Turkish Get-Up

The Turkish get-up is a kettlebell staple formalized by Pavel Tsatsouline and StrongFirst. Starting supine with a kettlebell pressed at arm's length, the lifter moves through seven positions — roll to elbow, press to hand, bridge hips, sweep leg through, half-kneeling, standing — and then reverses the sequence back down. The weight stays overhead the entire time. Each position tests a different quality: shoulder stability under load, hip mobility, core bracing under rotation, unilateral leg strength. A weakness in any of them stops the rep.

Programming the get-up is flexible. Most lifters run it as a warm-up with light weight: one or two reps per side with a bell well below working pressing capacity, as a movement primer before the main session. Others program it as a standalone developmental lift: heavy singles per side, 3 to 5 sets, treated like a skill practice rather than a conditioning piece. A third option is high-rep ladders (get-ups by the 10-minute time cap) for conditioning — but the load has to be light enough that form survives fatigue.

The diagnostic value is what makes the get-up valuable beyond strength work. A lifter who cannot complete a Turkish get-up with a 16 kg bell has a gap somewhere: shoulder stability, thoracic mobility, hip mobility, ankle mobility, or unilateral leg control. Identifying which position the rep breaks at points directly at the mobility or stability limitation. Coaches use the get-up as an assessment before programming heavier barbell work.

In LiftProof, Turkish get-ups are tracked as a skill or accessory lift. Log weight per side and reps (usually 1-5). Skip attempts where form broke — a get-up completed with a flared shoulder or a collapsed hip is not the same rep as one with a stacked shoulder and a strong glute. The lift does not tolerate grinding in the way a squat does; rehearse the pattern at light loads and only add weight when every rep is clean.

• Eyes on the bell during the first three steps — track it visually through the transition
• Stacked shoulder — the weight sits directly over the shoulder joint, not pushed forward
• Wrist neutral, never bent backward under the load
• Drive the hip up to bridge, do not roll the shoulders
• Slow — the get-up is a seven-step movement, not a single explosive lift

• Looking away from the bell during the early transitions — loses positional awareness
• Bent wrist — collapses the load path and strains the forearm
• Rushing the sweep — skipping the half-kneeling position and lunging up
• Overloading too early — the get-up punishes weight that exceeds pattern quality

• overhead press→
• kettlebell swing→
• plank→