R4 D71 – Nice Turkish Get Up

I was planning to take today off, since the last 2 days of kettlebell exploration have left me sore in some curious places. I thought it would be a good idea to try the Turkish Get Up skill that so many people exalt as a wonderful full body exercise. I had toyed with the idea once before but shyed away from it due to the fact that I believed it would be an exercise in futility. After all, if I have trouble getting up after a burpee, why would this be any easier. Well, I am happy to report that I was completely wrong. The skill, although difficult given my large frame and small flexibility was eminently possible. In fact, I shocked and delighted

(you knew that was coming) myself by being able to do both sides the first time I tried. It really is not that hard of a skill however, the work required to complete the skill is mind blowing. I had started out thinking that I was just going to see if I could do it and try to perfect my form however I ended up doing 3 sets of declining numbers:
2 sets of 3
2 sets of 2
2 sets of 1

This was done on each side giving a total rep count of 24 reps. Before I am accused of lying by omission I did not use my new 45lb KB for this, that would have been impossible and reckless, instead I used a 25lb DB from the basement and did the skill on the hardwood floor in front of the computer watching the demo. That is not something I would recommend, by the way. By the time I was finished, my body was well worked, I could tell that the core requirements for this skill are intense and that curiously the hardest part for me was not getting to my knees but standing from the kneeling position. I guess doing lunges with a weight overhead is not something I have done before. Also, I suppose if I had done overhead squats before now I would have had less of a challenge balancing a weight overhead as I try to move about. I added 5 sets of 5 pull ups just for fun since it feels like forever since I did pull ups and they felt great! The workout in all took about 25 minutes with rest and almost falling down. Long enough to cook sausages… 5 minutes Turkish, 5 minutes. By the way this short clip contains several of my favourite quotes from Snatch, most notably “Protection from what? Ze Germans?” but it is probably nsfw…