Tried the Turkish Get Up for the first time in years

I practiced the Simple and Sinister kettlebell exercise program from February 24, 2019 to May 27, 2020. There are only 2 exercises in the program – the Swing and the Turkish Get Up. Looking back, I can’t believe I stuck with S & S for 15 months. What finally made me stop doing it was knee pain from allowing the bent knee to collapse too much while the foot remained in place on the rug I was using.

I bought both the original Kettlebell Simple & Sinister book, and the revised edition, aka S&S 2.0. Both books promised strength gains from practicing the Turkish Get Up. The 2.0 book attempted to present a more detailed plan for progressing to heavier kettlebell weights but I found that plan difficult to comprehend. In any case, I began S&S not being able to do the full TGU movement, due to lack of experience and understanding of the body mechanics, and frankly lack of strength as well. Even attempting the movement with just a shoe balanced on my fist was difficult. By the time I stopped S&S training, I was able to do the full movement with the 16kg KB, and just getting started with working the supine to either the elbow-supported position or to the tall sitting position with a 24kg KB.

My knee pain eventually subsided, and felt healthy enough for the resumption of TGU practice. However I did not feel that 15 months of practicing the TGU delivered satisfactory strength gains, so I dropped the TGU from my fitness lifestyle altogether.

Since I've been thinking of doing the Maximorum Master program in the near future, I was checking out some videos on Geoff Neupert's channel in which he talks about the KB snatch, and in one of those videos he recommended the TGU as one of the exercises to practice before learning the snatch. In this other video, he covers 11 benefits of the TGU. He also mentions how P3 method (implemented in the Sore Joint Solution program) improved his TGU and that he does TGU on his active recovery days.

Thus Neupert's shoulder "mo-stability" argument sold me on doing the TGU again, as an exercise to do on active recovery days rather than a main strength exercise. But what really sealed the deal was discovering a TGU variation that would allow me to practice the TGU on my living room floor, without having to use a rug or the interlocking foam tiles which I originally got for TGU practice, but found they do take some time to put togoether. This variation is taught by Zach Henderson. The big change compared to how I learned it from the S&S book, is replacing the windshield wiper move of the rear leg, with a stop of the front leg. This really reduces the pressure on the rear knee, and as Henderson states, allows greater control of positioning of the front foot for the lunge position.

I tried this TGU version with empty hand first, then with an 8kg KB. The right side will take more practice but I didn't expect to perfect this newer version right away. I look forward to routinely practicing this TGU on my active recovery days.

Easy Muscle A Results

Week 8, which was the final week of Easy Muscle Schedule A, went fine. I was able to do 7 sets on the 7-rep day, which is a good improvement from only managing 5 sets due to needing so much rest time between sets

The circumference of my arms increased back to around 13", which was their size before I went down with COVID.

Results from IsoMax testing under the 1-rep Max protocol from The Ultimate Isometrics Manual, compared to 1-rep Max tests in September 2024:

• Zercher Lunge - 78.93, up from 71.53
• Overhead Press - 120.867, up from 107.53
• Curl - 91.2. Tested reverse curl instead of curl back in Sept.

I typically do 1-rep Max protocol tests at the start of an IsoMax 6x6 training block, so some of the strength gain were from 6x6 training. Double Kettlebell Clean + Press only training did not result in a loss of leg strength, which is a typical concern expressed by people who have not done it before, let alone tested leg strength before and after.

As expected of double C+P only training, the biggest strength gain was in the overhead press. I did not get anywhere close to 120 lbs. during the previous 6x6 block, so a lot of the gains came from the Easy Muscle A block. Adding muscle mass helped, but frequent practice of the movement has been known to increase strength as well.

