Why You Should Be Spending More Time on the Ground

This post is inspired by some ideas I came across in a short article written by Dan John.

In some cultures and places around the world, it's the norm to sleep, eat, and just spend a lot of time on the ground. But that is not the case in America and in much of the Western world. With comfy chairs and couches in every room and beds set at a nice comfortable height a few feet from the floor, it's no surprise that we as a culture are spending less and less time on the ground, particularly as we age. Don't get me wrong, I love a good soft couch as much as anyone else. But I think our aversion to ground-time is a serious problem. We need to spend more time on the ground. Why?

(By toomanycircles from UK (Chris Ashton) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)
Just getting comfortable.

Ground-time can be hard work.

Getting onto and off of the ground requires a bit of work. The average 50-year-old's descent to the ground is probably accompanied by a symphony of joint pops and creaks and an eventual sigh of relief, and the ascent back to standing is likely slow, awkward, and coupled with groans of effort and dismay. In the Dan John article linked above, he proposes an interesting experiment in which you wear a heart monitor and spend five minutes just getting down on the ground and standing back up. That's it. Get on the ground (on your front, side, or back), and then get back up for five minutes.
Ground-time requires a lot more physical effort than sofa time, and, if we're being honest, the average American needs some more physical effort built into his or her everyday life.

Ground-time requires some strength and mobility.
When you get down on the ground, your hips, shoulders, legs, arms, and core are all working to control your descent, and getting back up generally requires (depending on your positioning) some sort of sit-up or push-up coupled with a squatting or lunging movement. (Hey, that almost sounds like a good basis for a workout.) 

In addition, ground-time requires and promotes mobility. When sitting on the ground, our hip and knee joints are generally not at a nice, modest 90 degree angle. Sitting on the ground usually involves near-end-range flexion or extension of the ankle, knee, and/or hip joints. Spending time in these positions (assuming good posture) can improve joint health and range of motion. The same cannot be said of your positioning sitting on the couch. Additionally, most people probably have enough basic strength to get on and off the ground without a problem, but they are lacking mobility and/or stability in end-ranges. Getting on and off the ground generally requires considerable knee and hip flexion as well as shoulder stability in a position of extension. 

Spending more time on the ground can encourage and improve strength, stability, and mobility of major joints. No, sitting on the ground instead of the couch will not turn you into Dmitry Klokov, but it might just make you into a better-functioning human being.

The ground is hard.

It's no surprise that our culture is generally averse to spending time on the ground. Comfort-wise, the choice between a plush, leather couch and the living room carpet is an easy one. I'm not here to argue that being on the ground is more comfortable than your La-Z-Boy recliner (though sprawling out on the floor can be incredibly refreshing at times), but this might actually be a great reason to prioritize ground time. It's pretty easy to spend 3 hours in your recliner and not move much other than your chip hand and your beer hand, but ground time tends to make you a bit more restless. While restlessness isn't always a positive association, it can be a very positive factor in combating the average American's overly-sedentary lifestyle. Spend more time on the ground, and chances are you'll be moving around, switching positions, and getting up and about a bit more. That's a good thing. 

I've fallen, and I can't get up.

There is no question that falls are a major problem for the elderly. According to the CDC, in 2010, falls cost the US healthcare system $30 billion, and among older adults falls are 5x more likely to result in hospitalization than injuries from another cause. While aging does naturally make a fall relatively more dangerous (through osteoporosis, general declines in strength and mobility, etc.), it doesn't have to be as huge of a risk factor as it is. If ground-time were a regular part of our everyday lives throughout the years, not only would we be generally stronger and more mobile, but we would be much more comfortable getting up from the ground if/when a fall does happen. We wonder why it's such an endeavour for great-uncle Louie to get up off the ground after a very minor fall--there's a good chance it's because he hasn't been on the ground in half a decade. 

Athletes need to be comfortable with ground-time. 

(By National Photo Company [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

All contact sports and many other sports require athletes to be comfortable with ending up on the ground and quickly returning to their feet. Football, rugby, hockey, gymnastics, wrestling, MMA, basketball, soccer, baseball, softball, volleyball, and many more require, to varying degrees, athletes to be able to quickly and efficiently get up off the ground and continue gameplay/competition without pause. Particularly in contact sports where being knocked to the ground is a frequent occurrence, athletes should be well-trained in ground-work such that their movement is quick and effortless. 

