The Turkish Get-Up is a tricky exercise to perform. And pronounce. And sometimes spell (is the hyphen really necessary? I’m still not convinced.)
In any case, as we discussed in part 1, there are tons of tiny details we can practice to supercharge this lift.
Here are over a dozen more ideas to keep you progressing in your quest for resilient shoulders, core strength, and flexible hips!
Margaret Nelson – “Train and learn in bits and pieces. Tackle the TGU one bite at a time and grow confidence. Make peace with each piece!”
Sam Gonzales – For the roll to elbow…grabbing a heavy bell as an anchor to help them understand that they are pulling thru that arm:
Alexy Grimm – “In order to ensure the shoulder’s safety, “point” the upper arm on the supporting side “into the body” in the High Elbow and Tall Sit positions. That, instead of letting the upper body “hang” on the shoulder joint’s ligaments and rotator cuff’s tendons.”
Eileen Backman – “One basic rule of thumb I use with students is that they perform a TGU with a shoe balancing on the fist without dropping before they grab a bell.”
Tina Morin – The Unpack/Pack Drill:
Jason Giles – “Treat each step of the getup like a pose (asana) in yoga. It gets as much attention to detail as any other part. The transitions from one stage to the next are just as important. The hope is they begin to practice the mindfulness that the TGU demands and that I believe transfers to other skills too.”
Owen Chau – “When I teach the full get-up, I like to say remember the steps first and worry about the details later. Once you get the hang of the steps, focus on these two things: keeping the wrists straight and the shoulders down and back.”
Betsy Collie – “First tip I would strongly suggest is to give more focus to the floor press position. It is beneficial in my opinion, to teach people that this movement pattern is coming from a floor press position. This means your arm must be in a 90 degree angle with the bell over the elbow and not resting the bell on the shoulder. The tricep and elbow must be pressing into the floor before initiating the press lockout. This should also be re-emphasized on the down motion to floor press position(active negative)… this is where I see most commonly bad form… Not only must the arm position be correct but also proper body tension at that moment. This means glute activation, packed shoulders, abs contracted, neutral strong wrist.
Second tip is to consciously squeeze the glute of the straight leg before rolling up to the elbow (some call it the getup situp position). The reason I feel so compelled to instruct this verbally for the student is that normally in a supine position one does not easily or automatically fire the glutes while lying flat on your back. this act of conscious contraction will lead to better control of the lower body when rolling to the elbow. This means no leg flying up in the air…”
Nathan White – “Begin teaching the get up from the top down. Reinforce the importance of focusing on the eccentric by actively controlling the movement against gravity to get stronger in a safe manner. When to increase the kettlebell weight? When you are able to perform the entire sequence with proper form using a bottoms-up grip.”
Kylie Tullipan – Partner Drill
Brian Myers – “As the weight becomes heavier, the leverage points must widen. Meaning taking the driving heel out slightly more lateral, and a slight opening in the gap between the straight arm and torso to achieve a smooth roll to the elbow.”
Debbie Hayes – “Tap the same side leg with the open hand to prime the leg for the reverse lunge on the way down.”
Allan Phillips – “Be versatile and train different “types” of TGUs. The “flow” get up for warm-ups and cool-downs. The “technical” get up in which you are very deliberate and seek technical perfection. The “hardstyle” get up in which you utilize power breathing and pause with dynamic tension at each step. The “1RM” get up in which the goal is to simply get the weight up safely with effective technique.”
Mark Limbaga gives us this 5-part series on using OS resets to optimize the get-up!
Thank you to all my colleagues who to took the time to share their ideas for this list!
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