This One Simple Move Says Everything About Your Mobility

Take off your shoes. That's right: shoes off. Now follow these instructions: In an area free of debris, stand with one foot crossed in front of the other. Without holding on to anything (unless you feel very unsteady), bend your knees and lower yourself to the floor until you're sitting in a cross-legged position. Now, from the same cross-legged position, lean forward with your hands outstretched in front of you for balance, and rise off the floor—if possible, without placing your hands or knees on the floor or using anything else for support.

You have now just taken what's called the Sit-and-Rise Test. So, how'd you do? Don't worry if you didn't ace it. There's no public service message on TV telling you that you need to practice getting up and down off the floor. Doctors never mention it. Fitness trainers have other fish to fry. But being able to sit and rise without support is a singular way to tell if you've got a body that's dynamic and able to move in ways that will make you feel alive—and even help you stay alive longer. The reason we highlight the Sit-and-Rise Test is because we want to get you thinking about what being able to get up and down off the floor represents: mobility. "Mobility" is a kind of wonky term that refers to something quite beautiful: the harmonious convergence of all the elements that allow you to move freely and effortlessly through space and life. Everything is in sync—your joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, nerves, brain, and the vasculature that runs through the body. 

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The program in our book—and our life's work—addresses this whole network of movement components. Harnessing its power will help you achieve agility, ease, and quickness of step while vanquishing restriction, rigidity, and pain. And, contrary to what you might expect, achieving good mobility doesn't call for exercise. No cardio. No strength training. Instead, it's a series of simple activities that enhance your capacity for free and easy movement, and in doing so also improves all the systems in your body (digestive, circulatory, immune, lymphatic) that are impacted by putting yourself in motion. You use your body's infrastructure so you don't lose your body's infrastructure. 

The premise of our book, Built to Move, is simple: 10 tests + 10 physical practices = 10 ways to make your body work better. It introduces elements of well-being that most people have never heard of before, weaving them into a plan that everyone can accomplish in one form or another. 

It may not seem like a 23-year-old Olympic-caliber mountain biker who's been injured for the first time and a 68-year-old boomer grandma whose joints are creaky have anything in common, but they both need the same basic mobility maintenance—ways to address, preserve, and enhance the natural human physical condition. Maybe your goal is to swim across a rough ocean channel like a Navy SEAL or run the New York City Marathon. Maybe you just want to be able to get up from your desk after a marathon session of internet surfing without feeling a twinge in your back or to roll around on the grass with your kids or grandkids. Either way, this book will help you. And trust us, it's going to feel good. 

10 TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS BOOK:

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