The Sitting Rising Test: Can You Sit On The Floor And Stand Up Without Your Hands?
The sitting rising test: the short answer
The sitting rising test asks one simple thing: can you sit down on the floor and stand up again, using as little support as possible? You are scored out of 10, with a point off for each hand, knee or other support you use. In a Brazilian study of 2,002 adults aged 51 to 80, the lowest scorers had more than five times the risk of dying over about six years as the highest scorers. It is a marker of strength, flexibility and balance working together, not a cause. Here is the article in short form:
- The test: sit on the floor, then rise, scored 0 to 10.
- Each support costs a point: hand, knee or anything else you lean on.
- The study: 2,002 adults aged 51 to 80, followed for about 6 years.
- The result: lowest scorers had more than 5 times the risk of the highest.
- It is a marker, not a cause. The score shows what the body can still do.
- A class practises it: down to the floor and up again, with props.
Last updated: 25 October 2026.
When did you last sit on the floor and get up again without a hand on anything? Fit, athletic members of a San Francisco sporting club found they could not even sit cross-legged when the chairs were cleared away. The floor is a test most of us stopped taking.
A quick word on Iyengar yoga. Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. It is the style we teach at Flametree, in Darwin and live online.
Sitting on the floor on a block, with a belt to help the legs. Props make the floor friendlier.
What is the sitting rising test?
It is a test of getting down to the floor and up again. The researchers who designed it scored the sitting part from 0 to 5 and the rising part from 0 to 5, one point being subtracted from 5 for each support used (a hand or a knee), giving a final score from 0 to 10 (Brito and colleagues, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 2012). It is also called the sit and rise test or the floor test. The simple version is: can you sit down on the floor and stand up again without using your hands or knees?
How the sitting rising test is scored, and what the Brazilian study found.
What did the Brazilian study find?
Researchers in Rio de Janeiro scored 2,002 adults aged 51 to 80 (68% were men) on the test, then followed them for a median of 6.3 years. Of the 2,002, 159 (7.9%) died. Lower scores went with higher mortality. Compared with the top group (8 to 10 points), the people scoring 0 to 3 had 5.44 times the risk of dying, those scoring 3.5 to 5.5 had 3.44 times, and those scoring 6 to 7.5 had 1.84 times, after allowing for age, sex and body mass index. Each extra point went with 21% better survival.
The authors described the test as a simple and safe tool, influenced by muscular strength and flexibility, that could add useful information about functional capacity in people who are not in hospital.
Is a low score a cause or a warning light?
It is a marker, not a cause. Practising getting off the floor will not, on its own, make anyone live longer. What the score shows is whether a body still has the strength, flexibility and balance that daily life needs. The study was also retrospective (it looked back at records), and most of the people in it were men. Treat it as a reason to practise, not as a verdict.
Sitting tall on a folded blanket. A little height under the seat makes the floor easier.
Why can so many fit people not sit on the floor?
The coaches Kelly and Juliet Starrett, in Built to Move, tell of giving a talk at a grand old sporting club in San Francisco. They cleared away the chairs and asked the members to sit on the floor. Many were fit, athletic people. Many could not sit cross-legged.
Their explanation is the chair. A long day of sitting keeps the hips folded and the muscles at the front of the hip short and switched on. They suggest a “sitting inventory”: add up the hours you spend in a chair, a car seat or on a couch. That is their idea, not something the Brazilian study tested. It does fit what Mr Iyengar saw in India as people moved from the floor to chairs. Our guide to the deep squat and our guide to tight hips cover the hips in more depth.
Standing Forward Bend: the hips and legs working together before you ever go to the floor.
How do you try the sitting rising test?
Only try it if your knees and hips are comfortable, and keep a wall or sturdy chair beside you. Use a mat or a carpet, not a slippery floor.
- Stand with your feet a little apart. Get ready to lower yourself, not to drop.
- Sit down on the floor in any way you like, ideally cross-legged. Notice each hand, knee or other support you use.
- Stand up again. Notice each support you use on the way up.
- Count. Each support takes a point off, from a start of 5 for sitting and 5 for rising.
Try it once, notice how it feels, and compare yourself with yourself in a month. If the floor is not comfortable, keep a chair beside you and begin with a folded blanket or a block under the seat. In class, a teacher shows you ways down and up that suit your body.
A chair in the hands: a steady way to build the leg strength for getting up.
How does yoga practise the sitting rising test?
In an Iyengar class you go down to the mat and up again many times. You stand on one leg, sit on the floor with a block or a blanket, and build the leg strength to do it all. That is regular practice at exactly what this test looks at. Standing up from a chair is the first step, and our sit to stand exercise guide covers that. On the balance side, see the balance test.
The Starretts are not yoga teachers, and they do not say yoga is the answer. They call it a fantastic practice, and they point out that a day of movement matters too. We agree that a day that moves matters. What a class adds is supervised, regular practice of the strength, flexibility and balance the test measures.
Warrior II: the leg strength that gets you up off the floor.
Get the free ebook Too Stiff For Yoga? New to Flametree, or away for 3 months or more? You get 2 free classes + 2 ebooks, only available via this offer. Already coming to class? You can still get the book.
Where can I learn this in Darwin?
Come to a beginner class at Flametree’s Woolner or Coolalinga studio, or join live online from anywhere in Australia. The floor, blocks, blankets and chairs are part of every class. Our Too Stiff For Yoga pass and our Yoga For Bones And Balance pass each give you 10 classes at half price plus 2 free, for new students or those away for 3 months or more. See the beginner timetable for class times. Feel free to check with your professional advisers if you wish, but also give yoga a try.
Frequently asked questions
What is the sitting rising test?
It is a test of sitting down on the floor and standing up again. You are scored out of 10, five points for sitting and five for rising, with a point off for each hand, knee or other support you use.
How is the sitting rising test scored?
Each of the two movements starts at 5, and one point is subtracted for each support used, such as a hand or knee. Adding the sitting and rising scores gives a final score from 0 to 10.
What did the sitting rising test study find?
In 2,002 Brazilian adults aged 51 to 80 followed for a median of 6.3 years, those scoring 0 to 3 had 5.44 times the risk of dying of those scoring 8 to 10. Each extra point went with 21% better survival.
Does the sitting rising test cause or predict early death?
It is a marker, not a cause. A low score shows a body where strength, flexibility and balance are not working together as well, and the study cannot show that practising the test changes lifespan.
Why is it hard to get up off the floor?
It asks your legs, hips, trunk and balance to work together. Long days of sitting keep the hips folded, which is one explanation put forward by coaches Kelly and Juliet Starrett, though the Brazilian study did not test it.
Can yoga help you sit on the floor and get up?
A yoga class practises going down to the floor and up many times, with blocks, blankets and chairs, and builds the leg strength and flexibility it needs.
What if I cannot sit on the floor?
Begin with a folded blanket or block under the seat and a chair beside you. A teacher can show you ways down and up that suit your body.
Where can I learn this in Darwin?
Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin, and live online. Classes use the floor, blocks, blankets and chairs, and the teacher adjusts each pose to you.
Related reading
- Balance test: three simple ones researchers use
- Sit to stand exercise
- How to get more flexible after 50
- Yoga for balance
Where to next
- New to yoga, or coming back? Start with our half price 10 class pass with 2 classes free, in Darwin or live online.
- For a workplace, team or group: book private yoga classes for groups, online, at a Flametree studio or at your venue.
- Want to see class times first? Look at the beginner timetable.
Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and live online. This article is general information, not medical advice.
Sources: Brito LB and colleagues, Ability to sit and rise from the floor as a predictor of all-cause mortality, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 2012; Kelly Starrett and Juliet Starrett, Built to Move; Too Stiff For Yoga? and Strong Bones, Steady Feet ebooks.
