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Kettlebell Replacement for Get-ups, as Complement to Swings?

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Smile-n-Nod

Smile-n-Nod

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I have been experiencing some instability in my left knee for the last five days, possibly due to strained ligaments. I think the cause was sitting too long in a seiza position to increase plantar flexion of my ankles. I will have the knee checked out by a doctor next week.

I have been training Simple & Sinister for about 7 months. Even with my knee instability, I think I will still be able to do swings, but I'm not certain about get-ups (mainly because of the stress that that my knees feel in the lunge position). If it turns out that I cannot perform get-ups for a while (or ever), are there one or two other exercises I can substitute for the get-ups that will complement the swing? Thanks.
 
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Does the negative bother your knee? If not then maybe start at the top and "get-down".
 
+1 for "get-downs" if that doesn't bother you.

Up to a "tall sit" and back down would work too. You could even go heavier than normal with that.
 
Good advice thus far.
You can get much of the benefit of the TGU by only doing partials. Try just going to the post or sitting position as @Sean M said.
 
I mentioned in a post before that as I have "old" knees I do get ups to the kneeling position and then add goblet squats to the total of get ups done as I don't have too much problem with them. It is getting from the kneeling position that kills me. Having said all that I am currently getting great satisfaction from side press.
Good luck whatever you do and I hope you heal quickly.
 
I'm sort of going through a similar feeling at the moment and I'm using presses and clean&presses instead of getups quite often. If I don't want a killer workout I'll just do several ladders of clean and presses - the clean is a mini swing anyhow, so just this one exercise is a pretty good all-round workout.
 
In theory, bent presses are a great replacement, but honestly, most of us on this forum can't just waltz into the gym and decide to start doing bent presses correctly and safely for strength purposes in lieu of get ups without some serious practice. GTG presses would be my vote if you have to drop get ups.
 
My vote - provided you don't mind having a non-kettlebell movement - actually goes to the one arm pushup...

I've found that when I couldn't do get-ups for whatever reason, that I could focus on my OAPUs for a while, and then actually come back to the get-ups significantly stronger. A real WTH effect in my book.

YMMV though! Just my suggestion. :)
 
I had to stop get ups due to knee issues (historic from playing soccer). I've been doing half get ups during my warm up and windmills as a post session stretch. I've found these covered most bases, I still very occasionally do a S&S session doing get ups with a 40kg, so I haven't lost any strength or movement in the full get up.
 
rickyw said:
In theory, bent presses are a great replacement, but honestly, most of us on this forum can't just waltz into the gym and decide to start doing bent presses correctly and safely for strength purposes in lieu of get ups without some serious practice. GTG presses would be my vote if you have to drop get ups.
Click to expand...

My go-to lift is the bent press as well, but I agree with @rickyw. The bent press is a lift to master, not do-as-replacement-while-injured. Half get-ups and/or GTG presses. I would even go for a (lighter) bottom-up half get-ups. Had good experience with those - BU KB over head while your disengaged hand is actually engaged with the ground really makes you focus :). Tall sit presses (BU is also possible) also teach allot.

All of these are kind of spice lifts and not no main dishes, but can have valuable lessons to teach while your knee recovers.
 
This is an interesting topic, I'm not doing get ups either due to a patellar tendinosis and apparently this happens to a lot of us. I'm at the moment doing presses and I like it, but I'm not sure if it is the best choice, and also don't know how to program it.

So far I am replacing each get up by 1 clean and 5 military presses. I'm not cleaning each time as the clean appears to have a lot of overlap with the swing. Does this make sense?

I had also considered doing the bent press, but as @Shahaf Levin and @rickyw say, it was far too technical to do during an injury period. I tried windmills, which were a bit easier, but found that they were loading my hamstrings too much together with the swings.

The partial get ups sound like a good idea. how would you program these? Maybe doing doubles instead of singles, for a total of 5x2 partial GU per arm?
 
I have a couple of options that apply when I do partial get-ups. (I still occaisionally do 5 full get-ups but focus on partials).

The first option is to do what I call "1/2 get-ups". I simply do the get -up through the low sweep to the half kneeling position and back down. Sometimes I do them with a medium weight bell and really slow down and focus. Other times I use a relatively "heavy" bell that I am aspiring to.

The other option I log as "laddered" get-ups. I use a moderate weight bell (for me) and perform the roll to press, then back down. Then on the same side I perform the first two steps (to elbow), then back down. Next to the hand, etc. I usually do the high bridge to work the hip flexors. I wnd up doing only one full get-up per side.

While my knees won't take full get-ups every time, I find that doing some form of the get-up to be one of the most effective things I do.

Basically, it's S&S with partial TGU's. For this old guy it's a great program.

I hope that helps.

Jim
 
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