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Can we talk about twisted grip again?
I have faithfully avoided twisted grip for years because I believe it is dangerous for my body. I have hypermobile shoulders and wrists. I am stronger now but not the same strength everywhere: core, biceps and legs are much stronger than my triceps, shoulders and upper back, for example. I can do yoga arm balances and can deadlift aerial choppers and hold split grip on spin pole for over a minute so I think I am strong enough to do TG moves. I just have not thought it safe to even try… But now…
I am actually starting to feel like a weirdo because nobody else seems to have the slightest concern about TG. Everywhere I see polers treating TG handspring as a natural progression from butterfly and leg hangs and other intermediate tricks. I rarely attend a studio now but the teacher I trained with for years doesn’t seem to have any concerns and teaches it as an upright and inverted grip/hold/spin.
I would welcome feedback, latest learnings and current state of play on this matter, from dancers and dance teachers. Thank you 💜ðŸ™ðŸ’œ
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27 Replies
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I recently tried twisted grip handspring with a spotter and it felt fine. I only did it a few times and left it at that. I think that I’m strong enough to control my landing and maybe that helps and I’m also a little bit flexible. I vowed to not do twisted grip either. Im only learning it because I need it for a routine I’m doing in a showcase. It probably won’t be something I will continue to do afterwards. However I would not be learning it right now if I felt my body wasn’t ok with it. I would flat out refuse to do it if so. But I feel comfortable in it and I think my flexibility and strength allows it to be ok. I feel that working on my tg Ayesha also helped me to get my shoulder mount and also my split grip ayesha( first time today!) but maybe it’s all coincidence and my body is just getting stronger for those other things? Or maybe the confidence of doing a tg handspring allowed me to finally do my shoulder mount and split grip Ayesha? But no, logic tells me to not do it . So after the show I will probably hang it up. Also, now that I can do split grip Ayesha I feel like I don’t need twisted grip Ayesha. Also, I was confident in my elbow grip Ayesha before attempting twisted grip Ayesha. So I would definitely have some other form of Ayesha before learning twisted grip. Or just avoid twisted grip all together if you can. That’s my humble and honest opinion. Especially if you have shoulder hyper flexibility.
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I don’t do twisted grip handspring, because my shoulders aren’t flexible enough to control that dynamic strength needed for the handspring.
However, I am fine with coming down the pole into twisted grip ayesha from an inside leg hang, and I’m fine with twisted grip shoulder mount (and twisted grip butterfly).Just do what’s right for your body. If that means avoiding tg then that’s fine. If everyone else is doing twisted grip handspring, then just stick to normal grip or cup grip handspring. I’ve found it’s pretty unlikely that there’s a move where you NEED to have TG handspring to move into a different move, and if there is, there’s almost always another way to get into it.
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Start slow. Try lowering from Inverted Crucifix and try the “dead lift hang” I don’t know if it has an actual name but it would be the starting position for a TG lift; upright position, facing away from pole chest and face up. Try both sides only a few times per side and then back off on TG for a couple days and listen to your body. Rinse and repeat.
You are body aware enough to know if it’s working for you or not. And post your tries! I can’t wait to see.☺ -
Thanks so much for the detailed thoughtful feedback in your posts guys. Really appreciate it. Congrats Phoenix on your awesome recent achievements😀
. I haven’t tried any sort of handspringing at all, mainly because I thought cup and true grip were much harder than TG but as I couldn’t do twisted I should just not go there. And I am very nervous of kick up moves and arm strength moves – I prefer to use my legs and core to do advanced tricks as I know they are strong. I have fallen out of Ayesha attempts before and now that move frightens me.Really should start thinking about at least trying handsprings though or cartwheel mounts. Even if just to say ok they aren’t my thing. So will try the lowering down from reverse crucifix and feeling out different grips. Should I focus on being comfortable in Ayesha and Inverted D before I try handspring? It makes sense to me to nail that first…
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yep, you need to have a pretty solid ayesha, and inverted pencil. You should also have a solid caterpillar.
I wouldn’t say so much inverted D, because I think that’s made a bit easier by having your feet on the pole to help you balance, whereas ayesha and inverted pencil are all core strength, and balance.It took me about a year to get my normal grip handspring, then another 10 months to get cup grip. I train with people who still can’t get cup grip – I think this is definitely the hardest of the three grips, but I know some people who found cup grip easiest (ex-gymnast) so it is (like most things) based on the individual to some degree.
Case in point, I had shoulder mounts years before I could handspring, whereas Phoenix said handspring helped her get shouldermount.
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I’m thinking that the timing for me was key. I got my handspring and my shoulder mount the same day literally. It was a confidence boost to do the handspring then I felt invincible. Haha! Now I just got split grip Ayesha. It was just a mental boost that got me over the fear of going upside and taking my legs off the pole. I wouldn’t attempt any sort of handspring before being able to an Ayesha from a caterpillar. Not at all. If you can’t balance the Ayesha from the top down and you don’t know what that feels like then your gonna feel very lost handspringing or cartwheeling up into an Ayesha.
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And twisted grip Ayesha is easier than split grip or cup grip , but twisted is not necessary like Michael said. Except I am doing a combo for a routine where you go into a twisted grip Ayesha from a layback . I swear that’s the only time I’ve seen it necessary to do twisted grip. It’s not my choreography, I probably wouldn’t have chosen that but it looks good and I feel comfortable to do it for this one routine. How are your elbow grip and/or forearm grip ayeshas? I would probably work on getting those comfortable first. But I know you are pretty strong and split grip might come easier for you. Some people tell me that split grip is less scary for them than elbow grip even though split grip requires more strength.
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And yes inverted d may help you feel more comfortable. You have a strong extended butterfly. I’ve seen it. That’s a big help. Before trying to handspring or cartwheel into an Ayesha , Veena has lessons for cartwheeling into an extended butterfly. I would get that first. Might not be so scary. Literally, I think just following the order of the lessons here will get you there. Get those easier grip ayeshas then the half cartwheels and half handsprings. 🙂
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There are lots of threads on this an among them are members talking about injuries because of the TG. I really believe it’s commonly taught only because they don’t know better and it’s “easier” than split grip! I will add that I also feel split grips are often over done too!
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Ugh, typos!💩
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See, I don’t think elbow grip / forearm grip ayesha transfer to split grip that well. I can’t do elbow grip (it is scary af!), and I can do forearm grip but find it really difficult to balance, but I’m super comfy in split grip (normal and cup) and could hang out there all day hahaha.
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You do not need Aysha to try the half cartwheel or half handspring. But i agree that you should have it before you go on to the full versions. And split grip was easiest for me too, although I have recently had a bit of a breakthrough with my elbow/forearm grip caterpillars getting much stronger and more comfortable so I should try those Aysha versions again. ☺
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Is there a photo or video that show all the grips??? I often get confused over which is which…
Personally…I think any grip will bother your body if you over do it…lol but that’s just me. =P
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Elbow grip was scarier for me as well but it was the first one I got because it requires less strength and is easier to balance.
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Split grip was all I had figured out when I started!! I didn’t know elbow or forearm grips were used! 🙃
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