Starter Rolling Upper Body to Standing

Set-up: Lay flat on your back with your arms comfortably by your sides and your legs extended.

Action: Lift one arm and reach across your body and over your opposite shoulder while lifting your head and following your hand with your eyes. Your lower body should remain relaxed and do not use your lower body to help with the roll. As you roll over onto your stomach, with the reaching arm find the ground with your elbow and begin supporting yourself on the ground. Follow through with the opposite arm and placing the elbow on the ground as you complete the roll onto your stomach and finish in the elbow supported position. Push back with both arms at the same time bringing your hips toward your feet and then walk back with your hands until you are in a squatting position. Once you are balanced and controlled in the squatting position, stand up. It is okay and a natural movement for the heels to come up during the squatting portion of the movement.

Return: From standing squat back down and reach to the ground with both hands. Lower your body back down by walking out with your hands and lower your body under control and return to the elbow supported position. Take the arm on the side you are rolling toward, and reach and slide the arm under the armpit to clear this arm out of the way so that you can roll back onto your back while looking over your shoulder. Again the lower body should trail the upper body movement until you return to the starting position on your back.

Repeat rolling to standing on the opposite side with these instructions. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions. Rate the smoothness and control of each repetition and compare to previous repetitions.