Strong From the Ground Up

Strength starts on the ground. Long before you knew what a barbell was, you were developing your strength following your inborn algorithm. Thanks to Tim Anderson’s Original Strength for guiding us back to the beginning because that is where our foundation was originally built, and if your foundation is crumbling after decades of neglect and you find yourself in constant pain, returning to the original source of your strength is the surest way to rebuild your strong, pain-free body. But you don’t have to wait until things break down. You could maintain your healthy, strong, functioning body throughout your life if you just don’t lose contact with the most important and powerful training tool you ever had: the floor.

Yes, I know. I love all the toys, too. Dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, battle ropes, gymnastics rings - I love to play with all the strength implements. But they are supplemental. All presume that you have already built a solid foundation. The problem I have found as a fitness professional is that most people haven’t.

Your First Strength Program

As an infant, you followed your developmental algorithm just as nature intended, crawling around to build your core and wrist and shoulder and neck strength, learning to coordinate upper and lower limbs. You were in contact with the floor all day, every day, as you first learned to navigate the world. And then, as a child, you ran, jumped, tumbled, never far from the ground, returning to it frequently, whether you were playing with dolls, Lego blocks, or Matchbox cars. You were up and down off the floor all day, every day.

But as you grew older and left childhood behind, the floor became a stranger. More often, you found yourself seated at a desk, a table, or behind the wheel of an automobile. The ground became a stranger you visited rarely. But you gave it little thought because, through your middle years, you could return to it when you wanted. Maybe it wasn’t quite as easy to get up and down off the floor as it once was, but doing so wasn’t a big deal either.

But use it or lose it is an incontrovertible law of nature, and by your 40s, 50s, and 60s, the ground began to feel far away and difficult to reach. Getting up and down was no longer as easy and comfortable as it once was. And in what you assumed was an entirely unrelated symptom, you began to feel aches and pains as you navigated through your daily life. What I’m here to tell you today is that it is not unrelated. That the functionality that you have lost on the ground is the reason why your body is in pain and dysfunction today.

The Fix Is Right Beneath You

That’s the bad news. The good news is that the fix is simple, free, and right there at your feet. Yes, the key to restoring your strong, pain-free, functioning body is the floor you’re standing on right now. Before you break yourself with barbells or ruin yourself with running, let’s return to the foundation that gave you access to those things in the first place. Walk before you run, sure; but we need to dial it back further. Right back to crawling before you walk. Start on your hands and knees. It sounds too easy, but a few minutes down there and you will realize how weak your wrists and shoulders have become and how you have lost the ability to coordinate your upper and lower limbs in a correct contralateral pattern. When did that go away?

When crawling on your hands and knees gets too easy, take your knees off the floor and keep going. Leopard crawl, bear crawl, crab walk, etc. Now you’re feeling the weakness in your core, the musculature responsible for keeping your spine safe. It is humbling, but not as humbling as your body breaking down every time you try to pick up the groceries or a grandchild.

Roll to Restore Mobility

I want you to fully reclaim your relationship with the floor. Crawling will help restore your strength, but rolling will help you reclaim the suppleness you enjoyed as a child. The floor is your masseuse and your physical therapist. Roll around in every way that you can imagine. At first, it may feel crunchy and uncomfortable as the floor points out your tight spots, the spots where you haven’t been moving freely for decades. Go as slowly and gently as you need to until you rediscover the comfortable embrace of the floor’s caress.

Master the Get-Up

And then there is the get-up. Remember how easy it used to be to get up and down off the floor when you were strong and mobile? Guess how you got that way? Not by lifting heavy weights or by pounding the concrete, but by getting up and down off the floor. In San Diego last year, I trained with a group of strong, athletic men, many of whom could back squat and deadlift impressive loads, and none of whom could get up off the ground holding a 200lb anchor chain. Why not? Because getting up and down off the ground requires you to be strong, resilient and mobile in every position. It makes your body strong and bulletproof everywhere, not strong within a limited range and brittle in others.

Start with just your bodyweight. When getting up and down unloaded is easy for you, add load. I like sandbags for this. A good goal to work towards is the ability to get up and down from the ground holding 50% of your bodyweight. Kettlebell Turkish get-ups are also great; work towards 25% of your bodyweight.

Go Get Your Strength Back

This is where you reclaim your strength, on the ground. When you can easily get up and down off the floor holding a ½ bodyweight sandbag or a ¼ bodyweight kettlebell Turkish Get Up, and when you can crawl for 5+ minutes with your knees off the floor, your body will be feeling so much better. Your aches, pains, and injuries will have faded to memories, and you will be ready to play with more advanced toys. What’s holding you back? It’s not time, it's not money, it's not know-how. The ground is right there, waiting for you. Your best coach, your best training partner. Go get your strength back!