5 × sit-to-stand

Leg strength and power, timed over five full rises from a chair with your arms crossed.

Method: Timer · 45 cm chair
Equipment: A 45 cm chair against a wall
Attempts: One
Reference: Clinical norm

Protocol

Sit in a 45 cm chair pushed against a wall, back off the backrest, arms crossed over your chest.
Start the timer and stand fully up and sit fully down five times, as fast as you safely can.
Tap a dot for each stand. The timer stops when you sit down after the fifth.

Safety. Use a chair that cannot slide. Stop if a knee or hip hurts. Rest 1 min between attempts.

How it is scored

Under 60 your time is read against Bohannon 2010, a small sample; from 60 against Bohannon 2006, a meta-analysis. The two disagree by 3–4 s, so expect your percentile to step down at 60.

Clinical norm

Scored against a published reference table for your age and sex.

Reference table

Reference values for the five-repetition sit-to-stand test (Bohannon, Percept Mot Skills 2006)

Meta-analysis of community-dwelling adults 60–89

Used from 60; the spread around these times is estimated. Under 60 the app uses Bohannon 2010, a small sample whose times are 3–4 s faster, so the same time ranks higher from 60.

Known gaps

Where the app’s table or protocol differs from its best source, from our own check of the research.

From 60, reference times match Bohannon 2006 exactly; the spread around them is estimated.
Under 60 the reference is Bohannon 2010: 15–36 people per decade, means and SDs only, so the percentile assumes a normal spread. Its times are 3–4 s faster than the 2006 table, so the same time ranks higher from 60, and the backcast line holds its age-60 value before 60.
Some studies stop the clock on the fifth stand rather than the fifth sit, which reads faster. The app stops on the fifth sit, as in Bohannon 2010.