Your Starting Point

Before you start any journey, it helps to know exactly where you're beginning.

Today's lesson is your personal movement screen — a simple self-assessment designed to give you a clear picture of where your body is right now. These aren't tests you pass or fail. They're measurements. Like stepping on a scale at the start of a diet, or writing down your starting mile time before you begin a running program. You're collecting data, nothing more.

In four weeks, you'll repeat these same assessments. In eight weeks, again. And at week twelve, you'll have a complete record of your progress. Most people are amazed by how much changes when you measure things deliberately.

Grab your notebook. You'll want to write down your results.

Why This Matters

Here's something most fitness programs skip: they never tell you where you started, so you never really know how far you've come. You just sort of feel better — or don't — without any real sense of progress.

We're doing this differently. Your baseline numbers become your personal benchmark. When the sit-to-stand test feels hard today and easy in six weeks, you'll know exactly why — because you have the numbers to prove it.

Pro Tip from Your PT: A movement screen tells me more about someone's functional fitness than almost any other single tool. These four assessments were chosen because they correlate strongly with real-life ability — getting up from chairs, navigating uneven ground, walking safely, and recovering from a stumble. They matter.

Before You Begin

Put on your supportive shoes. Have your sturdy chair positioned near a wall or countertop for safety. Keep a glass of water nearby. Do these assessments when you're rested — not right after a workout or a long walk.

If any of these assessments feel unsafe or cause discomfort in a joint, simply skip that one and note it in your journal. There will be a modified version available, and your progress can be tracked differently.

Assessment 1: The Sit-to-Stand Test

This is one of the most studied assessments in aging research. The ability to get up from a chair without using your hands is strongly linked to overall strength, muscle quality, and independence.

Setup: Sit in the middle of your chair with your feet flat on the floor, about hip-width apart. Fold your arms across your chest. This is important — no pushing off the armrests.

The test: Stand up fully, then sit back down in a controlled way. That's one repetition. Count how many you can complete in 30 seconds.

How to read your results:

For adults aged 60–64: 14 or more is excellent, 12–13 is good, below 10 is a starting point to build from.

For adults aged 65–69: 12 or more is excellent, 10–11 is good.

For adults aged 70 and older: 10 or more is excellent, 8–9 is good.

If you needed to use your hands, that's completely fine and very common. Write that down too — "completed with hand support" — and we'll track that progression separately.

Write your number in your notebook now.

Assessment 2: Single-Leg Stand

Balance is one of the first things to decline with age, and it's one of the most important things to maintain for real-world confidence. This test measures how well your balance system is working today.

Setup: Stand near a wall or countertop with one hand lightly touching it for safety. Don't grip — just fingertips for emergency support only.

The test: Lift one foot about four inches off the ground, slightly bending the knee. Start your timer (or count slowly). Hold as long as you can while keeping your standing foot flat on the floor and staying relatively upright. Switch sides.

What to aim for: Many adults over 60 can hold for 10 seconds or more. Some will hold for 30 seconds. Some will find 3–5 seconds challenging. All of these are valid starting points.

Write down your time for each leg. Note whether they're different — most people have one side that's slightly stronger.

Listen to Your Body: Only perform this test near a wall or countertop you can quickly grab. Do not attempt it in open space without something to hold. Safety first, always.

Assessment 3: The 20-Foot Walk

Walking quality tells us a lot about strength, coordination, and cardiovascular capacity. This simple test measures your comfortable walking speed.

Setup: Mark out 20 feet in a hallway or open space. You can use two pieces of tape or two chairs as markers.

The test: Walk from one marker to the other at your normal, comfortable pace — not your fastest, not your slowest. Have someone time you, or use the stopwatch on your phone. Note how you feel at the end: easy, moderate, or hard.

What to write down: Your time in seconds, and your effort level (easy/moderate/hard).

If 20 feet of walking feels like nothing, that's great — your baseline is strong. If it feels like a real effort, that's important information that helps us calibrate your program appropriately.

Assessment 4: Shoulder Reach

This one checks upper body mobility — specifically your ability to reach overhead and behind your back. These movements matter more than you might think: getting something from a high shelf, putting on a jacket, reaching for a seatbelt.

Setup: Stand in a comfortable position.

The test — overhead reach: Reach both arms straight overhead as high as you can. Can you get them fully vertical, or do they angle forward? Note which way.

The test — behind-the-back reach: Reach one hand up behind your back (from below, as if scratching between your shoulder blades). Reach the other hand down from over your shoulder. How close do your fingertips get? Try both sides.

Write down: "Full overhead reach" or "arms angle forward." For the behind-back reach, note whether the gap between your hands is roughly a fist-width, two fists, or more.

This isn't something we'll track with a number — just a general sense of your mobility that we'll revisit.

Recording Your Baseline

In your notebook, write today's date and these four numbers:

1. Sit-to-stand in 30 seconds (number of reps, and whether you used your hands)
2. Single-leg stand — left side (seconds) and right side (seconds)
3. 20-foot walk (seconds, and effort level)
4. Shoulder mobility notes

Take a photo of your notebook page if you can — it's a great backup.

Pro Tip from Your PT: Don't be disappointed by where you're starting. I've worked with patients in their 80s who started with two sit-to-stands and built up to fifteen over several months. The starting number doesn't matter. The trajectory does.

Your Assignment This Week

• Complete all four assessments and write down your numbers
• Keep your notebook in a spot where you'll see it every day
• Note how you felt physically after this assessment — was it tiring? Easy? Somewhere in between?
• Drink plenty of water and rest today if the assessments felt challenging

In the next lesson, we'll do your very first daily routine — ten minutes that will become the foundation of everything ahead.