You’re probably familiar with the standard metrics of health. Blood pressure. Cholesterol. Maybe your BMI if you still trust that sort of thing. But there is a weirdly simple movement that researchers say can predict how long you’ll live with startling accuracy. It's called the sitting-rising test. It sounds like a parlor trick, honestly. You stand in the middle of a room, cross your legs, and lower yourself to the floor without using your hands. Then you stand back up. That’s it.
Dr. Claudio Gil Araújo, a Brazilian physician, developed this back in the 90s. He noticed his patients—especially the older ones—could often pass a stress test on a treadmill but struggled with basic stuff like picking up a dropped set of keys or getting out of a chair. He realized that aerobic fitness is only one piece of the puzzle. If you have the heart of an athlete but the balance of a Jenga tower, you're in trouble.
The Science of Sitting and Rising
The study that made this famous was published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. Araújo and his team followed over 2,000 adults between the ages of 51 and 80 for about six years. The results were frankly a bit terrifying. They found that for every point increase in a person’s score, there was a 21% decrease in mortality from all causes.
Basically, if you’re struggling to get off the floor today, your body is sending you a flare gun signal about your future.
It isn't just about "being fit." It’s about functional musculoskeletal fitness. Think about what the sitting-rising test requires. You need grip strength—sorta—but mostly you need core stability, flexible ankles, powerful glutes, and a neurological system that knows where your limbs are in space. We call that proprioception. When you lose that, you fall. And for people over 65, a fall isn't just a bruise; it’s often the beginning of a very steep decline.
How to Score Yourself (Don't Cheat)
You start with 10 points. Five points for the way down, five points for the way up.
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Every time you use a hand, a knee, a forearm, or even the side of your leg to steady yourself or push off, you lose a point. If you lose your balance and wobble significantly, subtract half a point. It’s a harsh grader.
Imagine you’re going down. You cross your legs, you’re feeling confident, but then—thump—you have to put your left hand down to keep from toppling over. You’re now at a 4 for the descent. On the way back up, you find you can’t quite get the leverage, so you pop a knee onto the rug to launch yourself. Another point gone. Your total score is an 8.
Is an 8 good? Yeah, it's actually pretty solid. The danger zone is anything below an 8. In Araújo’s study, those who scored in the 0 to 3 range were 6.5 times more likely to die during the study period than those who scored 8 to 10.
That’s a massive gap.
Why Your Legs are Longevity Engines
Sarcopenia is the fancy medical term for age-related muscle loss. It starts way earlier than you think. Around age 30, you begin losing 3% to 5% of your muscle mass per decade. If you aren't actively fighting that with resistance training, by the time you're 70, you're basically walking around with half the "engine" you used to have.
The sitting-rising test acts as a filter for sarcopenia. If you have enough lean muscle mass in your quads and posterior chain, you can move your own body weight through a full range of motion. If you don't, you rely on momentum or external support.
I’ve seen gym rats who can bench press 300 pounds fail this test. They have "show muscle" but zero mobility. Their hip flexors are so tight from sitting at desks that they can't actually fold their bodies properly. It’s a wake-up call that "fitness" is a broad term that needs to include flexibility and coordination.
Limitations and Nuance
We have to be realistic here. If you have a legitimate medical issue—like a shredded ACL from a high school football glory day or end-stage arthritis in your hips—this test is going to give you a low score that doesn't necessarily mean you’re going to die tomorrow. It’s a clinical tool, not a crystal ball.
Also, it was originally validated on people over 50. If you’re 22 and you can’t do this, you don't need to worry about immediate mortality, but you should probably stop sitting on your sofa for twelve hours a day. Your "functional age" might be much higher than your chronological one.
Improving Your Score Without Losing Your Mind
The cool thing about the sitting-rising test is that it’s highly trainable. You aren't stuck with your score.
- Start with "Box Squats." Sit down on a chair and stand up without using your hands. Over time, use a lower chair. Then a stool. Then a step.
- Work on ankle mobility. If your heels lift off the ground when you squat, you’ll never pass the test comfortably.
- Practice the "Turkish Get-Up." It’s a kettlebell move, but you can do it with a shoe balanced on your fist. It teaches you how to move from the floor to a standing position while maintaining total body tension.
- Stop wearing shoes in the house. Being barefoot forces the small muscles in your feet to engage, which improves your balance.
Consistency is the only thing that matters. Try the test once a week.
Moving Forward with Functional Health
If you tried it just now and ended up in a heap on the floor, don't panic. Use it as data. Your body is telling you that the connection between your brain and your lower extremities is getting a bit fuzzy.
The next step is to integrate "floor time" into your daily life. Most of us live in a world of chairs, beds, and car seats. We rarely ever go below 18 inches from the ground. Start sitting on the floor while you watch TV or play with your dog. Just the act of getting up and down a few times a evening will naturally improve your score on the sitting-rising test.
Focus on building a body that can move through space with ease. Strength is great, but mobility is what keeps you independent when you're 85. Start training for the "Old Man Olympics" now by mastering the simple art of standing up.