IOL Strength and Conditioning

Plenty of people teach the Turkish getup, but lately many of the techniques originate from the work of Gray Cook, Brett Jones and Mark Cheng in their two-dvd and booklet set, Kettlebells from the Ground Up.

Two examples of Kalos Sthenos spinoff: I spent some time last summer with Dan John, who teaches only the bottom part of their method, which we filmed as part of his kettlebell form dvd. And just yesterday I got another glimpse of the getup teaching from Charlie Weingroff in a workshop I’ll write about in a week or so after I’ve had time to practice his suggestions.

I’ve been curious to discover the differences between teaching styles, and especially to learn it from the guys who spent the time to break down the getup so carefully. You’ll have to wait a few weeks to get the personal impact of my Kettlebells from the Ground Up dvd review, because there are plenty of layers that need private, attentive practice, but I still have a pretty good idea what we’ll find.

This dvd and booklet set is directed more toward the general exercise public than their other projects that target the fitness professionals, but it’s still an advanced look at how we move. Using the Turkish getup with a kettlebell, we’re re-learning how to move from the ground up, fostering good posture, body mechanics and symmetry, left side to right, and front to back. They teach this as a coordinated effort from a foundation of alignment and movement mapping, and watching them move through the positions, you can tell their practice has paid off beautifully.

Gray does a short commentary on primal patterns, those movements we have from birth as part of our central nervous system. These patterns are well represented in every getup, moving us through rolling patterns, shoulder mobility, the active straight-leg raise, the ability to sit up, lunge and stand up. And as we load the getup by adding the off-center weight of the kettlebell, we’re using weight to teach us where our patterns are lacking. This is the most important lesson of the dvd, and it’s part I suspect very few people will pick up on their own.

At each of the seven steps, they’ve designed feedback to point out the weak links. Within the getup, using arm circles, neck rolls, leg raises and long stability holds, we can discover kinks in the flow, and can work to smooth out the bumps. This is mobility, flexibility, stability, strength and breathing practice—working flexion, extension and rotations in all planes of human motion… all in one exercise.

You can work the getup without knowing any of this, and if you’re attentive and you work toward perfecting your form, you don’t need the dvd to be successful. But if you’re not one of those who’s particularly tuned in to your movement skills, or particularly if you’re a trainer who works with others and will benefit from the regression tips, this will be a good investment.

You can order the set, $79 for the two dvds plus 36-page manual, from these non-affiliate links to Perform Better or Dragon Door.

About that cost

You may remember my aversion to high prices for consumer items, and I feel like I need to address that here. I’m less sensitive to this for professional media directed at trainers and coaches, and while this dvd set and manual are marketed toward the general trainee, its level of instruction is higher, offering the specifics of progression and tweaking we’d expect from a product geared for pros.

But more than that, I got behind the numbers after I did some scratch-pad math. Gray and Brett don’t sell direct to the consumer. This means they get wholesale pricing on all their sales, so slash 50% off the top, across the board, leaving $40 as the gross profit.

Next, subtract the costs of filming and editing, graphic artwork for the dvd, label and booklet, a photographer for the booklet photos and payment to Mark for writing the text. There’s the cost of the booklet, printed with full color photos on thick, glossy paper with a lay-flat coil binding—an expensive proposition for a 36-page manual. Finally, add the cost of the double dvd.

I haven’t a clue how many copies they’ve sold, but spreading the cost of production over an initial 1,000 copies, they each could take home maybe $15 a copy… depending on how much of the work they did in-house. $80 is a lot, $15… not so much. I’m okay with it after all.

Especially as I realize most of the TGU techniques now taught throughout the industry came from their study of the getup for this presentation. Whether this is worth it to you personally, I’d say that depends on whether you plan to actually use the getup—buying, watching, but not doing… well, you know where that goes.

These are brilliant guys who make it easy for the rest of us to soak up their creative thinking. I’m a fan for sure.

More from Gray and Brett

• In this episode of the Strength Coach podcast, Gray and Brett get together to discuss Kalos Sthenos

Gray on the getup

• Gray discusses TGU form in this Dragon Door podcast (right click and save to download to your computer or click to listen online)
• Brett Jones explains the purpose of the Kalos Sthenos DVD set in this Dragon Door article
• Brett discusses the corrective nature of the getup here in his blog
• Gray and Brett join Charles Staley, Phil Stevens and Rob Fortney in Episode # 46 of IronRadio

Gray on general movement skills