I then tested my C+P rep max with a 20kg KB. I thought about testing with double 20kg KBs but I didn't feel confident in my double clean technique with these heavier KBs. I was able to do 3 reps with the left arm. I did 3 with the right arm, then put the KB down, since my double C+P performance is only as good as my left arm's performance. I had feared I wouldn't be able to press the 20kg at all, so I was feeling pretty good about being able to press it for 3 reps with each arm, and that gave me the confidence to try a double clean with the 20kgs. After taking a minute or two to rest, I attempted a double clean and immediately failed to land both KBs in the rack. I then took another break, shaking my body in Fast And Loose style, then attempted another double clean, just time landing both KBs in the rack. I did one more double clean to build confidence, before putting the KBs away.

I then tested my snatch rep max with a 16kg KB. The Maximorum Master program recommends a 10 rep max weight for the snatch sessions. I did 10 with my left arm then put it down. I could have done 1 or 2 more reps but I was satisfied with the 16kg as the weight of choice for the snatch sessions. I then did 10 reps with the right arm just to check.

My next training block will be a 6x6 IsoMax block focusing on strength, trying a modified 6x6 protocol that steals the triple wave concept from Giant X1. Instead of waving reps, I'll be waving the load. I'm very confident that at the end of this block, I will have gained the strength to C+P double 20kg KBs for 5 reps. Maximorum Master recommends a 5-rep max load for the double KB sessions.

For the next training block after 6x6 IsoMax, which as usual I'd been pondering Easy Muscle B vs. Maximorum Master. Both programs recommend a 5 rep max weight.

Pros in favor of Easy Muscle B are the 8-week duration vs. the 12-week duraction of Maximorum Master and the opportunities to practice chin-ups and dips with eventual progression to weighted versions of those movements. OTOH, watching Geoff Neupert's video on chin-ups and pondering it afterwards got me thinking that another multi-week training block with lots of pull-ups might set back my elbow health even more. When I did Easy Muscle B earlier this year, I chose pull-ups as my calisthenic pulling exercise although the manual actually recommends chin-ups, because my elbows felt uncomfortable when I attempted a chin-up. During the 8 weeks of Easy Muscle B, my elbows felt fine. I used the spiraling force technique taught in this Red Delta Project video, which has a bonus of increasing bicep activation. My forearms however started getting more and more sore from the goblet squats with the 24kg KB in bottoms up position. It was after completiion fo the Easy Muscle B block that I noticed elbow pain when I attempted a bicep curl on my chest expander. I'd blamed the bottoms-up KB goblet squat for the elbow pain, but according to Neupert, all those pull-ups, with of course the palms in pronation, may have built up less tolerance for supinated pulling too. Thus it may not be worth spending more time on pull-ups without regaining pain-free chin-ups. But if I can't do pain-free chin-ups yet, then attempting Easy Muscle B won't make any sense.

Thus, I'm leaning towards Maximorum Master, which is an all-KB, no calisthenics program. As Neupert suggested in his video, I'll practice chin-ups on rings, starting with sets of 2 reps, on the days I practice the double C+P, probably in the afternoons. At present, starting the chin-up with a neutral grip at the bottom, and pulling the rings into supinated grip at the top, feels fine.

Geoff Neupert on Chin-Ups and Elbow Pain

My post on Easy Muscle Week 5 was rejected by Blogger because I linked a Geoff Neupert article on elbow pain, how to avoid it in your kettlebell training, etc. and the website was thought to have a virus. One of the takeaways was to try the supine position from his P3 mehod with palms up instead of down.

While searching for similar online resources that would not be flagged as virus infected, I found Geoff's video on chin-ups and elbow pain. He mentions Davis' Law which states that tissues model along lines of stress. Thus his argument that too much activity with pronated palms (palms facing away from you or facing down) results in your tissues being modeled for pronated palms and thus they have more difficulty with chin-ups or other activity with supinated (palms facing you or facing up). In other words, he saying chin-ups feel uncomfortable for my elbows because too much of my activity has been done with pronated palms.

He says for chin-ups to benefit your elbows instead of hurting them, you need to make sure you lower yourself all the way down - meaning your arms are fully straight.

