Built to Move

Kelly and Juliet Starrett’s Built to Move redefines mobility as a practical foundation for a long, active, pain-free life. Their thesis is clear: mobility is not an optional exercise trick—it’s your body’s readiness metric. They argue that mobility is a living indicator of how well your systems—joint range, muscle control, fascia, breath, sleep, and nutrition—integrate to support daily life. Think of it as a barometer that reflects whether your body can meet any challenge, from sprinting to carrying groceries or getting off the floor.

Mobility as a vital sign

The Starretts structure the book around ten Vital Signs—simple tests and practices that translate complex physiology into everyday metrics. “10 tests + 10 practices = 10 ways to make your body work better.” Each test reveals gaps in your movement health; each practice becomes a form of self-maintenance. The message is empowering: mobility isn’t fixed or dependent on age or athleticism—it’s trainable and measurable for anyone.

They open with a story from the 2000 World Rafting Championships on Chile’s Futaleufú River. Juliet rescued Kelly, passing him a life jacket. That story mirrors their philosophy—the right small tools and preparation can keep you from being overwhelmed when life gets turbulent. Their programs, from MobilityWOD to The Ready State, evolved to serve soldiers, CrossFitters, casual office workers, and aging adults alike. You don’t have to be an athlete to benefit; you just need consistency and curiosity.

System-level mobility

In their view, mobility means your joints move through full range with control; your muscles fire appropriately; fascia glides freely; breathing stabilizes the spine; and your tissues recover with adequate sleep and nutrition. When this network fails, stiffness and pain appear. Mobility is therefore not just flexibility—it’s coordination and integration across systems. (Compare Gray Cook’s Functional Movement Screen, which also treats movement as a whole-body symphony.)

Preparing your body for real life

You don’t perform mobility for performance alone—you do it to sustain your life’s demands. Vital Signs like the Sit-and-Rise Test, the Breath-Hold Test, and the Couch Test show how everyday actions illuminate global health. These simple diagnostics cut through complexity to reveal whether you can adapt, recover, and move freely as you age. The Starretts want readers to reclaim basic biological movements—standing, walking, squatting, breathing well—behaviors that modern environments have stripped away.

The book’s practical frame

Each Vital Sign unfolds through a repeatable test and an accompanying practice: floor sitting shapes hip mechanics; breathing calibrates the nervous system; hip extension unlocks gait; walking regulates circulation; standing counters sedentary risks; and eating and sleeping optimize tissue recovery. These chapters weave physiology with stories—athletes, military teams, and real-world clients—showing measurable transformation through small daily inputs, not extreme regimens.

Core message

You can assess and improve your body through 10 simple Vital Signs—tools so basic they fit into ordinary routines yet powerful enough to reshape long-term health. Mobility is predictive, improvable, and the best proxy for how ready your body is to live fully.

A lifestyle philosophy

Ultimately, Built to Move isn’t about workouts—it’s about designing a movement-rich life. Mobility anchors strength, cardio, nutrition, and recovery. These habits become a safety net and a performance amplifier. The Starretts translate decades of physical-therapy and coaching wisdom into a protocol anyone can follow: measure, apply gentle daily mobility, optimize sleep and diet, walk more, and make sitting less of a default. The payoff? You gain not just flexibility but resilience—the ability to adapt to every stressor life throws your way.

In sum, the book offers a blueprint for readiness across all stages of life. Whether you’re a parent, athlete, or desk professional, the combination of simple tests and micro-practices gives you agency over your body’s lifespan. Mobility, the authors insist, is your most honest and universal vital sign—the one number-worthy indicator of how well you’re built to live.

The Starretts transform abstract mobility into concrete diagnostics. Their tests—Sit-and-Rise, Breath-Hold, Couch, Walking steps, and Shoulder assessments—are not gym performance measures but daily function checks. Each test surfaces invisible restrictions and reminds you how movement and health converge.

Sit-and-Rise: a longevity predictor

In the Sit-and-Rise Test, you sit and stand without using your hands or knees. Originally validated by a 2014 longitudinal study of adults aged 51–80, it correlates low scores with higher mortality risk. The test evaluates hip and core control, balance, and coordination—an integration problem, not a simple strength one. Improvement simply means lower injury risk and longer independence.

Breath-Hold: your inner CO₂ gauge

The Breath-Hold (BOLT) Test measures CO₂ tolerance—how efficiently oxygen transfers from your blood to tissues. A short hold (under 10 seconds) means you tend to overbreathe, losing CO₂ and impairing oxygen delivery. Training breath through slow nasal inhalations expands this tolerance, stabilizing your nervous system and improving sleep and stress response. Patrick McKeown’s work parallels this method.

