Issue #366 – Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Get Up Off The Floor! – # 1

(an exercise I created)

by Brett Miller

I think that one of the most important skills to have in life is the ability to get up from sitting on the floor to standing without any help from the hands. 

Most of you will be familiar with Claudio Gil Araujo ‘Sitting-Rising Test’ where you start from a standing position, and without leaning on anything, you lower yourself to the floor, and then rise back up again. 

Araujo gave the SRT to over 2,000 patients between the ages of 51 and 80 and found that individuals who were less able to perform the test were twice as likely to die within the next six years compared with those who scored higher.

This makes sense, because the activity in question requires NOT ONLY strength, but also coordination and balance (and lots more, but we keep it at that).  AND, the functioning of the WHOLE being (including the immune system) on the body will never be better than the strength, coordination and balance of the body it is housed in.

I have recently developed an obsession with presenting in my class a step by step method for coming up off the floor, to standing, and back down again.

It is my intention to bring you what the series of exercises I have come up with to get all of my students up off the floor!!

So lets start with exercise 1, shall we?

The ‘nuts and bolts’ are quite basic, there are three different positions:  

1. the first to do is a skill I know best – sit on your bum. 


Added to your/my excellent bum sitting – take one foot out of the way by taking it OFF the mat. Pull the other foot close in – that leaves one knee close to the mat that you goin got move to in step 2.

Clasp you hands together and move back as far as you need to…..


Weird pic Brett!!

Yes, I know, thank you very much….let’s stay focused on the exercise ok?

Moving along….

  1. Move all of your weight onto that knee that is waiting to be stood upon (ooh, poetry!!)

    Use your strength to come up and stand high on that knee, stretch your arms up by your ears with a supportive lift in the center.

PAUSE THERE – don’t hurry.

  1. Stay stretched and come down parallel to the floor, the bum is close to your heel and the arms stay S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D.

again… PAUSE…


Then roll with control back to ‘nuts and bolts’ #1 – sitting on the bum.

But of course we want to go past the ‘nuts and bolts’ of this exercise, just like with all Pilates exercises….and all movement.

For example, remember to be very tall and lifted, avoid being being sloppy, so please not this like me where I let myself hang out:

And then, do it again…I like to do 5-7 reps for each side.

This exercise is rather simple, as you see….but there is a lot involved and certainly plenty to learn from it. Work methodically and with care – FEELING the balance, the strength used, the long spine and the ease in the upper body while in action.

Here I demonstrate Get Up Off The Floor! – Exercise #1.

Enjoy!!

Get Up Off The Floor – Exercise 1

Brett Miller is the founder of Pilates Intel, he started his professional life in the world of ballet, working with various companies in the US.  Later on he moved to New York and branched out into modern along with the ballet. Since then, he has lived in Finland and now in Stockholm Sweden.
Brett became a Pilates instructor in 2005 and has been teaching ever since.  The intelligent technique that Pilates is, and the chance to continue to be physical, attracted him to this field after being so long in the dance world.  Along with teaching Pilates and publishing Pilates Intel, Brett is a software developer for Ericsson.

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