Weekend Challenge: The Get-Up-From-The-Floor Core Strengthener And Shoulder Mobilizer

Getting up off the floor can be tricky if you have weak core muscles due to a lack of exercise, especially as you age. And this is not the only exercise-related problem that’s plaguing our modern world.

The issue of a sedentary lifestyle and its connection to illness and mortality has caught the attention of scientists worldwide, resulting in a revealing meta-analysis of voluminous data that exposes how deadly sitting can be – even if you exercise regularly.

Here’s the good news: today’s challenge addresses both of these problems, and more. So let’s get up and start moving!

Why:

Falling and the injuries associated with it (including painful fractures), is a major concern. And so is getting up from a fall. As you age, the core muscles that used to work effortlessly to raise up your torso and bring your legs forward can become weak … if you don’t work to strengthen them.

Fortunately, weak core muscles do not have to be an inevitable part of aging. You can take steps (quite literally!) to build and strengthen these vital muscles to improve balance, posture, gait, and your ability to get up from a fall.

What muscles, exactly, do you use to get up off the floor? Here are a few of the main ones.

• The rectus abdominis is one of the torso’s main “workhorses.” This abdominal muscle helps you to sit up from a prone position – babies are unable to sit up until this muscle is developed at around 6 months of age.

  The rectus abdominis is a superficial core muscle, and it’s located in the front of your abdomen. But it covers more area than you might think – it actually arises from the base of your breast bone (sternum) and the fifth through seventh ribs. It ends at the pubic crest in the front of the pelvis.

• Beneath the rectus abdominis lies the transverse abdominis, which connects the seventh through twelfth ribs to the sternum and pubic crest.

• Deeper still is the transversus abdominus, which lies beneath the internal obliques (deep muscles along your sides). This muscle helps draw your tummy in toward your spine, a vital move not just to “tuck in your tummy,” but to sit up as well.

  Your hip flexors are extremely important for getting up. They draw your legs up and forward, which is exactly the motion you need to perform to get up from the floor. The hip flexors are three main muscles that all work together to bring the hip into flexion: the rectus femoris, iliopsoas, and sartorius.

  The rectus femoris is a group of muscles at the front of your thigh, forming part of the quadriceps muscle group. They run from the crest of the pelvis all the way to the kneecap (patella), and also help bring the knee into extension.

  The iliopsoas is a deep core muscle that connects the pelvis to the lumbar vertebrae, and the sartorius runs between the top of the pelvis to the tibia (shin bone).

• Hip extensor muscles are also involved in today’s exercise. These bring your leg out behind you, and they include the gluteus maximus and minimus and the hamstrings along the backs of the thighs.

Working these muscles not only strengthens them, but also stimulates bone growth. That includes the pelvis, lower back, and femur, key areas to build in the prevention of back pain and hip and femoral fractures.

That’s not all this exercise does. As you’ll soon see (and as its name indicates), the Get-Up-From-The-Floor Core Strengthener And Shoulder Mobilizer also targets the shoulders, increasing mobility and strength in these intricate joints.
Now let’s take a look at how to do this weekend’s exercise.

How:

1. Stand up and lean forward at your hips while extending one leg out behind you.
2. Raise your arms up and forward. There should be an approximate straight line from the tips of your fingers to the foot of the extended leg.
3. Bring the extended leg forward and up, bringing your knee toward your chest. At the same time, bend your elbows and bring your arms down. Keep your back straight.
4. Extend your leg and raise your arms again.
5. Repeat this motion five times (or as many as you can comfortably do), and then switch legs and repeat for another set of five.
6. Switch sides two more times for a total of fifteen reps on each side.

I recommend you hone your getting-up skills further by following up with this Weekend Challenge, The Get Up From The Floor Trio.

The more exercises you learn, the easier it will be to break up long periods of sitting, which, as you’ll soon see, is vital to your health.

Meta-Analysis Reveals Shocking Effects Of Sitting Down For Long Hours

A team of Canadian researchers reviewed no fewer than 47 studies in order to “quantify the association between sedentary time and hospitalizations, all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer in adults independent of physical activity.”¹

They discovered a definite correlation between prolonged sitting and all of the above health issues: sedentary members of the population are 90% more likely to develop Type II diabetes, and their cardiovascular disease risk increases by 18% and cancer risk by 13 to 16%.¹

This information may not come as a surprise. After all, the deleterious effects on health from prolonged sitting are no secret. But here’s the kicker: the research revealed that long hours of sitting had the same negative effects on health even if the study subjects exercised between long sitting sessions.¹

This does not mean that exercise is futile. What it does mean is that long periods of sitting must be broken up in order for your health and your bones to flourish.

Densercise Can Be Practiced Throughout The Day

Because the Densercise™ Epidensity Training System is intended to be practiced in 15-minute increments, it’s very easy to work it in throughout your day. For example, you can do the 15 minutes multiple times a day, or break it up into three five-minute sessions.

You can also choose one or two moves to do on a given day, working them in wherever and whenever you have the chance. Densercise™ provides the opportunity and instruction to help you avoid hours of sitting at a time, and of course, it’s specifically designed to build bone density.

You’ll find that Densercise™ is the perfect combination of targeted exercise and whole-body benefits.
Enjoy the weekend!

References:

¹ Biswas, Aviroop, BSc, et al. Sedentary Time and Its Association With Risk for Disease Incidence, Mortality, and Hospitalization in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.” Annals of Internal Medicine. 162. 2. (2015): 123-132. Web. December 8, 2016. https://annals.org/aim/article/2091327/sedentary-time-its-association-risk-disease-incidence-mortality-hospitalization-adults