Couch Test: hip extension and gluteal control

Hip extension defines gait power and spine stability. The Couch Test—tucking a shin on a couch back or wall—reveals whether you can extend your hip while keeping the spine neutral. The authors call it the “master lever” because limited hip extension destabilizes everything from knees to low back and breathing efficiency. A few minutes daily can reverse years of sitting-induced shortening.

Steps and posture: movement inventory

Tracking daily steps acts as an easy proxy for circulation, lymphatic health, and mood regulation. The goal—8,000–10,000+ steps—is less about numbers and more about consistency. Likewise, auditing sitting hours reveals overlooked immobility. Creating movement-rich spaces (standing desks, walking meetings) transforms health without formal exercise sessions.

Insight

Simple tests make the invisible visible. They show where movement has diminished and offer measurable targets for change. What gets measured can be improved.

Together, these assessments flip mobility from a vague ideal to actionable health science. They remind you that your daily physical abilities—sitting down, breathing calmly, walking far—predict how well you age. You don’t need elite performance metrics, just honest self-measurement and micro-adjustments over time.

Once you’ve tested, the magic lies in practice. The Starretts design mobilizations that fit into daily life: floor sitting, rolling, stretching while watching TV, using breath for stability. Mobility becomes a repeating pattern—gentle movements restoring function in hips, shoulders, spine, and feet.

Floor sitting and hip freedom

Most adults rarely sit on the ground, losing hip rotation and deep flexion. Reclaiming ground postures—cross-leg, 90/90, long sitting—restores natural joint relationships. Thirty cumulative minutes a day strengthens hips and spine alignment, reducing chair-related stiffness. Anthropological comparisons (Daniel Lieberman’s studies) show many non-Western cultures maintain hip health through floor living.

Hip extension and posterior chain unlock

Working hip extension daily activates glutes and decompresses the lower back. The Couch Stretch, quad rolling, and half-kneeling isometrics can erase pain and improve power quickly. Anecdotes from coaches like Joe DeFranco and Travis Mash illustrate how hip focus improved sprint times and reduced lifters’ back pain—proof that a simple mobilization unlocks speed and safety.

Breathing through positions

You’re advised to breathe through every mobility drill. Breath sustains intra-abdominal pressure—the “air corset” that protects the spine—and modulates pain. Learning to inhale and exhale softly inside stretches converts strain into relaxation. Practicing nasal breathing stretches the diaphragm, improves circulation, and teaches your nervous system safety within motion.

Squatting: reclaiming a primal posture

Deep squats link hips, knees, and ankles. They’re how the body naturally interacts with the ground. Cultures that squat daily show far less hip arthritis. Progressing through chair-sit stages rebuilds your ability to reach, lift, and rest low without back strain. When combined with daily Deep Squat Hang-Outs, you maintain joint nutrition and full-range capacity.

Mobility should feel integrated, accessible, and ongoing. You’re not fixing parts—you’re reopening capabilities your body evolved to use. Done patiently, these drills turn your living room into a lifelong clinic for freedom of movement.

The Starretts call walking “the most democratic form of exercise.” It’s Vital Sign #4 because it combines endurance, recovery, mood stability, and connection. Sitting long hours, by contrast, undermines circulation and tissue repair, even if you work out later.

Why steps are powerful

Daily walking rhythmically moves every joint and muscle, stimulates lymphatic drainage, aids sleep, and maintains neuroplasticity. A landmark 2020 step-count study found mortality sharply lower above 8,000 steps versus 4,000. Each step compounds over decades.

Standing and movement-rich environments

In workplaces dominated by sitting, the Starretts advocate the Standing Inventory—log hours spent seated, then redesign your space. Standing desks, foot rails, barstools, and regular posture shifts make movement default. Juliet’s own experiment burned hundreds of extra calories per day, a realistic NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) gain.

Walking smart: breathing and loading

Nasal-breathing walks build endurance and calm down overreactive breathing systems. For added strength, rucking (walking with a backpack) boosts bone and muscle without running impact. Community walks, like their “Walking School Bus,” merge social connection with physical benefit—the healthiest habit generator of all.

Key takeaway

You don’t need marathons. You need movement woven into ordinary life—consistent walking, standing, small play breaks—which circulates health far better than sporadic workouts.

Creating a movement-rich day shifts modern living from static to dynamic. Every additional step, breath, and posture change provides low-intensity therapy, keeping tissues nourished and the mind balanced over time.