Additionally, ground-work can be a great way to examine movement patterns, functional mobility, and joint stability of athletes. Have you ever seen someone getting on the ground who looks like they're just not sure how to do it? Their knees cave in and jut forward, their upper back hunches awkwardly forward and to the side, and their arm stretches out towards the ground, and then they kind of just plop the rest of the way down. A lot can be learned from watching someone get down on and stand up from the ground. While there are certainly more complex movements that a trainer or coach can use, watching an athlete get onto or up from the ground is a great starting point for movement screening. A coach or trainer can tell if an athlete tends to over- or under-pronate, if they lack ankle or hip mobility, if they naturally tend towards valgus or varus knee movement, if they have a habit of rounding the upper back or rolling the shoulder forward, if they strongly prefer one side, and so on. 

And it's not just for athletes.

You may not be playing in the Super Bowl or the Olympics, but chances are at some point you'll be playing with your kids, grandkids, or friend's kids, that you'll need to get on the ground to reach something under the sofa, that you'll want to work under your car, you'll want to plant something in the garden, or maybe you just want to lay down on the beach or a nice patch of grass without having to worry about how you'll get up. 

The ground is dirty.

(By Charles L. Ford, IV [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
This dog knows what's up.

Yes, this is a positive thing. We live in a time and place where our hands undergo a constant barrage of anti-bacterial wash-rinse-repeat, where hand-sanitizer is in every purse and every doorway of every public building, and where dirt is the enemy and "bacteria" is a naughty word to many people. However, there is some evidence suggesting that for optimal health, we need some dirt. Our gut health--which, thanks to yogurt commercials, we all know is an important thing--is dependent upon exposure to new bacteria. In addition, mycobacterium vaccae, found in good ol' dirt, has been found to have antidepressant properties. In other words, a little dirt exposure could make you happier and healthier. And the ground is the perfect place to get friendly with some dirt. I don't suggest that you lick your doormat or never clean your bathroom floor again; however, something as simple as laying on the grass, doing some gardening, or just sitting on the floor and playing with your dog is a great way to expose yourself to some immune-boosting bacteria. 

(Note: I am not proposing that we return to Middle Ages sanitation habits. Our modern Western lifestyles and cleanliness habits/abilities are a vast improvement; however, we've gone a bit overboard with our germophobia and sanitization-o-philia.)

Practice makes perfect.

So you need to spend more time on the ground, and maybe it is just that simple. But I'm not suggesting that you just throw yourself down and see what happens. In addition to spending some of your leisure time on the ground rather than on the couch, there are a number of exercises (some of which you might already be doing) that can help you incorporate ground-work into your training. 

First and foremost, yoga. Yoga is chock full of opportunities to be on the ground, bring yourself down to the ground in a controlled manner, and get up from the ground, all with a focus on stability, positioning, and fluid movement. This, I think, is one of the most positive aspect of yoga and its current popularity. If you're looking for a good way to incorporate more ground-work into your training, yoga is a great place to start. 

Additionally, burpees or up-downs are a great way to incorporate ground-work into your training and get some conditioning in at the same time. 5 minutes of fast, constant burpees or up-downs will give your lungs a good run for their money. 

Core exercises and some gymnastics movements are also a great way to get in ground-work. A few of my favorites are hollow rocks, planks or side-planks, roll to candlestick, pistol with roll, turkish get-ups, supermans, and other basic abdominal exercises like sit-ups, v-ups, and lying leg raises. Additionally, a number of sprinting and speed drills involve starting from the ground. These can be hugely beneficial to field athletes. 

Lastly, foam rolling, soft-tissue work with a ball, and many other drills and stretches involve spending time on the ground. 

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Sometimes we get too stuck in the rut of separating "exercise" from daily life. We're left with the detrimental idea that fitness is what happens in the gym, and life is what happens everywhere else. Changing the way we see our daily habits can help close that gap and bring forth the realization that fitness is "happening" every minute of every day. 

Keep your swole grounded.