For the Love of the TGU

It started on a patch of grass in the UK and turned into an obsession for me. The Turkish Get Up. While my love of kettlebells started similarly (about 50m away on some concrete), I still remember learning the TGU, and the way it felt getting the weight overhead. I say this and then wonder if I’d learnt it before or tinkered with it myself first… dunno. But I still remember that session so lets run with that. It was a movement that felt good, not challenging, no burning lungs or muscles, just good.

Apart from feeling good, why should you do the Get Up.

• It requires focus. - with so much going on you have to think about the movement, and what comes next

• It requires patience - you need to learn AND practice this movement in stages.

• Mobility - referred to as Kettlebell yoga this movement needs to flex, stretch, and create tension in what are for most, positions we don’t get into daily.

• Global movement - Sagittal, frontal, and transverse planes are moved through. This means pretty much every muscle in your body is working.

• It isn’t maximal - this isn’t a bro move where any gym goer can compare numbers with you.

• It does not need load or equipment - Its arguable that the benefits of the get up decrease with load (I still love a heavy get up), most people would get huge benefit from doing a get up with a yoga block or nothing at all.

Think about this, when did you lie on the floor and get up? As a parent this is frequent for me, and in the gym I try to change levels as much as I can. But for a lot of my clients it is very rare for them to be on the floor. The closest they get is sitting. The TGU gets you down, but back up again and I think this is part of the magic.