#012 - Burpees for the win

If you’ve ever asked yourself, “What’s the best exercise I should be doing at my age?” you’re not alone. My own mother, now in her mid-70s, recently asked me exactly that.

I’ve spent a long time thinking about this and I’ll admit, the answer I gave her will not win me any popularity points:

“Burpees.”

I know. Everyone hates them. They remind people of school P.E. or punishing boot camps. But hear me out because I want to make the case that getting down to the floor and back up again using your own bodyweight is one of the single most important movements for long-term health and independence.

It’s not about aesthetics, calorie burn, or elite performance. It’s about maintaining the kind of full-body strength, balance, and coordination that keeps you upright, autonomous, and resilient well into later life.

Why this one movement matters:

When you strip it back, a burpee is just a way of getting on the floor and back up again. Done explosively, it’s a full-body power exercise. Done slowly and with control, it’s a test of balance, mobility, and motor planning.

And here’s why that matters: our ability to rise from the floor under our own steam is a powerful predictor of longevity.

A 2014 study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology followed over 2,000 adults aged 51–80 using something called the Sitting-Rising Test (SRT). Participants were asked to sit down and then stand up from the floor without using their hands or external support. The results were startling: those who struggled the most had a 5–6 times higher risk of all-cause mortality during the follow-up period. In fact, for every point higher on the SRT (out of 10), the risk of death decreased by 21% (Brito et al., 2014).

Think about that. Something as simple as standing up from the floor without help is strongly tied to your survival odds.

It’s about more than strength:

The beauty of this movement is that it draws on multiple physical systems:

1.       Lower limb strength to control descent and power the rise.

2.       Upper limb stability to assist in transitions (especially in scaled variations).

3.       Core control to manage trunk movement and protect the spine.

4.       Balance and proprioception to stay oriented during shifts in posture.

5.       Cognitive-motor coordination to sequence the movement smoothly.

And in real life, we rarely move in straight lines. Falls, slips, and spills happen in messy, unexpected ways. Practicing the skill of getting down and up again, from different angles, speeds, and surfaces builds not just strength, but robustness.

In fact, a 2022 biomechanics study observed how older adults naturally rise from the floor. They used a variety of strategies roll-overs, sit-ups, kneels but a common theme was this: those who had practiced and felt confident in a method were significantly more capable and less fearful. Familiarity breeds fluency.

Freestyle it:

To be clear, I’m not saying everyone needs to do textbook chest-to-floor burpees. Quite the opposite.

Scaling and adapting the movement is not only acceptable, it’s essential.

Start by practicing transitions:

·         From standing to kneeling, and back.

·         From kneeling to seated.

·         From seated to supine (lying on your back).

·         And then reverse it, ideally without using hands or furniture.

·         However, if you need to use hands and furniture to begin with, go for it!

Over time, you can work towards step-back burpees, squat thrusts, or more dynamic variations. The goal isn’t speed or reps. It’s control. Mastering the movement in both directions, down and up, is the real win.

What happens if we don’t practice?

As my friend and colleague James mentioned in his recent article on ‘having a fall’ - falls are the leading cause of injury-related death in older adults. And what makes a fall catastrophic often isn’t the fall itself - it’s the inability to get back up.

Prolonged time spent on the floor (known as a “long lie”) is associated with significantly increased mortality, even among those who weren’t seriously injured by the fall itself. Practicing how to recover from the floor, in your own space, builds confidence and capability that may one day save your life — or at least spare you a deeply traumatic experience.

A 2023 study in BMC Geriatrics went further, showing that sit-to-stand power and speed were strong predictors of frailty in older adults with cardiometabolic disease. Those who could rise quickly and powerfully were less likely to become frail in the years that followed. In other words, the ability to get up from the floor isn’t just a reflection of current health — it’s a forecast of future resilience.

Your own long-term insurance policy, for free!

So, when my mum asked me what the best exercise is at her age, I didn’t prescribe a kettlebell swing, a yoga flow, or a rowing machine. I simply said: “Practice getting up off the floor.”

Do it safely. Do it regularly. And do it in a way that challenges both your body and brain.

You don’t have to love burpees. But you might just learn to appreciate them (or whatever scaled version suits your level)  as the ultimate longevity movement. One that keeps you strong, independent, and confident, no matter what life throws at you.

Where to start?

Test yourself: Can you get up off the floor without using your hands? No? That’s fine, put your hands on anything you can reach, furniture, a wall, radiator or just your knees. Use your strength any way you can.

Practice variations: Kneel-to-stand, seated to stand, side-rolls, etc.

Add control: Slower = harder (and more useful).

Make it regular: 3–10 repetitions a day is enough to improve. Once you’ve got it dialed in, do a few sets every other day. It takes less than 2 mins and could make a very important difference one day.

Richard Baggott la Velle
Osteopath – Orchard House Clinic Wantage

References:

Brito, Leandro B., Claudio L. Ricardo, Juliana G. de Araujo, Roberto C. Ramos, Anderson S. Myers, and Claudio Gil S. Araújo. 2014. “Ability to Sit and Rise from the Floor as a Predictor of All-Cause Mortality.” European Journal of Preventive Cardiology 21 (7): 892–98. https://doi.org/10.1177/2047487312471759.

Araújo, Claudio Gil Soares, José Carlos de Castro Pinto, Leandro Barbosa Brito, and Juliana Gomes de Araújo. 2020. “Sex- and Age-Referenced Normative Values for the Sitting-Rising Test: A Cross-Sectional Study in 6141 Adults Aged 51 to 80 Years.” European Journal of Preventive Cardiology 27 (8): 888–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/2047487320906821.

Takarada, Yuji, Kohei Maruyama, Yuki Shibata, and Masahiro Yamasaki. 2023. “Association between Physical Performance during Sit-to-Stand Motion and Frailty in Older Adults with Cardiometabolic Diseases.” BMC Geriatrics 23 (1): 244. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-03979-w.

Wang, Emily, Lucy O’Brien, Di J. Newham, and Alison H. McGregor. 2022. “Rising from the Floor in Healthy Older Adults: Biomechanics and Variability in Movement Strategies.” Journal of Biomechanics 142: 111264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2022.111264.