and clumsier.
These deficits accumulate over time, making daily tasks more taxing while increasing injury risk.
I have witnessed many people over 40 years old who rarely spend time on the floor and find the transition from floor to standing and vice versa difficult to manage without upper body support from a chair on the wall.
As adults, we spend more time sedentary with sitting taking place in chairs and off the floor. Time spent on the floor and practicing these transitions will keep the musculoskeletal health more robust, the neuromuscular coordination primed, and will enhance adaptability, balance, and fall-prevention capacity.
Building Your Movement Foundation
If you want to remain active, confident, and independent in your later years, start working on floor transitions for longevity now.
At LYT, we work on joint centration and efficient loading, exploring movement that strengthens our muscles, hydrates our fascia, and increases proprioceptive awareness of where the body is in space.
The floor gives you the opportunity to access full ranges of motion without strain while priming the core muscles for dynamic stability. These skills on the floor and in transitions are the insurance policy against injuries and falls.
How to Practice Floor Transitions for Longevity
Getting up and down from the floor is one of the most functional movements humans perform, so why is it that we stop doing it? When we don’t do it frequently, we cease to maintain the patterns that keep our bodies intuitive, adaptable, and durable.
So, let’s get to it! The best part is you don’t need any equipment or extra time to transport you to a ‘workout space.’
Explore sitting in different positions that we practice in LYT, from cross-legged, to ballet-sit (one hip is turned out with the butt cheek on the floor while the other hip is turned in with the butt cheek off the floor), or Janu Sirsasana with one leg extended.
Progress to a tall kneeling position with both knees on the floor and the ribcage stacked over the pelvis, and 90-90 lunges where one knee remains on the floor under the hip and the front foot is on the floor in a lunge.
Work on transitioning to standing from these different positions, using as few touch points as possible, and then lower back down to the floor with control.
Doing these floor transitions for longevity 3-5 x a week, if not daily, will make a dramatic difference in your goal toward long term health and longevity.
Make the floor your ally in the pursuit to age well and check out our online LYT Daily platform for content that supports the path toward longevity!
References
Brito, L. B. B., et al. (2012). Ability to sit and rise from the floor as a predictor of all-cause mortality. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 21(7), 892–898.
Guralnik, J. M., et al. (1995). Lower-extremity function as a predictor of subsequent disability in older persons. New England Journal of Medicine, 332(9), 556–561.*
Bohannon, R. W. (2019). Sit-to-stand test for measuring performance of lower extremity muscles. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 129(2), 243–251.
de Oca, R. M. M., et al. (2019). Floor mobility and aging: The ability to get down and up from the floor as a marker of functional independence. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 27(3), 384–390.*
Cooper, R., et al. (2010). Physical capability levels and mortality: Systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ, 341, c4467.
Stamatakis, E., et al. (2022). Association of balance test performance with all-cause mortality. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 56(20), 1134–1140.
Rudd, J. R., et al. (2015). Fundamental movement skills and their relationship with health outcomes. Sports Medicine, 45(11), 1583–1592.
Menz, H. B., et al. (2013). Foot and ankle characteristics associated with mobility impairment in older adults. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 68(2), 154–160.
