Fall Down Nine Times, Get Up Ten: 5 Exercises to Get You Strong Enough to Stand Back Up

“My dad had a fall the other day. He was walking down the street and suddenly felt weak. His legs failed underneath him and he found himself on the ground. It was really scary.” This was a story one of our TruFit clients was telling me the other day. Luckily he did not hurt himself badly and he’s getting checked out by doctors. Being a super amazing daughter, our client accompanied him and her mom to her father’s rehab doctor appointment. “Doctor," she said, "do you have any suggestions for my parents about how to get back up from the ground if they fall?”

Falling is one of the biggest fears among people with lots of life experience. When we were young, we were always on the ground! Obviously we were much shorter and the ground wasn’t that far away. Still, as we age we spend more and more time in a chair, car seat, on the couch, laying in a bed... until suddenly there is no reason for us to get all the way down to the ground anymore.

Most clients at TruFit Evanston are over the age of 50. To be incredibly clear: 50 is by far not what we consider “old,” but it does seem to mark a turning point when our goals go from, “I want to train to lose weight and look better,” to “I want to make sure I can play with my grandkids, travel, not be in pain, and not need a hip replacement”.

There’s this notion that aging equals more aches, pains, and falls; more things “breaking down”; brittle bones and loss of balance. Fears begin to develop--of falling, tripping, lifting things the wrong way. That fear can keep us from moving and training for life, and then we create stories about how weak we feel and we believe the stories. We might have seen our parents and grandparents age this way and accept that this is our future, too. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Wear and tear happens. Falls happen. The worst thing we can do is STOP MOVING for fear of moving wrong and not getting up when we fall.

I asked our awesome trainers at TruFit what the most important training ingredients for thriving over 50 are, and here’s what we came up with:
Balance training
Strength training
Mobility
Becoming friends with the floor

At TruFit, you're likely to see people crawling; rocking and rolling around on the floor; lunging using the TRX suspension equipment or the aid of a bench to hold onto. Evanston is filled with a very active population that loves adventure, and each one of us programs exercises to help our clients feel more fearless.

The following five exercises will help get you strong and confident enough to go down to the ground and get back up. It might be easy for some and challenging for others.

No matter where you are on the continuum, it is ALWAYS a good idea to just move.

The more you move, the more confidence you cultivate. The more confidence you gain, the more confident your gait. The better your movement, the more easily you will get back up after falling down.

Each of these five exercises combines at least two of the aforementioned ingredients: balance, strength, mobility, and becoming friends with the floor. Give them a try!

1) Cross Crawls
This exercise -- which can be done any number of ways -- looks simple but the benefits you can reap are plentiful. Whenever you cross one part of your body past the mid-line of your body, both hemispheres of your brain get to work together. Since we live mainly in a back and forth world, imagine how much your brain lights up with new patterns! Thanks, neuroplasticity!

Why we do this:
If you are someone who struggles with balance or if your nervous system is compromised for any reason, this exercise can do wonders. Anecdotally, people who live with Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, or who have suffered from a stroke have felt improvement with walking, for example. We do this to strengthen the way our brain and body communicate, and if you want to build up to better movement, start here.

How to do this:
Start wherever you can -- in bed, in a chair, standing, wherever -- and touch your hand to your opposite leg or knee (or foot or shin!). Alternate sides and do this 10-15 times on each side!

2) Rockbacks
As babies, we rocked as a precursor to crawling, which helped us develop our gait pattern (the way we walk)! Rocking also helped our spines develop their S curve! AND: Rocking gets our shoulders and hips working and moving together. Rocking is, essentially, the best.

Why we do this:
Beyond the above, rocking also provides us with nice, gentle strength training. It works core stability, lats, triceps; it mimics doing a deep squat while putting your body in a position your nervous system translates as safe. It's also incredibly soothing. For those with arthritis in their knees, it can be really good to gently move the knee joint into deeper flexion, too, as long as you're not experiencing pain!

How to do this:
Get onto your hands and knees, with hands right under shoulders and knees right under hips. You can do this on the floor if you're comfortable, or on your bed. Keeping your eyes looking forward​, shift your weight back towards your heels keeping your spine as neutral and quiet as possible. Rock back and forth (or even side to side or circularly!) and breathe!

If you can't get on all fours, try out the rockback the way Nicole demonstrates it in the video, with hands up on a chair and knees off the ground.

3) Kid Crawls
Babies learn to crawl before they walk because it helped them establish their gait pattern (the way they walk). Now, we underestimate the great feats of strength babies do all the time. Their heads are 1/4 their size and up to 33% of their body weight...and they CRAWL with that huge head!

Why we do this:
Rocking is strength training so it's no surprise crawling is, too. It can even be gentle cardio! Also, should you find yourself on the ground from a fall, knowing how to crawl to an object that will help you pull yourself up is paramount. 

How to do this:
Get onto your hands and knees, with hands right under shoulders and knees right under hips. Point your feet so the tops of your feet are on the ground; you'll be dragging them behind you. Now, take a step forward with your arm and opposite leg; try to pick them up and put them down at the same time. Then switch sides. Keep crawling forwards as long as you'd like and then try going backwards! Things to remember: Look straight ahead and breathe! It's surprising how easy it is to hold your breath on this one.

4) Assisted Reverse Lunges:
When we talk about getting up and down from the ground, the lunge tends to be the most efficient way to do this with control. 

Why we do this:
Not only is the lunge a really great strengthener for the thighs and glutes, it lets you practice your balance. And for those with bad backs, the lunge allows you to get down to the ground and back up without bending forward into flexion.

How we do this:
If you're new to lunges, start doing these using a sturdy chair or back of a couch and work up to getting your back knee to the floor. You can also use a small pillow to place your knee on as you lunge down. We like this method because it makes you pick your feet up higher, which, side note, is critical to avoid tripping and falling. 

Step back with your leg and actively pull yourself down toward the ground. Then, push through your whole front foot and your back toes to step back up to a standing position. 

The more you practice this exercise, the less assistance you may need to get back up.

5) Get Down, Get Up!
Here's where we practice getting down to the floor and standing back up. The best part: There is no "right" or "wrong" way to do this.

Why we do this:
Here we get to combine all of the important ingredients to training over 50: Balance, strength, mobility, and being friends with the floor. Kids have so much fun rolling around on the ground; maybe we can remember how fun it is to move! More importantly, the longer we perceive the ground as a threat, the more fear our bodies will carry. When our nervous system feels fear, it will move differently and this can do more bad than good.

How we do this:
As we mentioned, there isn't really a bad or wrong way to do this exercise. Just experiment! What are the myriad ways we can get up and down? Coach Nicole has some tips to share:
1. When initially getting up, rotate to your side. We think we need to get up by flexing our torsos forward when that might not be the best idea for our backs. So have fun with a little rotation!
2. Play around with how to make this more challenging: Don't use your hands; do this with one hand in your back pocket or holding your knee.
​3. Have fun!

​Practice some or all of these every day and watch your movement quality get and feel better and better.

This was just a tiny introduction to some of the ways we get y'all strong. It's not your typical "squat and bench press" recipe (although we do a lot of those, too). But we're not your typical gym, either. ;)

If you and/or a loved one have any questions or comments about the above, please leave them in the comments section below. And if you'd prefer to speak to any of us at TruFit, please reach out to [email protected] or call 312-497-8999.