Tips To Mastering The Turkish Get Up

We have been working on patterning the full Turkish Get Up and it has been so awesome to see everyone doing so well and building skills! 

As you have seen the Turkish Get Up is a pretty complicated skills with a lot of moving parts. It takes a lot of focus and patience to become proficient in this movement. On our instagram, (@GetFitNH), I took some time to talk about some common things we see to help build this skill better!

#1: ​​​​Proper Hip Placement

In the picture below you see a very common thing we see when people are placing their hand down to the ground when working their way down from the top of the Turkish Get Up. People tend to sit the hips back to get the hand down to the ground, which limits mobility and space when trying to pull the foot through. Make sure to keep the hip over the knee by walking the hand down the thigh to make sure you stay in the right position.

​#2: Roll Don't Crunch

This one tip can be a BIG game changer for people working on the Turkish Get Up. Get the first movement of the TGU down can be the most challenging. The first video below shows what it looks like when you try to crunch or sit up from the starting position. Trying to do this is very difficult because the body is trying to move against its natural mechanics and gravity. 

The second video shows what happens when instead of sitting up you roll over to the elbow. The body will follow the natural angles you make. Drive the shin towards the hand on the plant foot and try rolling your body up to the elbow and watch that movement become a lot more smooth!

​#3: Joint Stacking

When working together your joints are very STRONG! We can make them work together by joint stacking. What that means is aligning multiple joints on top of each other to build a strong support beam. 

In the first picture the hand is placed to far away from the body which is not allowing the joints to stack and be strong. When you do not joint stack all the weight and pressure will go to where every the bend point is and stress that single joint. Think if you have a support beam and hit it in the middle with a sledge hammer, now that bent in point is taking most of the stress. The same will happen with your joints if they are not properly stacked!

Hopefully these tips can help you master the Turkish Get Up!

Keep Making It Happen!

-Coach Brian