After a kettlebell clean and press session, he recommends starting with 2-3 sets of 2-5 reps. He also recommends a thumbless grip.

If chin-ups are too tough on your elbows, he recommends training on gymnastic rings/suspension trainer or other apparartus that allows a neutral grip. The idea is to work with neutral grip until supinated grip feels more comfortable. I tried chin-ups with the Duonamic rings. Starting with neutral grip in the bottom of the movement, and pulling into supinated grip at the top felt fine for me.

Based on what Neuprt said about making sure you lower yourself all the way so that your arms are straight, I was inspired to change my dead hang practice from pronated palms to supinated palms with thumbless grip

Started doing Shoulder Dislocates again

I first learned about the Shoulder Dislocates exercise in the book Super Joints by Pavel Tsatsouline. Olympic weightlifters use this exercise to develop the mobility to hold the bar overhead with locked out arms, while squatting or lunging. The book has photos of Pavel doing it with a bungee cord. For reasons I cannot recall, I did not practice shoulder dislocates for long, and eventually forgot about the exercise.

More recently, I got Kettlebell Strong! by Geoff Neupert. There is a whole section devoted to improving overhead reaching mobility for the double kettlebell jerk. One of the recommended exercises is... the shoulder dislocates, though with a stick. So I attempted to do the exercise with a stick and could not move the arms all the way to the back with the stick touching the back. Heck, my range of motion was so limited, I got the stick barely past my head.

I then tried shoulder dislocates with the light resistance band that was shipped with the IsoMax. I was not able to do the full movement and irritated my shoulders while trying to do the movement. I was lucky to avoid injury.

I then watched the part of this video where one of the recommended variations was to start the movement with the hands in back instead of the front. The person in the video recommended using a resistance band for shoulder dislocates, if you lack the mobility to use a stick.

The video inspired me to try shoulder dislocates with the band again, starting with the hands behind me instead of in front of me. I was able to do the full movement, although I cheated by putting hands inside of the band, instead of gripping the band as shown in the video. I quickly found that to avoid tweaking my shoulders, I had to pull my hands apart and maintain that pressure throughout the movement. Pavel's advice in Super Joints to keep the chest up also helped protect the shoulder. I also found that gripping the band as shown in the video delivers a closer experience to gripping a stick for the same movement. Cheating by allowing the hands to rotate does not help prepare for practicing the movement with the stick.

I read or saw somewhere else that shoulder dislocates can be also be practiced against a wall, one arm at a time. I found this version of the exercise to be the least error prone, as all I have to do to protect the shoulder is keep the chest up and maintain the pressure of the pinky side of my palm against the wall. There is less chance of an accident from suddenly relaxing the tension on the resistance band at the worst possible angle.

My overheard reaching mobility progressed well enough this year to allow me to practice double kettlebell clean and press with both arms locking out to prevent shoulder injury. However there is still an arch to my upper back from tight lats. There may also be some other upper body tightness I'm not fully aware of. Geoff Neupert recommends shoulder dislocates as one of the exercises to improve overhead reaching. Practicing shoulder dislocates should help me continue improving this mobility.

Easy Muscle Weeks 6 and 7

Not much to report, other than steady progress, in terms of ease of effort, and rest time between sets as determined by autoregulation.

My shoulders have been holding up, with occasional irritation in the left shoulder, which seemed to be alleviated by focusing on standing up more with the arms locked out overhead. Being used to contracting the chest muscles to initiate the press also helped.

I've settled on the following cooldown exercises:

1. Lat stretches as shown in this video by Fitness FAQs. In Week 7 I switched to the hanging version using a ring.
2. Cobra pose with fingers pointing backwards - stretch wrists and extend spine
3. Standing forward fold - stretch low back and hamstrings
4. Modified pigeon pose - stretch hip rotators
5. Seated twist - more stretching for low back and T-spine
6. Frog stretch - hip flexors