Sit on the Floor

 2/28/2025 Issue #9 Sit on the floor, gotta get shwifty 

“Strength is never a weakness, weakness is never a strength.” -Mark Bell

Last week we learned the facts about both detoxing and taking supplemental creatine. We also may have had a little bit of an eye opener when performing the sit-to-rise test. In an effort to avoid over-explaining the sit-to-rise test, I left out some details about the test. It isn’t some pass/fail test that proves you have an inadequate, jello-like habitus that belongs aboard the spacecraft from WALL-E. There are levels to it; if all you had to do was place a hand on the ground to get up, you are still doing great. If you had to use your hands, and go to a knee first, but still got up, you are doing fine but should work on this a bit. I want people to see that your training should make you better at something; we shouldn't just be hamsters on wheels. (ooo, that was good, I should have made that the quote)

Check out this week’s challenge for some habits and exercises to get your sit-to-rise to perfection. 

Fit Tip: Figure Out How to Keep the Weight Off Before Losing It

I bet we have all “successfully” lost some weight before. Oftentimes friends will even brag about the methods they used to lose weight in the past. “It worked great for me, I lost 20 pounds in two months!” Ok, but you didn’t keep it off, so I guess it didn’t work at all, buddy. The real epidemic amongst the overweight is keeping the weight off. There is an abundance of fad diets to choose from and a plethora of workout programs, but no one thing has “the magic.” The truth is some things work for some people and not for others. 

There is, however, a general guideline for long-term success with losing weight and keeping it off. Both diet AND exercise should be involved. Here is why: it may be easier to simply control one of those at a time, but if someone focuses only on the exercise they will foolishly think they need to burn off every calorie they eat which just is not feasible. (One donut would require a 5 mile run.) And if one focused only on the dieting portion but did no form of exercise, they might accomplish weight loss through calorie restriction, but no real fat loss, since they will have simply lost both fat and muscle becoming a smaller, almost equally “fat” person. 

My recommendation: Combine strength training with a healthy diet consisting of mostly whole foods. Whether the calories are more or less than maintenance is not as important at first; just gain some muscle. Building muscle speeds up the metabolism, making it easier to manage weight in the long term. When you are in a calorie deficit you can’t expect to build as much muscle (unless you are still a newbie) but you should still strength train; strength training while in a calorie deficit sends a signal that those muscles are needed. It preserves muscle mass while losing fat. The most important point to long term success is setting up realistic and achievable goals. Everything you decide to implement in your fitness journey should be a sustainable practice. Ask yourself: “Can I do ____ forever?” If the answer is no, dial it back a notch and pick a more specific smaller goal to start with. Avoid extreme calorie deficits; the goal is slow and steady progress. 

Challenge for the Week: Sit on the Floor

Step one to improving your sit-to-rise ability is simply sitting on the floor more often. The truth is most of us sit too much and our bodies were not made for it. By sitting on the floor at least some of that time we can avoid some of the problems caused by dropping ourselves into a chair for hours at a time. That very popular low back pain everyone complains about is quite often from tight hips, and not stemming from the low back itself. Floor sitting also has one bonus built into it: you have to get up off the floor. All floor sitting counts. You can sit cross-legged, L-sit, 90/90 positions, one leg out, on your knees, in a squat… switch it up!

Step two is throwing in some mobility to restore range of motion. If you have a foam roller, or lacrosse ball/tennis ball or something similar you can use that to massage the hamstring. One way to do this is on a solid chair or bench with the roller underneath one leg on the seat. Alternate flexing the leg and straightening the knee with bending the knee while working the roller or ball under your hamstring. Spend a couple minutes on each leg before moving on to the next mobility moves.

Hamstring Lockouts: Lie on your back on the floor. Straighten one leg up in the air attempting to get it close to 90 degrees. Loop a strap, band, or rope over the arch of your foot to pull that leg straight and move the foot towards your head. Don’t make it painful, just so there is some tension. Alternate between flexing that thigh tight and relaxing it for a few minutes before repeating on the other leg. 

Hip Opener: This is basically a deep lunge that you play around in to get all loosey goosey. No strict rules here, just open up the hips. Here is a good demonstration: Long Lunge Hip Opener 

Active Pigeon: Active Pigeon Stretch On Box w/ PAILs and RAILs The active pigeon is called “active” because it is not intended to be a static stretch but a controlled strong movement that strengthens hip mobility. Use a bench, coach, or chair and put one bent knee leg up on the bench. Keeping your chest up, bend and press into the elevated leg for several seconds before relaxing and repeat. 

There you go, bit of a long description for this week’s challenge, but I wanted to arm you with some actionable goals to help you improve. 

Win the weekend!

Brad

Durable Dad Training