More on the barbell TGU

Last week, I discovered the barbell Turkish get-up, and immediately fell in love. I've been working them in as a warm-up drill, just a few on each side. They're getting better, but today they got WAY better, thanks to a great reminder from people posting to comments.

Katie from CrossFit Old Town works BBTGUs as part of Jerry Hill's programming. Katie said:

"I work out with Andrea (Seward) at CFOT. Jerry has had us work with BBTGU's in the past. I think they're awesome, but like you said, require you to really focus on the form of the TGU. IMHO, you really need to focus on keeping active shoulder and tightening your core to keep the bar from tipping back and forth. I think they're harder then KB or DB simply because of the added distance."

Now, I know you need an active shoulder and core tension to do a pretty TGU... but Katie's reminder triggered a really helpful cue. I think about it a little differently than she described, but the concept is the same. The barbell TGU is less "active shoulder", and more about keeping tension through the body as a UNIT. Think about your body as being one solid hunk of wood as you move through the progression. It's not active shoulder, and also a tight core... it's a solid continuation of tension from your hand right on down. Katie's reminder also triggered something else that Gant Grimes recommended:

"You're just used to stabilizing with your shoulder; these require shoulder wrist, and forearm stabilization, all effected through the trunk."

Gant reminded me to grip the crap out of that bar. That activates the wrist and forearm, which is necessary to keep the bar from tipping side to side and front to back. That also helps to promote whole-body tension from the top down.

Thinking about those cues today, keeping whole body tension and using my shoulder, wrist AND forearm to stabilize the bar, made my attempts with a 30# bar feel like cake compared to the 25# bar I was using last week. I'm ready to move up to the big boy bar... Or maybe just throw a couple of 5# plates on the shorter one. We'll see how things progress.

I had Jenn work these this morning, with a 10# training bar. Her kettlebell TGU is gorgeous, but the challenge of stabilizing something different overhead changed her form a bit. See how her arm is in front of her ear? The bar isn't centered over her mid-line. This is what we call "self-correcting"... had there been any weight on the bar, she would have lost it forward. Next time, I will have her focus on sticking each transition point for a few seconds, and making sure the bar is pulled right next to her ear, with an active shoulder.

Also note her wrist isn't active enough in this picture. I'll cue that wrist and forearm tension starting at the floor the next time through.



And finally, kettlebells and barbells aren't the ONLY thing you can TGU with. Check out my friend Davie Easton from Scotland, doing his "Wee Kid Get-Ups". This is my favorite video this week.