I remember when my daughter was first born, we would do tummy time. O, did she hate tummy time. She would cry and make a fuss. But the doctor told us how important this time on the ground was for developing strength that would help her down the road.
Now over a year old, she is a champ on the ground, rolling, crawling, scooting, and pulling herself to standing. She is making herself stronger by doing all these movements, building leg strength, core strength, and upper body strength.
I find it interesting when I have clients who have the same reaction to doing exercises, requiring them to get up and down from the ground as my newborn daughter did. Now they don’t cry or scream, but they can show their dislike in more eloquent ways now.
As we get older, there is less reason to get on our hands and knees in our daily lives. The couch is the hardest thing we have to get up from for most of us. And because of that, it can become tough to get up from the floor, so we avoid the whole ordeal.
Learning to get down to the ground and back up again is an important skill to retain throughout your lifetime; it is not just for the development of babies. It is also a great way to prevent falls, get up from the floor by oneself, and a fantastic way to get stronger.
3 Skills You Should Never Stop Practicing
Rolling
Sets/Reps 2×5 each way.
Crawling
Sets/Reps 2×10 forward and back.
Standing
Sets/Reps 2×3 each leg.
I recommend getting up from the floor three times a day at the bare minimum.
Your Fitness Sherpa,
Josh
