can you do this sitting/standing test?

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http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well- ... -will-live

I can't do this test, and never have been able to do this test, even when I was young and relatively fit.

I just tried this like 5-6 times and I ended up on my back every time. >_>

The first time I couldn't get up normally, but I was using the wrong technique. The second time, I uncrossed my legs and then leaned back on my butt, and then used the force to get myself back up on my feet. The third time, I imitated what the woman in the image did with her arms and was able to get up on my feet with little difficulty.

Even though I don't work out very much, I somehow stay kinda fit and I'm fairly flexible. For example, I can double-cross my legs.

I cannot sit on the ground cross-legged, and never have been able to. my legs are very long relative to my torso.

I think there is also a large cultural component in whether people can do this. In many Asian countries this is the default sitting position, instead of using chairs. I would imagine people who have been sitting like this all their lives will continue to be able to do this to a much older age.

I wonder if there is something about being long-legged which interferes with the facility for doing this.

Wobbed ever so slightly getting up, but otherwise fine.

just wondering, are you long-legged?

I don't think you need to be able to get a real cross-legged position, I found another article about the same research where they have a different picture: NBC article

They use the word cross-legged because getting up without crossing your legs at all is much more difficult and probably requires a very athletic person. Longer legs may require more momentum or extra leg strength, because you need to cover a bit more distance. Maybe try it while sitting on a slight rise to compensate for the extra leg length?

I think that they use this test as an indicator for lifestyle/health:
- if someone is overweight, this is more difficult
- if someone never works out, he will probably have weaker legs and this is more difficult
- if someone has balance/flexibility problems, it may be because they don't have an active lifestyle

For most people, balance is something that can be improved by practice to a degree, otherwise there wouldn't be any tightrope walkers or acrobats or people doing backflips on trampolines. I remember doing a forward roll that I hadn't done in a few years, and it made me a bit dizzy, but it didn't make me dizzy when I did those regularly. If you're worried about this, you could keep doing some balance and leg strength exercises as you get older maybe? I saw on the news they were experimenting with giving older people balance training and teaching them how to react when falling, because falling and breaking bones is a problem for the elderly.

of the people who can easily pass this test, I wonder if they also could easily do the Cossack dance [ that is the one where one squats then kicks out one leg while bouncing on the other]. I suspect they could pass that test also.

Another thing I just thought of: you need to sit on the right surface. I tried it on the carpet and I got up just fine, then I tried it on linoleum and my feet just kept slipping away. Too little traction.
Also, my legs were just strong enough really. I don't think I'd be able to do it in the 50-80 age bracket they used this test for, unless I would start working out in the future. I'm a couch potato.

can you do the Cossack dance?

No, not really. I could a little bit as a kid, but it probably looked ridiculous and not like a dance at all. But I think that dance is mostly a matter of practice and training. The Cossack choir people you see on stage are professional dancers. They also do other acrobatics that normal people can't do without a lot of training. To do that dance you need to be able to squat on one leg while maintaining balance, and takes a lot of leg strength and balance (training).
When I did judo we would do squatting exercises where you would squat and switch your weight to your right leg, and then your left and so on. You'd need to practice this before actually lifting the other leg for a dance. The exercise was much more tiring than it looked.

^^^^ Oh, the difficult part was that you put your legs as far away from eachother as you could manage to build strength in your legs. It was quite difficult.

^^^
I bet you are hellafit

No, I last did those exercises 10 years ago and I'm a couch potato by nature. I "sneak in" some exercise by using my bicycle instead of car/bus, and by using stairs instead of elevators. Taking stairs is good exercise, especially taking double steps. These things don't take more time than doing them the lazy way.

I can't find the leg exercise I mentioned on the internets. It goes like this: you put your feet about 3ft apart, then squat with your upper legs horizontal (parallel to the floor). Then move your body to the left and hold, then move your body to the right and hold, etc. Even once is tiring. When you see those cossack dancers dance for more than a minute at a time, you'll know how much training went into that.

^^^
I saw song and dance man ken berry [F-Troop] do it on that program once and was very impressed. I've seen martial artists do the exercise you describe, they make it look easy but I know it is hard. I have a long body with suboptimal leverage, so doing things like the Cossack and sit/stand test is mostly off-limits, and for standard pushups and chin-ups takes a superhuman effort on my part to do just a few.