Turkish Get-Up

How to do it

Setup

1. Lie supine on the floor with the weight pressed vertically in one hand, arm fully locked out.
2. Bend the knee on the loaded side and place that foot flat on the floor close to your hip.
3. Extend the opposite arm and leg out at roughly a 45-degree angle from your torso.

Movement

1. Roll onto the elbow of the free arm while driving through the foot of the bent leg, keeping your eyes on the weight.
2. Transition from the elbow up onto the palm of your supporting hand, keeping the loaded arm vertical and wrist neutral.
3. Bridge your hips upward and sweep the straight leg back under your hips, placing that knee on the floor directly beneath you.
4. Hinge back slightly and bring your torso upright into a half-kneeling position, loaded arm still locked straight overhead.
5. Drive through both feet to stand up completely into a tall, balanced stance with feet side by side.
6. Step back with the opposite leg into a reverse lunge until the back knee gently touches the floor.
7. Hinge at the hip and place your free hand on the floor, sweep the back leg forward through the gap, and lower your hips to the floor.
8. Lower down from hand to elbow and return smoothly to the flat supine starting position with the arm still vertical.

Breathing

Breathe continuously with controlled, shallow breaths under high intra-abdominal pressure at transitions; exhale forcefully during the standing drive.

Cues

• Keep your eyes glued to the weight.
• Pack the working shoulder down away from the ear.
• Stack wrist, elbow, and shoulder in a vertical pillar.
• Take each position step-by-step without rushing.

Common faults

Bending the loaded elbow or losing shoulder packing during transitions.

Actively lock the elbow out and think of punching the ceiling throughout the entire rep.

Looking away from the weight while standing or sweeping the leg.

Maintain visual contact with the weight from the floor until you reach the half-kneeling upright position.

Rushing through the intermediate positions.

Pause momentarily at each step: elbow, tall sit, hip bridge, knee sweep, half-kneeling, and stand.

Safety

• Clear ample floor space around you in case you need to bail the weight safely away from your body.
• Master the movement with bodyweight or a light shoe balanced on your fist before adding load.

Muscles

• Rotator cuff stabilizer
• Deltoid stabilizer
• Triceps brachii stabilizer
• Obliques prime mover
• Rectus abdominis synergist
• Gluteus maximus prime mover
• Quadriceps synergist
• Serratus anterior stabilizer

Joints

• Shoulder: Isometric stabilization
• Shoulder blade: Upward rotation, Isometric stabilization
• Elbow: Isometric stabilization
• Lumbar spine: Isometric stabilization
• Thoracic spine: Rotation, Extension
• Hip: Flexion, Extension, Abduction, Rotation
• Knee: Flexion, Extension
• Ankle: Dorsiflexion, Plantarflexion

Details

Movement

Anti-rotation, Anti-lateral-flexion, Lunge, Vertical push

Modality

Strength, Mobility, Conditioning

Mechanics

compound

Force

push

Laterality

unilateral

Kinetic chain

mixed

Level

intermediate

Equipment

Dumbbell or Kettlebell

Record

Repetitions and Load; or Repetitions

Load

external, total

Sources

• wger: Turkish Get-Up, by dookie1481 (CC-BY-SA-4.0)

This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.

Data

turkish-get-up.json