Hips are so key. Weak hips mean bad balance. Tight hips don’t feel good. Hip replacement stats are through the roof (and it’s not because hips just wear out, people, it’s because no one is using them right).
Hips need movement like the desert needs the rain.
And I also know that lots of us are at home right now more than usual and that means we have a golden opportunity to give our hips more love. And actually take no extra time out of our day with this one amazing movement friendly lifestyle hack.
If you’re not already a committed floor sitter, today I’m going to tell you why you should try it (and share a super fun class so you can explore it in depth). The biggest reason you should try floor sitting is pretty simple. Because of your hips.
Hips Need To Move
Just like every other part of our bodies, our hips require regular movement loads in order to stay healthy. They’re HUGE joints designed to handle a ton of walking and squatting every single day. They looooove moving.
And if you’re like many of us, your hips have been squashed into a 90 degree chair angle for most hours of most days of your entire life. That means they’re probably weak, limited in their range of motion, and seriously underfed (because movement feeds cells).
Poor hips. Poor us!
How Floor Sitting Can Give You Better Hips
Now, there are lots of ways to work on our hips but I think floor sitting is a big one that many of us overlook.
Floor sitting is SUCH a simple, no time required way to give our hips TONS more movement. This happens in two ways:
Floor Sitting Transitions = Body Weight Workout Every Day
First, we have to get down and up from the floor. This is a full bodyweight movement that requires all kinds of angles and mobility from our hips. If you get up and down 20 times a day, that’s a lot of extra movement goodness that you don’t even notice as you’re doing it.
Floor Sitting Positions = Movement Variety
Second, when we’re on the ground instead of a chair, we have so many more shapes we can make with our legs. That provides all kinds of different angles and loads for our hips. And movement variety is what hips crave!
Give Floor Sitting A Try
There’s no need for you to take my word for this – try floor sitting out for yourself and see what you think.
I taught this as a Live class for my Take10 Movement Coaching students and I think you’ll enjoy it.
Make sure to have a few cushions or blankets around (and a half round foam roller if you have one).
This class is about 34 minutes long and will give you lots of ways to explore the world of floor sitting.
(And for even more reasons why floor sitting is your secret wellness weapon, check out this blog post!)
Loved It? Here’s More To Explore
If you enjoyed that as much as I did, here are a few extra resources you might find helpful:
How To Find A Neutral Pelvis When You’re Sitting (Another live class that will help your sitting technique for the first 11 minutes but you should try the psoas release too because it’ll help rehab your body from chairs).
Closed Chain Hip CARs (These are a great exercise to help mobilize your hips and compliment your floot sitting time).
Here’s a more in-depth version of the tripod – one of my absolute favourite floor moves.
And for fun, here’s a post where I shared some really great furniture free home ideas to help inspire you to keep exploring the floor sitting life.
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