How to Do a Turkish Get-Up: Step by Step for Beginners

To do a Turkish get-up, lie on your back with one arm pointing straight up, then move through a set of stages: roll onto your elbow, push up onto your hand, lift your hips, sweep one leg underneath you to kneel, and stand up, before reversing every step back to the floor. Beginners should start with no weight, or a shoe balanced on their fist, and learn the move one stage at a time before picking up a kettlebell.

The get-up looks complicated at first, but each step on its own is simple. Linked together, it trains your shoulders, core and hips at once and teaches you to stay in control getting up off the floor. This guide, part of our series on doing the big movements properly, covers the muscles worked, step-by-step cues, a progression ladder, common mistakes and a 4-week plan.

What muscles does the Turkish get-up work?

The get-up works almost everything. The arm holding the weight does a long, steady hold: your shoulder muscles, including the small rotator cuff muscles that keep the joint centred, work the whole time to keep your arm pointing straight up, while your triceps keep your elbow locked.

Your abs and obliques roll you up onto your elbow, a bit like a sit-up with a twist. Your glutes and hamstrings lift your hips into the bridge, and your quads and glutes drive you up from kneeling to standing. Because you move slowly, it is less about building big muscles and more about strength and control through your whole body.

What weight should a beginner use for a Turkish get-up?

Start with no weight at all. A popular coaching drill is to balance a shoe on your fist and do the whole get-up without letting it fall. You do not grip the shoe, so if your arm drifts or your wrist bends, it drops. That instant feedback teaches you to keep your arm upright far better than a heavy weight would.

Once you can do five smooth reps on each side with the shoe, move to a light kettlebell or dumbbell. As a rough guide, something around 4 to 8 kg is a common starting point, chosen by feel. A dumbbell works as well as a kettlebell. If your arm wobbles or your shoulder complains, go back to the shoe for a while.

How do you do a Turkish get-up step by step?

These cues describe the weight (or shoe) in your right hand. For the left side, swap everything over. Keep your eyes on your fist all the way up until you are kneeling.

• Set up. Lie on your back. Bend your right knee with your right foot flat on the floor. Put your left leg straight and your left arm flat on the floor, both angled out from your body at about 45 degrees. Press your right fist straight up to the ceiling, elbow locked, knuckles pointing up.
• Stage 1: Roll to your elbow. Push through your right foot and punch your right fist towards the ceiling as you roll up onto your left forearm. Think of rolling up and across, not doing a straight sit-up.
• Stage 2: Post to your hand. Push through your left forearm until you are sitting up on a straight left arm, hand flat on the floor slightly behind you. Keep your chest open and both shoulders down, away from your ears.
• Stage 3: Bridge. Push through your right foot and left hand to lift your hips off the floor, squeezing your glutes. You are now on three points, two feet and one hand, with your right arm still pointing straight up.
• Stage 4: Sweep the leg. Slide your left leg under your body and back, placing your left knee on the floor roughly under your hips and in line with your left hand.
• Stage 5: Lift to half-kneeling. Push off your left hand to bring your chest upright, so you are kneeling on your left knee with your right foot in front. Swivel your back foot round, a bit like a windscreen wiper, so your knees and feet line up. Now you can look straight ahead.
• Stage 6: Stand. Drive through your front foot to stand up tall, like the top of a lunge, with your arm still locked overhead. Bring your feet together.

Then reverse it, one stage at a time, back to the floor, looking at your fist the whole way. The way down is half the exercise, so take your time.

What is the best Turkish get-up progression for beginners?

Climb this ladder, moving up a rung when the current one feels smooth and controlled on both sides for a full session.

• Rung 1: Roll to elbow. From the set-up, roll to your elbow and back down, with no weight or a shoe on your fist. This builds the trickiest part first.
• Rung 2: Half get-up. Go from the floor to your hand and up into the bridge, then reverse back down.
• Rung 3: Full get-up with a shoe. Every stage up and down, pausing for a breath at each one.
• Rung 4: Half get-up with a light weight. Hold a light kettlebell or dumbbell and go as far as the bridge.
• Rung 5: Full get-up with a light weight. Slow single reps, alternating sides.

From there, add weight in small jumps or pause longer at each stage. A light get-up done well beats a heavy one you wobble through.

What are the most common Turkish get-up mistakes, and how do you fix them?

• Bent elbow. Your arm folds as you roll up. Lock it out and think of punching the ceiling.
• Arm drifting. The weight floats over your face or behind you. Keep it stacked over your shoulder, eyes on it.
• Bent wrist. Your hand tips back under the weight. Keep a straight line from knuckles to elbow. The shoe drill is brilliant for this.
• Shrugging. Your shoulder creeps up towards your ear. Pull it down and away, and push the floor away with your other hand too.
• Crunching straight up. You heave yourself straight up. Roll up and across onto your elbow instead.
• Sagging bridge. Your hips sink as you try to sweep the leg. Squeeze your glutes and lift your hips high enough to make room.
• Rushing the way down. You flop back to the floor. Come down in exactly the reverse order, one stage at a time.

How do you keep Turkish get-ups safe?

• Learn the whole movement with no weight or a shoe first.
• Pick the weight up and put it down with two hands: lie on your side, grip it with both hands, roll onto your back and press it up. Reverse that at the end.
• Clear plenty of space around you, and keep children and pets well away.
• If you lose control of the weight, let it go and move out of the way. Never try to catch a falling kettlebell.
• Stop if you feel sharp pain, especially in your shoulder. If you have had shoulder problems, check with a physio before adding weight.

How many Turkish get-ups should you do, and how often?

Get-ups are slow, careful singles, so think in reps per side rather than big sets. Around 3 to 5 reps per side, alternating sides and resting as needed, is plenty for most beginners. Five to ten minutes of get-ups also makes a good warm-up before a strength session.

Two or three sessions a week is ideal while you are learning. That fits the UK Chief Medical Officers' guidelines, which recommend muscle-strengthening activities on at least two days a week. If you want more moves to go with it, our guide to the best core exercises for beginners pairs well with the get-up.

What does a 4-week beginner Turkish get-up plan look like?

Do this two or three times a week after a five-minute warm-up of easy cardio, arm circles and hip circles. Alternate sides. If a week feels too hard, repeat it.

After week 4, work towards 5 full get-ups per side with a light weight before trying anything heavier.

How do Turkish get-ups fit into a hybrid week with running?

Get-ups suit runners well. They are low impact, train your hips and core to work together, and a few slow reps are unlikely to leave your legs heavy for the next run:

• Monday: strength session, with get-ups as your warm-up.
• Tuesday: easy run, plus five minutes of get-ups afterwards.
• Wednesday: intervals or a tempo run.
• Thursday: strength or HIIT, starting with a few get-ups.
• Weekend: long run.

They pair well with other kettlebell moves too. The kettlebell swing trains your hips fast and hard, and the farmer's carry builds grip and posture, so a short session of all three covers a lot. Edge treats running, strength and HIIT as one hybrid plan, so moves like the get-up are planned around your runs instead of competing with them, and Edge Pro members can message a real coach anytime with a question about form.

This article is general guidance, not medical advice. If you are new to exercise, returning from injury, or managing a health condition, speak to your GP before starting, and see a physio for any niggle that does not settle.