Get Back Up

The Turkish Get Up is a staple in the kettlebell community. Whether you are looking into the RKC, HKC, StrongFirst, or another certified kettlebell community, you will no doubt come across the Turkish Get Up in their discussions and training protocols. This is for good reason. The TGU covers a lot of bases and can be seen as a one-stop-shop for many attributes an athlete would want to develop. The basic human movements are push, pull, squat, hinge, and loaded carry. Yes there are sub categories such as vertical push, horizontal push, rotations, unilateral, bilateral, and more you may have heard of, but they all stem from the core list above. Wouldn't you know it, the TGU covers them all -- sometimes in a single rep!

In order to take the weight off the floor, you must floor press it into place. Check off the press. From there you eventually find yourself in a position where you need to get from a bent over position to half kneeling upright. Those in the community would call this the kneeling windmill. Check off hinge. From there you need to stand up with the weight overhead. Check off squat (which is actually the lunge but it is in the squat family). Reverse exactly what was done to get to standing to complete the rep and you just hit each mentioned pattern twice! The only two patterns that aren't obviously performed are the pull and the loaded carry. However, as the TGU is performed there are level changes. This process could be considered a loaded carry since the athlete is supporting a load and the athlete is moving from A to B. The pull can be covered with variations of the TGU, or as I like to call it, play time.

The very nature of the TGU process offers a wild number of variations to the movement. Things such as these have been called specialized varieties or "derivatives." I call them fun. These are great for active recovery days or ways to be creative within your workouts by adding your own flare. For example some of my go to TGU variations include:

-the pressing get up

-the reverse get up

-the racked get up

-the iron cross get up

All of these are the TGU at their core but offer a great challenge and great variety while emphasizing certain muscle groups.

I love how simply changing the load for the TGU emphasizes a different attribute. If you decide to go light, it's a great mobility exercise. You could also do multiple reps in a row without resting and gain some endurance. As you increase the load, there is more of a strength and stabilization requirement which will also challenge mental focus. I like to tell my athletes that there is a beam of light shooting to the ceiling off their shoulder. If the weight stays in that beam of light they will be able to stabilize and make the lift. If the weight goes outside the beam of light they will lose the weight. As the load goes up, the beam of lights gets smaller. Less room for error. A heavy TGU is great for strength because there is a good chance an athlete can TGU more than they can strict press. This develops confidence with a heavy load overhead on one arm and gives a neural benefit. Now mind you, it becomes very dangerous as the load goes up. One must balance the risk vs reward. The heavier loads must be earned.

The TGU movement itself is very versatile when it comes to the implement being lifted as well. Most commonly a kettlebell is used. I have seen some world class get ups done with dumbbells, barbells, med balls, and even other humans. They are all hard and great for different reasons.

The categories and uses for the TGU are endless and each category rewards mastery in its own right for those that practice their craft. Hopefully laying down these points have inspired you to try TGUs. Now, GET UP!

#turkishgetup