Tirofijo
Level 6 Valued Member
Somehow "risk vs benefit" never seems to get mentioned in relation to TGU's. Particularly as the get heavier. Even with perfect form, things can suddenly go haywire. I've had grip failure on a perfect deadlift and it was no big deal, just a loud CLANK when the bar hit the floor. I've also had my arm suddenly turn to boiled spaghetti doing a TGU when I hit some perviously undiscovered impingement in my shoulder; that one nearly landed a rather heavy ball of iron on my face. So for me, light weight, movement tool and general warmup is the call for TGU's
Oh, Dan John has recently ranted about it. Apparently he is now against loading GUs, especially for "multi million dollar assets", for the reasons you have given.
I am many other people here have more experience with heavy pressing overhead, but my experience tells me that there is quite difference between "the kettlebell could almost have hit me" and "it actually hit me".
I think most of us differentiate between exercises where you can allow yourself to fail (suitcase cary, farmers walk, crawling, goblet squat) and exercises were you always make sure to have huge buffer (like TGU, windmill and possibly also benchpress). From what I have seen even the cross fit guys do not do TGU to failure.
It could be interesting to see just how many people who have actually been hurt by a kettlebell landing on top of them. My guess is that the percentage will be quite low.
I'm a little late to the discussion.
Percentage might be quite low, but what percentage of the bell landing on top of someone is acceptable when there are exercises that get the job done that have zero risk of a heavy kettlebell landing on the face?
I think that sums up Dan John's concern. You can't eliminate all risk, but why risk heavy TGUs when you can get the mobility benefits from light/unweighted getups. The strength benefits of the TGU can be obtained with other exercises.
Same here, but found it quite remarkable to have ‘an issue’ with heavy GUs and on the other hand have a 10 000 swing challenge in which the original program included 50 (non stop) reps of swings... These are not as risky for falling on your body, but IMHO prone to get people injured more likely than heavy GUs...
Edit: took out a typo
That's neither here nor there. If the 10,000 swing challenge is risky, call it out. But if Dan John has written a risky program, that doesn't mean he's wrong about heavy TGUs.
Pressing the kettlebell has injured shoulders, but Dan John is in favor of KB presses and exactly no one here has a blanket recommendation that no one should press a kettlebell. It's not about avoiding all risk. It's about avoiding unnecessary risk.
Dan John's point is you get mobility benefits from light/unweighted TGUs, and can get the strength benefits from exercises that don't entail having a very heavy kettlebell over your face while lying on your back, making it very difficult to dodge.
Last edited: