Sit and Stand

Keeping Your Get Up

At rock bottom, we all want to maintain our independence as we age. Being able to sit down and get up by yourself is critical. You can imagine how much less free you might feel if you needed help to take this action or to get into bed.

Selfie!

Try the Five Times Sit to Stand Test or 5XSST.

Sit in a stable chair with your arms crossed, like I am in the picture. Sit tall in the middle of the seat without leaning on the back. Using your phone or a second hand, time yourself as you stand up fully and sit back down five times — all the way up and all the way down for test accuracy.

Recorded norms for different ages are reported as follows:

60–69 years — 11.4 seconds

70–79 years — 12.6 seconds

80–89 years — 14.8 second

I’m 66 and did it in 7 seconds.

Where are you at?