Rethinking Assessment:
Why the Get-Up Belongs at the Center of Your Movement Screen
1. The Problem With Isolated Testing (Especially in Fitness)
In rehab, isolated testing makes sense. If a client’s knee hurts when they squat, a physical therapist will:
1. Watch them squat.
2. Spot a compensation.
3. Break the movement into parts—ankle dorsiflexion, hip mobility, pelvic control, core strength—and test each in isolation.
This is a reactive model: pain has already appeared, and the goal is to reverse-engineer the cause.
The issue? This same model is often applied to healthy, pain-free people in fitness and performance settings. Trainers run joint-by-joint screens, passive range checks, or “functional” movement tests outside any real-world task.
It’s like judging someone’s communication skills by measuring their tongue mobility. You might learn something about capacity, but you won’t learn how they actually communicate.
2. Movement Is Problem-Solving — So Start With the Problem
Movement exists to solve problems: reach that branch, escape that fall, carry that load, rise from the floor.
At MovNat, we start with a real task, not an isolated drill. Few tasks are as revealing, scalable, and relevant as the Get-Up.
It’s not an exercise—it’s a universal human transition. It demands coordination, stability, sequencing, and mobility all at once.
When we ask someone to get up from the ground without using their hands, we’re watching how they solve the problem of standing. And when we ask them to do it two or three different ways, we see even more:
- Which strategies they instinctively choose
- Which they avoid
- Whether avoidance is due to restriction, weakness, or simply forgetting a pattern they once had
This is movement degeneracy—the ability to solve the same problem in multiple ways. It’s a hallmark of adaptability and resilience. Losing options doesn’t just limit creativity—it can increase injury risk.
3. How to Run the Get-Up Assessment
Step 1: Issue the Task
“Can you get up from the ground without using your hands?”
If they succeed, follow with:
“Can you do it a different way?”
“Can you do it a third way?”
If they cannot get up without using their hands, allow them to use their hands for the three attempts. This still provides valuable insight—observe whether they eventually reach a squat, split squat, or deep hip hinge position (if at all). In many cases, you’ll see them gravitate toward a hinge or split squat pattern repeatedly, which can reveal both restrictions and ingrained preferences.
Why three?
The first attempt is usually instinctual. The next two push them into less-familiar territory, revealing true adaptability.
Step 2: Observe Without Coaching
- Where do they hesitate?
- Which joints dominate?
- Do they bias symmetry or asymmetry?
- Are they confident, or tentative?
Don’t cue. Don’t correct. You’re not running a pass/fail test—you’re gathering a movement map.
4. Common Get-Up Strategies (and What They Tell You)
Squat-Based
- Bilateral compression (heels down or up)
- Requires balanced ankle, knee, hip mobility
- Common in movers with well-rounded lower-body control
Split Squat / Lunge-Based
- Unilateral rise from kneeling
- Requires balance and single-leg stability
- Often chosen when deep squat mobility is limited or unfamiliar
Hinge with Hand Post
- Push through one arm to initiate
- Offloads lower-body restrictions
- Can reveal posterior-chain reliance or compensation
Deep Knee Bend
- Full hip, knee, ankle flexion
- High mobility and coordination demand
- Often seen in mobile or well-practiced movers
5. Bias Doesn’t Always Mean Deficit
If someone always chooses one pattern—say, split squat—it could mean:
- A mobility restriction (ankle, hip, thoracic)
- A stability/strength gap in another pattern
- Or simply a forgotten solution they no longer default to
This is where targeted follow-up tests come in:
- Split Squat Bias → Check ankle dorsiflexion, deep squat comfort, hip posture
- No Squat Patterns → Assess hip/ankle mobility, trunk control
- No Cross-Squat → Assess hip rotation, lateral stability, ankle eversion
- Heavy Hand Use → Assess trunk control, sequencing, low-lever strength
6. Programming From the Get-Up
The Get-Up doesn’t just diagnose—it tells you exactly where to start programming:
| What You See | What to Program |
| Can’t get up at all | Rolling patterns, ground push drills, segmental stability |
| Heavy reliance on hands | Rocking, bridge progressions, sit-up regressions |
| One-sided dominance | Split stance work, unilateral carries, asymmetrical crawls |
| Collapsed posture | Breath mechanics, spinal alignment drills, isometrics |
| No squat-based option | Ankle mobility work, assisted deep squat holds, pole squats |
The goal isn’t to “fix” the Get-Up—it’s to restore movement options so the person can solve more problems in more ways.
Final Thought
You don’t need 20 isolated screens to understand how someone moves.
You need one honest task, the space to observe, and the skill to connect patterns to possibilities.
The Get-Up offers an unfiltered, real-time look at movement competency—and a direct line to better programming, better outcomes, and more capable humans.
Watch the MovNat x Nonstop Physiotherapy + Recovery collaboration as we demonstrate the get-up in action!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Brian Betancourt
Director of Curriculum & Performance
A movement strategist and exercise physiologist with over a decade of experience coaching athletes, leading performance programs, and designing educational systems. As MovNat’s Director of Curriculum and Performance, Betancourt is responsible for evolving the brand’s instructional framework, certification pathways, and benchmark systems to meet the needs of a modern, capability-driven audience.
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