What the hell is with the Turkish Get Up?

Get ups, you love them or you hate them.
Why do so many in the strength community bash them?
I love them.

1. Let's start out with this list of things about the TGU:
2. The TGU hits almost all of your major muscle groups.
3. It also requires tremendous stabilization from your torso. 
4. They require a great deal of flexibility in the hips. 
5. They improve mobility//stability in the shoulder. 
6. They get you strong in unusual ways.

 Get ups are one of our foundation exercises at TPS. WE frequently see people who have extremely poor hip flexibility and shoulder issues and weak upper backs from sitting at a desk all day. The get up can FIX all of these issues. One exercise that can fix a whole host of orthopedic issues? Really? Really.

TGU's can also make you brutally strong when loaded properly. Standing up from a prone position while holding a foolishly heavy weight overhead requires a large amount of strength, everywhere. Go ahead and see, grab a 32kg kettlebell and do a few get-ups properly. Bet you can't.

Think you're a badass, try this!

 Adding in TGU's to your training will open your hips and restore mobility and build strength, they will strengthen your upper back and restore strength and stability to your shoulders, and they will build a bullet proof midsection. They are a true wonder exercise.

So why are they so bashed in certain "strength" circles?

I'm not sure but I have a few ideas.

First, a bunch of people in the strength community think if it's not pulling, pressing or squatting it's bullshit.


This just isn't true. Yes you must pull, press and squat but you CAN do other exercises. Adding in the get-up will address weak links and eliminate them.

Second, most people just don't know how to do them OR teach them. Just because you can't do an exercise is no reason to say it sucks. You have no idea how many professional "trainers" that I have seen that can't do or teach a squat or deadlift right in the past 20 years in this industry. Not one of them has ever said that pulling and squatting sucks. Don't even get me started on overhead pressing and benching. Those are two exercises that are done WRONG more than most by professional "trainers".

Does your trainer have a squirting flower and a tiny car?

Third, get ups are HARD to learn and hard to do right. When we have big, strong guys with mobility issues a lot of times we see them try something, have trouble with it and say it sucks. Ego gets in the way. They just don't want to look weak in front of the boys and just go back to squatting because they are good at it. Her is a tip: find something you suck at (make sure it's good and not fluff) then get good at it.  bet you'll see some improvement in your lifts.






Try using your shoe when doing a getup. It teaches balance and alignment. Don't let it fall!

Watch my boy Gray teach you how to dot. TGU

Stop bashing and start getting down with the get up.

We love AC, we love Smitty

I love stealing from Cosgrove, it makes my day so much easier. This is a double steal, Cosgrove stole it from Smitty and I'm stealing it from them hahahahahaha!

Essential Hip Mobility Warm-up
Guest blog by Jim Smith, CSCS

You Are Going to Get Injured.

Yes, you will.

Sooner or later, the choices you make in the weight room will lead to injury. A severe injury or something minor is in your future, trust me on that!!

But you have a choice and if you act on it, you will see immediate results.

And you must make it immediately! You must take action right now without hesitation!

Change your workout. Change it NOW!

 Because I know what you’ve been doing.

You haven’t been warming up. You haven’t been doing full range of motion movements. You haven’t been raising your core temperature before touching ANY weights.

This stops now!

I am here to make your workouts better and make you feel better.

What does training do to your body?

The SAID Principle and The Principle of Progressive Overload is based upon the foundation of tension. The more tension, the more adaptation. Good or bad. You are constantly striving to create more tension and more time under tension (TUT).

Good adaptations include building muscle and strength (combination of increasing cross sectional area of the muscle fiber – sarcoplasmic hypertrophy AND an increase in the number of myosin/actin filaments (sarcomeres) inside the cell – myofibrillar hypertrophy ), improved neural efficiency, tendon / ligament density, greater work capacity, development of specific physiological qualities (dependent upon volume, load, speed, tempo, implement, application), and so on…

Bad adaptations include the consequences of the recovery from heavy and prolonged strength training. Shortening of soft-tissues, adhesions and inhibition in movement is increased dependent upon % of tension (vs. current capacity), restricted range of motion movements coupled with current mobility limitations.

What does this mean?

If you load up a ton of freaking weight, day in and day out, and only perform short range of motion movements, you’ll be walking like Frankenstein and get injured from tying your shoe and farting at the same time.

Solution? Comprehensive, systematic, consistent application of a thorough, complete and all-encompassing warm-up and mobility drills prior to and after your strength training sessions.

Think I’m lying? Think I don’t know what I’m talking about? Think you don’t have time?

Bullsh*t.

I have been applying these techniques this year with not only myself, but all of my athletes. We’ve gotten stronger and my chronic injuries and limitations have gone away.

Now, if your goal is to lift heavy, lift often and lift hard for a few years, then screw it – who needs mobility work. But if you want to lift for a lifetime, then you better start doing these movements NOW.

Essential Hip Mobility Movements

I just posted a new video of some really good hip mobility movements. These will get your heart pumping, open up your hips, improve your flexibility and get you moving again quick.

But you have to do them on a consistent basis. I’m not just talking about before lower body day, I’m talking about all the time.

Remember the previous post I put up about hip mobility and knee rehab? It showed how to open up the hips and activate the glutes. How about the lower back rehab post? With each post we are learning more and more and building more comprehensive workouts.

Right now we are concentrating on hip mobility.

Hip Mobility Exercises

Glute Stretch into Cossack
Wall Squats
Hip Flexor Stretch (Back Leg Elevated)
Hip Flexor / Quad Stretch
Hip Flexor Stretch and Reach
Bulgarian Split Squats
Striders into Rotational Lunges
Striders into Seated Glute Stretch
Fire Hydrants
Downward Dog into Quad Squat
Cobra into Dynamic Plough
Dynamic Adductors – Level 1 (Narrow)
Dynamic Adductors – Level 2 (Wide)
Dynamic Adductors – Level 3 (Horizontal Squat)

--
AC
PS - for more great warm-up methods check out AMPED