You’ll be stronger and safer if you learn to stand up the right way (or more accurately, the safe way) — regardless of how old you are.
If you’re young and healthy, you pop up without giving it a second thought, but being aware how to stand safely will help you now and as you age (trust me on this, the pain and imbalance sneaks up on you). If you’re older, you may have begun to struggle to stand, noticing your knees hurt, your back aches, and possibly your hips are talking to you. You may even feel wobbly and unstable, and afraid you might fall one of these days. If not you, you probably know someone who is.
If you’ve had some of these thoughts, now is a great time to implement a few small tweaks to the way you stand. I have some simple tips to help you gain confidence and strength.
The first, and possibly most important “tip” is to pay attention, be aware of just what your body is doing: where are your feet in relation to your knees, do you have weight throughout your feet or are you lifting your heels, is your upper body hanging over your feet and knees or more upright, is your spine straight or rounded, is your belly at least a little engaged?
There are a few parts of your body you should pay attention to as you stand: feet, knees, the back of your thighs and rear, and abs, and where they are in relation to each other as you stand.
Let’s start with the feet, working our way up the body. Make sure your feet are flat on the floor, as in equally weighted in your heels, balls, and left and right, before you begin to stand. You might think this is overstating the obvious, but there’s a good chance your weight is not equally distributed throughout each of your feet, with the majority of the weight being in the balls of your feet — and this is a critical component of standing up from a seated position. Along with noticing if each foot is fully weighted, are you weighting each foot equally, or favoring one side?
If you don’t personally know someone who has broken a hip, you likely have heard of someone who has. It’s often an elderly person. They were slightly off balance, their reflexes aren’t what they once were, nor the reaction time in the brain, and down they went. But don’t be fooled, I’ve had clients in their 20’s on up who quickly stood up, thinking of 10 other things,and boom, down they went, often with a joint twist added in. I wish I had been able to share some of my body awareness tips with them, old and young, months or years before their fall, so please make an effort to focus now so standing strong becomes a habit, second nature, so you stay stronger and safer as you age.
Back to the feet: Once they are flat on the floor and weight is evenly distributed, think about your heels. As you begin the motion of standing (we’ll get to knees and abs in a few seconds), be sure to keep your heels down, and press them into the floor. It may seem odd the first few times you do it, but you’ll quickly realize how this helps trigger the use of your hamstrings (back of your thighs) and glutes (bum) where tons of power comes from.
Now knees: They are a big culprit in falls while attempting to stand. Most people let their knees travel past their feet as they stand, and throw their upper body forward. The act of standing is truly basic physics; when attempted incorrectly, the inertia plus the imbalance is a recipe for disaster as the body weight is thrown forward, versus up . Keep those knees above your feet and not past your toes, your upper body weight more upright versus parallel to the floor, and heels down (so you can use your bum!). Add abs to the mix , and it becomes a breeze! You might think abs are reserved for athletes, but they’re not! You have them; so use them! They’ll get stronger as the days pass. I say this to my clients on a regular basis: pull your belly button toward your spine (as though you are making your waistband a little looser). If you think to exhale, just enough to engage your abs, you can feel your rib area pulling in as well. In Pilates, we call this “tightening your core”.
So, to summarize, place feet under your knees, equally weighted, and as you stand, ensure your heels stay flat and exhale to allow your abs and hams/glutes to do most of the work. You’re standing UP, not OVER. This makes a huge difference in your end result.
If you’d like to talk to me about what I do and how I’ve helped clients in their teens, 20s and all the way into their 70s, and how I can help you, please check out my website.
If you’d like to talk to me about what I do and how I’ve helped clients in their teens, 20s and all the way into their 70s, and how I can help you, please check out my website and contact me.
