Turkish Get-Ups. Why?

Hey Fitters,


Who's been the cool guy in the ab area doing Turkish Get-ups lately?

We do a ton of these in Fitter-land and I'd like to give a brief rundown of the how's and why's of the turkish get-up. My goal is by the end of this, you'll have a new found understanding of not only how to do a proper turkish getup but why we do them.

So here goes.

The how from one of my fav's, Kettlebell expert Mike Mahler:

VERY IMPORTANT: Choose an appropriate weight. Too light of weight will allow you to muscle through the movement with bad form. It's a bad lie to tell yourself. Too heavy and well.....you know.

The Why

Aside from the Turkish Getup fitting in well in the middle of workouts, it is a fantastic gauge of not only your core strength, shoulder stability and hip mobiltiy but also your ability to maintain your cs, ss and hm through various planes of movement.

What? Basically, if all of those parts are working like they should that bell overhead doesn't move. It's just about as much of a strength movement as it is a yoga movement. I'm only making that analogy because yoga is most notorious for precise flowy joint movment. Those that have been exposed to heavy lifting for a number of years know strength training can be seen in the same light. Onward though....

Think for a minute. Why do we preach core strength? Why do most of you want a strong core?

I'd bet my last dollar most of us have the same reason in mind: To stay out of the hospital.

So if we're training to stay injury free we have to identify the common injuries that put us there.

- Back crap- planking is not the only form of core stability training. Your core strength runs and hides in the corner once you start moving. Get off the floor and use your core. Work on squatting, deadlifting and hundreds of other cool goodies to make sure your core strength doesn't leave you when you drop your keys and you have a bag of groceries under your arm.

- Knee crap- Immobile hips and ankles are triggers for knee overuse and blowouts. Sitting all the time will weaken and tighten all kinds of stuff in your hips. Squat with full range of motion, make your hips slidey, learn to foam roll and quit walking like a pirate.

- Shoulder crap- Stand up. Put your hands over your head. Higher. If you can't hold your hands directly over your head with straight elbows,in line with your ankles without arching your back there's some 'ish there that is affecting you big time. Let's fix it with a variety of overhead presses, shoulder mobility and stability exercises. That scapula needs to hold it's own or something else will...for a while.

So you have addressed some major issues and your moving much better. Squats and lunges look low. Core stays solid on overhead presses, overhead squats and lunges. Knees feel better because the hips are moving fluidly.

Let's test.......put it all together and you have Wahhlaaa (did i spell that right) the TURKISH GET UP!!

Grab a light kettlebell and try it....both hands*

Now move up one weight. Retest. Rinse and repeat until form begins to break down.

When you feel your form start to break down due to a heavier weight, make note of what is breaking down and when. The bell won't lie. Appropriate weight will expose your weaknesses and force you to address is with tenacity.

For more information on this topic or how to join the Fitter with Ritter Class of 2012 please email me at mritter@wellbridge.com. Hope to hear from you soon!