Nutrition is literal movement fuel. The authors reduce confusion to two levers: micronutrient density and adequate protein. Your tissues rebuild from what you eat; poor nutrition manifests as stiffness and slow recovery. Better fuel yields better movement.

800-gram challenge

EC Synkowski’s 800g Challenge—eating roughly 800 grams of fruits and vegetables daily—anchors food quality to a measurable target. Evidence from a 2017 meta-analysis shows strong protection against cardiovascular disease and cancer at this level. The Starretts present it as simple arithmetic for micronutrient sufficiency and fiber balance. It stabilizes metabolism, improves digestion, and discourages overeating.

Protein’s structural importance

For tissue resilience, 0.7–1 gram per pound of body weight ensures muscle preservation and repair. Older adults and athletes need the higher end. Protein improves satiety, rebuilds after surgery, and supports collagen and immune function. Practical examples—eggs, fish, chicken, beans—illustrate scalable options. Real food first, but powders help on the road.

Metabolic flexibility

The Frappuccino Test and 24-hour fast experiments reveal how your metabolism handles energy gaps and sugar loads. Those who adapt without mood crashes or intense hunger display flexibility—the ability to burn fat or carb seamlessly. The fix if you fail? Two weeks of produce-rich, high-protein eating retrains stability.

Core insight

Your tissues are the food you eat; mobility stems from cellular nourishment. Proper protein and produce intake make movement sustainable, while metabolic flexibility protects you from roller-coaster energy swings.

The authors transform nutrition into simple, body-literate practice: eat enough plants, enough protein, and occasionally test your adaptability. You’re not dieting—you’re nourishing resilience.

Recovery proves you’re built to move well, not just perform briefly. Sleep and pain management close the mobility loop. If movement drives adaptation, sleep consolidates it, and pain signals where system gaps exist.

Sleep as a vital sign

Seven to nine hours nightly underpins hormonal balance, immunity, muscle repair, and emotional stability. Chronic short sleep worsens appetite control and injury risk. The authors highlight blue light, caffeine timing, and alcohol as common sabotages. Consistent rhythm and dark, cool environments earn the title “daily superpower.”

Pain as feedback, not fate

“Where the rats get in is not where they chew.” This clinical mantra means pain rarely originates where it’s felt—often upstream or downstream mechanical problems are to blame. Self-care techniques like contract-relax ball work, light rolling, or positional mobilizations soothe tissue irritation safely. The goal isn’t numbness but circulation and desensitization.

Modern recovery science

The book urges abandoning reflexive icing. Evidence now shows icing delays muscle repair by suppressing beneficial inflammation. Heat and gentle loading work better. They endorse the PEACE & LOVE protocol—Protect, Elevate, Avoid anti-inflammatories, Compress, Educate, Load, Optimism, Vascularization, Exercise—as modern standard. Heat plus movement instead of cold and stillness.

Therapeutic principle

Pain is an invitation to observe and respond, not to retreat permanently. Recovery thrives on circulation, optimism, and movement—not immobilization.

Integrating healthy sleep and progressive recovery completes the mobility equation. You restore systems while saving energy for tomorrow. The Starretts frame rest as active maintenance—your nightly audit of readiness that keeps you responsibly “built to move.”

Balance is protective mobility. While strength and flexibility get attention, balance often quietly determines fall risk and confidence. The Starretts highlight how sensory training—eyes, ears, and feet—keeps your brain’s movement map sharp.

Three systems, one goal

The vestibular (inner ear), proprioceptive (muscle sensors), and visual systems coordinate every adjustment keeping you upright. Closing your eyes in the SOLEC Test isolates proprioception, revealing deficits that predict instability. Simple drills—standing one-legged while brushing teeth or on balance tools—restore that sensory speed.

Foot sensitivity reboot

Feet are your balance hardware, not cushion containers. Shoes, the authors say, act like “sensory deprivation chambers.” Reintroducing barefoot time, foot play, and bone-saw mobilizations strengthens arches and reconnects nerves. Jumping or bouncing briefly each day boosts reactive control and bone density—a microdose of dynamic balance training.

Real-world importance

Falls are the top cause of fatal injury in older adults, but practicing balance can cut risk dramatically. A few minutes of mindful foot and posture training per day can change an entire trajectory of independence. (WHO meta-analyses confirm multi-system balance work’s immense payoff.)

Balance completes the book’s full-motion circle: movement begins and ends with stability. Cultivate it, and you not only prevent accidents but feel solid moving through the world—the best proof of a body genuinely “ready for life.”