"Success is failing nine times and getting up ten".

 

That seems to be the mindset of babies and toddlers - they decide they want to stand up .... so they do. It doesn't happen at first, but they do it again and again until .... it well .... until it happens.

 

With our wee ones, it's not just the fact they 'do' get up....its 'how' they get up that is so powerful. When a baby firsts pushes their weight back and stands up, they have discovered something amazing....their HINGE.

 

Hinging is a basic physical competency that allows us to bend at the hips, engaging our powerful posterior chain muscles (namely the glutes and hamstrings - which is incredibly powerful when we want to move force from our lower body to our upper body)....all while protecting our lower back.

 

The way babies stand up is a really neat move I like to call the 'baby getup'.

 

This movement is amazingly simple - after all babies don't over complicate....they simply do. 

 

This move can be combined into a 'flow' to work alongside other developmental movement patterns, such as:

Rocking 

Sitting (shin box)

Rolling and crawling.

 

To complete the 'baby getup' from a basic starting point, let's look at a rocking reset position:

In this position we start with 6 points of contact on the floor (hands, knees and feet). We start with hips over knees (ankles dorsi flexed), shoulders over hands, head up, breathing in/out through our nose with our tongue on the roof of our mouth (our reset within the reset).

 

From here we push through our hands and toes and take our knees off the floor. As you will know if you have held this position - it is no joke. This position alone will make you strong.

 

We then maintain knee position and walk our hands back until they are underneath us and your feet are flat on the floor.

 

Slide your hands up your shins, then thighs. You will find that your backside is sticking out backwards (and you will most probably be aware of your hamstrings in this position) - push it forwards to complete your hinge.

 

You can of course reverse this movement to go down to the floor.

 

This 'baby get-up' is how wee ones stand up. It is as developmental and natural to them as any other reset.

 

Try it out - play with stages of the movement or make a conscious decision to make this your way of getting up and down off the floor.  Click here to view video of the baby getup.

 

Perform it fast or slow....for reps or time....however you do it, think about how you are breathing and holding your head throughout and I think you will find that some time spent doing this will enable you to restore, or re-find your hinge and open up some amazing movement possibilities.