19/09/2026
One simple chair test can tell us a surprising amount about physical function and healthy ageing.
It's called the sit-to-stand test.
The principle is straightforward: stand up from a chair and sit back down again without using your arms. Yet this apparently simple movement draws on several important capacities — particularly lower-body strength, muscle power and functional ability.
A 2026 editorial published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine describes sit-to-stand testing as a useful functional assessment with potential prognostic value. The authors discuss both the 5-repetition sit-to-stand and the 30-second version, noting that the 30-second test may have advantages when distinguishing different functional levels and monitoring changes following an intervention.
This is especially relevant to the MobiGym philosophy.
At MobiGym, 30-second sit-to-stand is one of the functional measures we can repeat over time.
We don't want to know only how much exercise someone completed.
We want to understand:
Has strength improved?
Has function improved?
Is physical reserve increasing?
This is the logic behind the MobiGym Method:
ASSESS → INTERPRET → PRIORITIZE → INTERVENE → REASSESS ↻
Because your baseline matters.
And your progress matters.
We don't just train. We measure what changes.
Discover MobiGym and book a free introductory session:
https://www.mobigym.lu/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=research_spotlight_sit_to_stand_sep2026
📚 Scientific reference
Castro-Piñero J, Alcazar J, Cuenca-García M, et al.
Sit-to-stand test emerges as a powerful prognostic factor of future health outcomes: different versions, measurement properties and future perspectives.
British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2026;60(12):844–847.
DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2026-111739
This research was brought to our attention through Jackson Fyfe's The Weekly Exerciser, which regularly translates exercise science into practical insights.
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