Turkish Get-Ups Will Never Not Look Stupid But Here’s Why They’re Awesome

When you think about gym exercises that scare the living shit out of you, what comes to mind? 

For a lot of us, the list is probably pretty short: pulling a true 1RM deadlift, a heavy squat, 30 minutes of cardio. However there’s one mythical exercise, rarely seen performed at commercial gyms, that’ll make your dick shrivel up in fear and it’s certainly worthy of being on that list. 

That exercise is the Turkish get-up.

First Of All, What the Heck is a Get-Up? 

In the simplest sense, a get-up is when you lay on the ground while holding a weight straight over your head, standing up, and then you reverse that entire movement until you arrive safely back on the ground.

Don’t let this short description fool you. This is actually quite a complex movement, one which involves many different movement patterns and physiological skills (which we will get into in just a second).

The exercise has been dubbed the Turkish get-up because it is said to have originated in Turkey. Ancient Turkish soldiers supposedly used the get-up as part of their strength training regime (for the remainder of the article, I’m going to refer to it as simply the get-up).

Why Is The Get-Up Awesome?

Legend has it that old-time strongmen would teach a prospective student the get-up, and then tell them to come back when they were able to perform it with 100 lbs. Their real training would begin only after this was accomplished.

Even long ago, old-time strongmen knew about the tremendous benefits of the get-up. Here’s a quick rundown:

A Lesson in Full Body Tension

If you want any prayer of successfully completing a heavy get-up, you are forced to learn how to actively engage and tense many muscles at once.

Remember that part about making your dick shrivel up in fear? This is that part. There’s nothing like holding a 100lb ball of cast iron straight over your face to teach you a lesson in basic physics, tension, and fear.

Improve Shoulder Stability/Strength

The get-up requires that the arm holding the weight stays locked in a stable position throughout the whole movement. This isometric hold is great for promoting shoulder strength. To prevent the weight from rotating about your wrist the rotator cuff is fired up big time. Training the rotator cuff is great for promoting shoulder stability. The get-up also teaches you how to correctly “pack” the shoulder by pulling it down and into the socket.

Fully Activates And Strengthens The Core

Everyone wants a strong core (or at least they should). Just to make sure we are all on the same page, allow me to very briefly explain the role of the core because contrary to popular belief, the muscles of the core make up more than our six-pack muscles.

The muscles of the core wrap from the front of our body, around the sides, and all the way around the back to our spinal cord. They are designed to work in harmony allowing force to transmit to our limbs, but more importantly, they stabilize our spine during movement.

Exercise physiologist Bret Contreras (aka The Glute Guy) used electromyography (EMG) to determine that a get-up as light as 50 lbs was enough to cause over 100% peak activation in the rectus abdominis, internal and external obliques, and the spinal erectors. These are all major muscles of the core.

In layman’s terms, the get-up is a badass exercise for building core strength, as well as training these muscles to work together as one unit.

Builds Thickness in The Torso

Building the coveted thick and impenetrable looking torso is a hallmark of years spent straining under heavy iron. You don’t just accidentally build thickness worthy of a nod from Sir Gregor Clegane. It’s a planned effort, requiring unwavering commitment to your craft. 

Ok, You’re Convincing Me. What Should I Use to Perform a Get-Up?

There are a lot of ways to cook the get-up. Let’s go over a few of them now.

Do Them Naked

Naked means with just your bodyweight, not your birthday suit. Naked get-ups are great for adding into your warm-up. They really are a full body warm-up by themselves that promote hip flexibility, glute activation, strong breathing, and any number of things.

Use A Dumbbell

Dumbbell get-ups are great because they force your wrists to get strong AF. A lack of wrist strength is one of the biggest limiting factors for folks who are attempting to go really heavy with the get-up. If that’s you, you will be sore first few times that you do it, and that’s totally normal. 

Use A Kettlebell

Kettlebell get-ups are awesome because you can lock the wrist into place with the handle and really start to crank up the weight. 

This is a video of be doing a get-up with The Beast, a 105 lb kettlebell. It’s a worthy goal for a guys who want to work towards something. For the ladies (Yes, ladies, I want you to be strong as well.) a get-up with a 70 lb kettlebell is a most impressive feat of strength.

Use A Barbell

Barbells are the least forgiving tools when performing a get-up. If you are going to use a barbell make sure that you are using bumper plates (just in case you have to bail). When using a barbell it has a tendency to rotate, which adds a challenging stability component to the exercise.

Again, weak wrists are the big limiting factor here, as you will need some serious wrist strength to stop a rotating barbell. If you’re attempting a heavy barbell get-up I suggest taping your wrists, or simply developing stronger wrists first.

Use A Sandbag

So far, we’ve mainly referred to the get-up as a strength exercise, and in the purest sense, it is. That said, you can certainly turn this exercise into a high-intensity metabolic suck-fest.

Instead of holding the weight over your head drop a sandbag across one shoulder and stand up with it. Repeat 1-5x per side and then switch shoulders. A killer workout is 10 minutes of non-stop sandbag get-ups with an 80lb sandbag. Your lungs will hate you, but your abs will love you.

How Many Reps Should I Do?

• Naked get-ups: do 3-5 per side as part of your warmup.
• If you’re using a dumbbell, kettlebell, or barbrell, go heay but limit sets to 1 rep per side. Start out doing 3 sets of 1 rep per side, then work your way up to 4 sets and then five. 
• When using a sandbag, for a metabolic delight, attempt to get as many reps as you can in 10 minutes. If you’re a guy, try it with an 80lb sandbag; women, try it with a 50 lb bag. And let me know how your lungs taste afterwards.

One Last Thing

If you made it this far, I suspect that you aren’t afraid of a challenge.

So, here’s my challenge to you:

Men, work up to a 100lb get-up on both sides (your choice of weight).

Women, work up to a 70lb get-up on both sides (also with your choice of weight).

Remember, a 100lb get-up was the price of admission to start training with old-time strongmen. This exercise is a lesson in full body tension, promotes flexibility and stability, builds tremendous shoulder strength, and can certainly help build a thick and enviable torso.

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