Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Turkish Get-Ups

The description of the Turkish Get-Up in Pavel Tsatsouline's "Enter the Kettlebell!" is quite simple:
Lie on your back, pick up the kettlebell with both hands, and press it with one. Slowly stand up while keeping your working arm straight and vertical. Assist yourself by pushing into the ground with the free arm. Slowly reverse the movement.
And visually, it doesn't look too difficult:



But I tried to do a few Get-Ups the other evening with a standard 16 kilogram (35-pound) kettlebell, and discovered just how weak and sucktastic I truly am.

As part of my next workout, I'm supposed to do five uninterrupted minutes of Get-Ups. It doesn't sound like much, but something tells me when I'm trying like hell to get myself off the floor tomorrow morning, it'll feel like an eternity.