Turkish get-up: the steps, how to learn it without weight and what the one study measured

The Turkish get-up is a way of getting from lying on your back to standing, in steps, with a weight held straight up over one shoulder the whole time. Then you reverse the steps and lie back down. The weight is the least of it: the exercise is about moving slowly through each position without losing the arm overhead.

This page covers the steps, how to learn them without weight, the one study that measured the movement, the versions, the faults, and the sets. A kettlebell is the usual weight, and the plan that builds around one bell is on the kettlebell workout; the fast kettlebell hinge is the swing.

How to do a Turkish get-up

These steps are written for the weight in your right hand. Do the other side next. They are a practical sequence from coaching, not a protocol from a study.

1. Set up on your back. Bend your right knee with the foot flat, and let your left leg and left arm rest out to the side at about 45 degrees. Hold the weight straight up over your right shoulder, wrist straight, eyes on it.
2. Roll up to your left elbow, pushing through your right foot. The weight stays straight up. This is the press to elbow support.
3. Press up to your left hand, arm straight, chest tall.
4. Lift your hips by pushing through your right foot and left hand, so your body forms an arch.
5. Sweep your left leg back and under you, and set the knee on the floor behind your left hand. This is the leg sweep.
6. Lift your torso until your hand leaves the floor and you are kneeling tall, weight still overhead.
7. Stand up by driving through your front foot and bringing the back knee forward.
8. Reverse each step in order to lie back down, slowly.

Learn the whole sequence with no weight at all, then with a shoe resting on your fist, then with a light weight. If a step is shaky, repeat it before you move on.

What the one study measured

A PubMed search for this page found one laboratory study of the movement, a one-athlete case report, a short article with no abstract, and no trial of what weeks of get-ups change. The laboratory study split the exercise into seven stages, up and back down, and recorded muscle activity from eight shoulder muscle groups on both sides in 12 people who had at least a year of experience, over ten get-ups with a kettlebell in the right hand.¹

• Where the demand was highest. The shoulder muscles worked hardest in the second stage, the press to elbow support, and the fifth, the leg sweep (muscle activity, not growth).¹
• Which side. Muscles on the weight's side were more active in stages where the other arm wasn't helping to hold the body up, and the other side's muscles were used when that hand or forearm was on the floor.¹
• Up and down. The authors suggest training both phases, the way up and the way back down, and describe the exercise as asymmetric.¹

It measured the shoulder only. It doesn't tell you what the get-up does for the trunk or the hips, and these were experienced people, so it says nothing about learning the movement.

Easier and harder versions

• Easier: the half get-up. Do steps 1 to 3 or 4, then reverse. Stay at the hand, or stay at the hip lift, until it feels steady.
• No weight, then a shoe, then a light weight: the order to learn it in. The arm is overhead in all of them.
• A dumbbell is a practical swap for the kettlebell if you hold it straight up over your shoulder.
• Harder: a pause of a second or two at each stage, or more weight added in small steps. Add reps before weight. (Progressive overload covers the options.)

The common faults, and a fix for each

• The arm drifts forward or bends. Keep it straight and over the shoulder; if you can't, the weight is too heavy for now.
• Rushing the transitions. Move slowly. Pause in each position before the next.
• Looking away from the weight. Keep your eyes on it until you're kneeling tall; that's a coaching habit, not a finding.
• Skipping the hip lift. The leg sweep gets stuck if your hips stay down.
• Jumping up with momentum. If you need a bounce to stand, the weight is too heavy or a step needs more practice.
• Training through something that hurts. Tired shoulders are normal; if you have pain, an injury or a condition, ask a doctor or a physical therapist.

Sets, reps and where it goes

No study here gave a dose, so these are practical starting points.

• Learning: three to five slow get-ups per side with no weight, or a shoe, on most days of the first week.
• With a light weight: two to four sets of one to three get-ups per side, resting about a minute between sides. Pick a weight lighter than the one you press overhead for sets of 6 to 10.
• Early in the session, after a warm-up, while you can still hold your positions. It also works as a short session of its own.
• Once or twice a week beside your lifting is plenty. Both sides each time.

Common questions

Is the Turkish get-up a core exercise?

The one study that measured muscle activity looked at the shoulder. This page doesn't claim what the get-up does for your trunk.¹

How heavy should I go?

Light enough to keep the arm straight and the stages slow. Treat the weight as the last thing you add.

Do I need a kettlebell?

No. A dumbbell, a shoe or nothing at all works for learning the steps.

Can a beginner learn it?

The people in the study had at least a year of experience, so it can't say. Learning it with no weight is the practical way in.

Why both sides?

The study found the muscles on the two sides did different jobs, depending on the stage.¹ Train both.

If you'd rather not plan it alone

The get-up takes weeks of short practice to find; deciding where it sits in a week that already has squats, presses and a kettlebell plan is the part a page can't do. Coaching is the version where your workouts live in Trainerize, sized to the days you actually have, and a weekly call looks at the week you just had and rebuilds the next one. Coaching to get stronger explains how that works, and here's how to apply. Otherwise: tomorrow, do three slow get-ups per side with no weight, and note which step feels least steady.