The Benefits of the Turkish Get Up

Strong from head to toe. That’s what the Turkish Get Up (TGU) will make you. It’s the exercises that develop your strength from the ground up that give you all the strength you could possibly want. That’s what the Turkish Get Up does.

I prefer it with a kettlebell, because holding onto the kettlebell develops your hand, wrist, and forearm strength, and overhead, the kettlebell’s center of gravity helps put your shoulder in a strong stable position.

Muscles that benefit from the TGU

When you consistently perform the Turkish Get Up, you will develop strength all along your spine and tremendous stability in your shoulder. The TGU is also a tremendous stomach exercise. One, because you’re supporting the weight through your midsection much of the time. Two, because when you get up off the ground, it is your stomach which must make this possible, and it works hard to do so.

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Posture and other skills developed by the TGU

The TGU is a concentration exercise. You don’t mess around. You focus on the task at hand. The weight is over your head much of the time. You drop it, and you will be in pain or dead. You must focus.

If you get out of alignment, the TGU helps you self-correct. Missteps and misalignment typically produce pain or cause you to lose balance. It’ll help with your posture, assuming you pay attention to form.

Getting up off the ground is a great skill. Doing it with weight makes it that much better in terms of body development.

The thing about the TGU is that it is an exercise that if you just did this exercise, you would be really strong all over your body. Not many exercises can claim that. So, if you’re going to exercise and want to get the most bang for your buck, picking the TGU is a great choice.

Cardio and the Turkish get up

In addition to making you strong without you having to spend a lot of time exercising, the TGU can be your cardio, too. Once you get proficient, you can set a timer for 5, 10, or 15 minutes and just do as many TGUs as you can. Trust me, you’ll be breathing hard. Strength and cardio at the same time = time savings.

The TGU can be a great finisher, or just a great strength exercise in its own right. A focused session once per week will give you great benefit. Start off with 1 or 2 sets of 2-3 reps and progress from there. Nail the form before doing more reps.

Here are some great benefits of other top notch exercises: