The Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up is a fundamental and foundational fitness exercise, like a squat, deadlift or bench press. It’s a big, basic and functional multi-joint movement that works the musculature of the entire body.
The Get-Up also imparts a strong hormonal cascade of testosterone, growth hormone and other beneficial hormones. This is similar to the hormonal effects of exercises like barbell squats and deadlifts.
The Kettlebell Get-Up is a full-body, functional exercise.
The Kettlebell Get-Up, the Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up or just the Get-Up, as it is sometimes called, has also been around for a very, very long time.
The Kettlebell Get-Up has stood the test of time for well over 100 years because it delivers results rapidly with a minimum time investment.
What are all the benefits of Kettlebell Get-Ups?
Keep reading and find out!
The Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up as a Feat of Raw Strength
The original old time strongmen from the early 20th century were known to do the Turkish Get-Up with big weights as a feat of strength.
In 2006, Pavel Tsatsoline forever popularized the lift and brought it permanently into modern training consciousness when he made it part of his famous and infamous RKC Minimum Program in the book Enter the Kettlebell. This was the book that set off the spread of kettlebells in the fitness world. They were relatively unknown before then.
Advantages and Effects of the Kettlebell Get-up
The Kettlebell Get-up is a low-rep, strength-building exercise.
The Get-Up can be thought of as a very low-rep, full-body power movement.
Think of the Get-Up as a full body powerlift.
You can do an effective, full-body workout – with a cardio, fat-burning and hormonal benefit besides – in well under an hour with just a Kettlebell or two.
For busy professionals and entrepreneurs, no other training tool gives as much for such a minimum time investment as Kettlebells.
A proper kettlebell training program centered around Get-Ups and Kettlebell Swings will work magic in less than 3 hours a week.
A few other exercises and one or two additional pieces of equipment and a trainee can do all the training needed in a few hours a week anywhere – at home, in the gym, traveling at a hotel gym, camping or outside anywhere barefoot in the grass.
The Kettlebell Get-Up is a Full-Body, Functional Exercise
The Kettlebell Get-Up is one of the most effective and foundational functional exercises anyone can do.
It’s a highly detailed, refined and effective way of moving the body from a position flat on the floor to a standing position.
The Get-Up is a repeatable, safe and efficient way to move to a standing position safely.
There are also numerous tactical and martial arts benefits to the Turkish Get-Up – particularly for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
There’s virtually no situation or age where you wouldn’t want to move yourself from lying flat up to standing as confidently, safely and efficiently as possible.
Core Strength, Balance and Stabilization of an Asymmetric Load
The Kettlebell Get-Up offers direct and intense core and abdominal stimulation in the initial Sit-Up portion of the movement.
The Get-Up also offers continual indirect core training and stabilizer development through the asymmetrical loading with the single kettlebell.
Having only one kettlebell pressed up on the single side presents continual challenge and training for the core and other balancing and stabilizing muscles.
Virtually no other exercise offers as much overall benefit as the Get-Up – particularly in terms of core strength, balance and overall functional strength building.
Single-Rep, Maximum Power Generation
The Kettlebell Get-Up is generally performed as a single rep on each side of the body – one rep on the right side, transfer the Kettlebell to the other side and do one rep on the left side. Then repeat.
Regardless of the workout volume, sets of Get-Up for me or my clients are never more than a few reps per side.
For myself, I generally do 5 reps of Get-Ups on each side, alternating sides between reps.
That’s a TOTAL of 5 only reps per side, in 5 sets of singles.
It’s fully conceivable to get a challenging, cardio and strength-building workout, with testosterone-increasing and fat-loss benefits thrown in, in less than an hour with a warm-up followed by a few sets of Get-Up.
The Kettlebell Get-Up and Shoulder Health
The Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up is an exceptional shoulder builder and strengthener.
There is no other exercise that confers so many benefits to shoulder health. Particularly in so little time and effort.
These exceptional shoulder benefits are due to both some important technical nuances in the Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up as well as the specific Tactical Turkish Get-Up variation that I detail here.
Grip Training and the Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up
The Kettlebell Get-Up is a grip-intensive exercise. It requires a sustained, tight grip on the kettlebell.
The off-center nature of the kettlebell, the thickness of the handle, the awkwardness of the bell all contribute to the grip-building nature of the kettlebell and the kettlebell Get-Up in particular.
The Kettlebell Get-Up and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
The Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up – and the Tactical Kettlebell Get-Up as taught by Dr Mark Cheng in particular – offers a way to train several important hip and leg movements for ground fighting and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
The Kettlebell Armbar, a Get-Up variation discussed elsewhere on this site, is another movement that has flexibility and protective benefits for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners.
From Lying to Standing and Back Down Again Smoothly, Efficiently and Effectively
I always tell clients that there will likely never be a time in their life, nor will they reach an age, where being able to sit up and/or stand up from a flat position will be something they don’t need to do.
If we’re going to be sitting up, standing up and going back down for the rest of our lives, it makes sense to practice doing it in training and to make it as strong, safe and efficient as possible.
The Naked Get-Up and the Kettlebell Get-Up as a Skill-Based Warm-Up
The term “Naked” is one Pavel coined with his 2003 book The Naked Warrior – Master the Secrets of the Super Strong Using Bodyweight Only.
“Naked” simply means: “performed with no weight.”
As a personal trainer and fitness coach, I use the naked Get-Up as a warm up that also works as a skill practice for a highly important movement.
I also do light and even medium-weight Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up for a heavier warm-up before most of my workouts and in those of clients.
Every time I work out or train a client the Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up is there. In the warm up and sometimes in the workout too.
The Kettlebell Get-Up as a Workout
For years now, I’ve used a simple 5 reps on each side Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up workout.
Get-Up on one side, Get-Up on the other side – that’s one set of one rep on each side.
Do 5 sets of 1 Right/1 Left and you’re done.
The above can be done in about 10 minutes. Add another 20 minutes for a warm up and you’ve got a great workout in 30 minutes.
Conclusion
The Kettlebell Get-Up is a foundational kettlebell exercise. It’s a full-body, functional movement that trains balance, core strength, grip, shoulders and imparts a full-body, low-rep, heavy-weight training stimulus.
For busy people, a few hours a week of Kettlebell training with the Get-Up as a Cornerstone Movement is all that’s needed to look better, feel better, move better and perform better in daily life and at chosen activities.
The Get-Up offers benefits to shoulder health, myriad training applications for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, training benefits for all martial artists and back, hip and shoulder health benefits for keyboard warriors of any age.
Have you learned the Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up yet? Ready to? Have you been training the Kettlebell Get-Up for years? Let us know in the comments!
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Often kettlebells carry a stigma of causing injury.
It’s not the tool. Kettlebells are safe and effective tools – when used properly.
With expert instruction, Kettlebells can be safe, effective and efficient additions to your home or gym training.
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