The Turkish Get-Up is a highly functional movement that requires all the muscles of the body working together in order to accomplish the task. Find out exactly what this exercise is and how to do it. Build true core strength!
The Turkish Get-Up is a highly functional movement that requires all the muscles of the body working together in order to accomplish the task.

Anyone worth their salt will understand that deadlifting properly and pulling respectable numbers is going to put some meat on your bones. I believe the TGU will accomplish the same thing when properly programmed into your training.

Of course the other side to this is nutrition. We all need to have proper nutritional practices, but if you're a smaller guy like myself, getting big means eating big. This doesn't mean just slamming down everything in sight, but taking in more quality calories is essential.

In addition to the above benefits, if you are doing heavy powerlifting style training, there is a good chance that you are losing some range of motion as you generally sacrifice some mobility in order to gain stability. The Get-Up can help to restore some of that, particularly in the shoulder girdle, which has a tendency to get tight in most people, regardless of profession or activity level.

As I said before, some prefer to pursue the aesthetics and aren't concerned with functional strength. If that is your choice, you want to ensure that you are not sacrificing your health.

I'll often hear people say things such as: "Don't do any cardio while bulking." Well, you're going to bulk your heart straight into a coffin with you wrapped around it if you pursue that type of thinking. Movements like this will promote healthy joints, keep your posture correct, and your primal movement patterns intact, as well as get your heart beating faster and healthier.

Many of the things we do with functional training (particularly kettlebells) flies in the face of conventional wisdom. It is important to learn the rules before you break them, but equally important to think outside the box in order to achieve the best results for yourself and your clients if you are a trainer.

Prior to the popularity of bodybuilding in the 60's and 70's, the average person didn't know what the bench press was. This isn't because the bench press is no good, but prior to this era most men were training for functional strength that could be used in daily tasks.

They would have seen no reason to train lying down. So before the measure of strength became: "How much can you bench?" you were more likely to hear: "How much can you military press?" or "Bent Press?"

In a time before not only the internet, but before wide availability of texts on fitness, young men who wanted to become wrestlers or strongmen had to go down to the local gymnasium in order to learn from the old timers. These were hard men with lines in their faces and hands like leather.

Instead of large, breast like pecs they had broad shoulders and backs forged of steel. Often they would teach the young man the Turkish Get-Up and tell him not to come back until he was able to do it with 100 lbs. At that point they would teach him some new exercises. These weren't commercial gyms where you paid your dues to the tune of twenty-five or fifty bucks a month. In this time you paid your dues with hard work and dedication.

You may think 100 lbs. is a near impossible feat, but I assure you it is not. At 160 lbs. I put up 100 lbs. in the Get-Up. Adam Glass puts up 165 lbs., last I checked. His goal is 250 lbs. You can read more about his training here.

What does that 100 lbs. get you, aside from the right to move forward with your training? It insures that you have GPP (General Physical Preparedness) and do not have weak points, such as men with giant upper bodies and tiny chicken legs, or well-defined abs but no obliques to speak of, and therefore no rotational control.

Many people remark on the six packs MMA fighters have, but rarely do I hear them comment on the powerful obliques that keep them from getting thrown to the canvas, and are just as visible. I don't know about you, but I am thoroughly unimpressed by men with six pack abs, and wispy little waists.

So how do you do it?

The Turkish Get-Up is simply the mechanically correct method of coming from a position lying on the floor, to standing while supporting a weight locked out overhead. I will cover a few different methods of doing this.