The term "heavy" is tough to define, as is "strong". I will say this, a few years back I focused on get-ups only for a month. My objective was to do 500 TGUs over the course of a 30 day period, so 16-18 per day, using the 32, 40 and 48. Not a ton of volume, but still a focused effort on a specific movement. Spending time doing "heavy" get-ups is educational, it requires absolute focus while performing static holds within a dynamic setting. The 48 was heavy for me, I couldn't do more than 5 per side, or a total of ten, without feeling a little wobbly, so I typically did 3 per side and then filled in the rest of the reps with the 32 or the 40. After I finished the challenge I kept up the TGU practice through S&S, starting with 32. Within a couple of weeks of completing the 500 rep getup month I was on the lacrosse field, playing a summertime fun pickup game with the kids I coach, barefoot in the grass, just having fun, the ball came sailing at me well over me head, my body just leaped up extended my stick as high as I could, grabbed the ball, did an almost 360 spin in the process, landed on one foot and went into an immediate sprint towards the goal. I was 51 at the time. I didnt feel like I was in great shape, I had no intention of making that move, but the focus on the "heavy" get-ups had created such a strong foundation of functional strength that I didnt have any feeling of holding back. My body just did what it had to do, automatically, to make the play. It was a sense of freedom I hadn't felt since my teens. My feeling is that if you want to get really strong, so you can pick up cars or carry small homes on your back, then deadlifts and squats are the way to go, but for functional strength I think "heavy" getups are un-paralleled. I love snatches too, for fully body functionality, but I never tore my hands to shreds doing get-ups. Heavy TGU's, I'm a fan.
