Turkish Get Ups

This is one of the simplest, yet most complex resistance exercises that a person can do. I recommend using different weights to provide the resistance - if you have some injuries or problems to deal with, use a light weight (in the order of 3-5 kilos) - if you want to build strength and condition your body more strongly, use a weight of about 16 kilos for blokes, 8-12 kilos for girls. I've seen it done with a 75 pound weight, held vertically above the hand, but that's a long-term commitment...


Simplest exercises using the whole body are best, and this is one of the kings of the category.


Stand and hold the weight above your head in one hand with the arm fully extended.
Start breathing (in or out) and slowly lie down, keeping the weight above your head and the arm fully extended.
Then get up, keeping the weight above the head and the arm fully extended and continuing to breathe.


That's it.


The breath should lead the movement, and contain the movement. This means that the breath begins before the movement starts and finishes after the movement finishes. Nothing should make any noise when it touches the ground. This will ensure that you don't jar or bruise yourself on the floor.




There's a concept in Russian conditioning that there are always many ways of using the same simple exercise.

In the beginning and to build health, use your muscles.

As you continue, reduce the muscle and start relying more on the connective tissue and the breath.

To learn efficiency and effectiveness, use more breath and your bones to hold you up until there is only breath and bone left in the movement- your muscles will fail, but your bones and your breath are always there.

Working really, really slowly (make an exercise last a minute- 30 breaths up and 30 down) brings emotional and psychological factors into play very, very quickly, and builds strength and a healthy humility. 


Some ideas for variations:
Get down and up in one breath (out on the way down and in on the way up or the reverse)
Get up and down on only one inhale or exhale
Get down, switch hands and get up
Five breaths down, five breaths up
Try not to use any muscles at all on the way down (and up)

Have fun and remember to smile.

The 49

This is an exercise I have adapted somewhat as an adjunct to (and compensation for) Iron Body/Iron Palm and grip strength training from the martial arts.  I have found it to be really great for building wrist and hand strength and mobility, as well as rehabilitating the body after wrist/hand injuries or 'pre-habilitating' the body so it is less pre-disposed to being prone to injury in these areas in the first place.

I was taught 'The 49' as basically the same movement - a forceful 'flicking' of the fingers from a loose fist out to fully extended and spread apart (place your hand on a table and move the fingers as far apart as they will go without lifting them off the table to see the end position), repeated 7 times in 7 positions.

Slowly and loosely shake the hands and wrists to loosen them up and prepare them for working before you begin.

1- arms in front and bent (forearms parallel to the floor)
2- arms above head straight (perpendicular to the floor or slightly in front of the head)
3- arms behind body straight (wherever you can get to)
4- arms down at sides straight (I think this is easy enough)
5- arms out to the sides straight (level with the shoulders)
6-  one arm up, one down
7- the other arm up, the other other arm down

Then do some slow loose shaking of the hands and wrists to loosen up again and spread the synovial fluid around in the joints and lubricate the tendons and ligaments. The whole sequence takes about a minute.

This can be done statically (holding the arms in one position for the 7 flicks) or more dynamically (arms reaching their final position as described at the same moment as the full extension of the fingers). It is nice to start with the static version, then move into more dynamic work.

It doesn't really matter where exactly the arms are placed for this exercise, 'The 49' is more just  a mnemonic device so you remember to do 'a big bunch' of the flicking movements under slightly different conditions of load on the arms, circulatory stress, range of motion and to ensure a good balance of different stresses.

What is important is to fully extend the fingers away from each other on every flick.



Enjoy the movement, breathe, relax, smile and feel free to come up with your own variations (just make sure the fingers go all the way apart on each flick). Once a day is plenty for this exercise and you will most likely feel some fatigue and a little effort in the forearms from doing it, but as always when you do this or any exercise I describe, if something hurts, stop doing it.

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