The Twist Hold is the third hold of the Trifecta, which is a joint health training program described in detail in the book Convict Conditioning 2. Some critics of the Trifecta state that better exercises are available for flexibility, but the purpose of Trifecta is joint health and "bulletproofing" the joints, not achieving the best possible flexibility at the risk of joint health.
Here is Aleks Salkin describing and demonstrating the Trifecta exercises:
I've struggled to progress past the 3/4 Twist variation of the Twist Hold progression. I tried practicing the assistance stretches suggested by Al Kavadlo, who modeled the Trifecta exercises in the book, but remained stuck.
Today I realized that what has been holding me back is a very simple detail that I'd overlooked. I had the palm of my arm - the one leveraging against the leg - facing away from the leg, with the elbow locked out. Why was this a problem? Well, this prevents the arm from being able to snake under the knee and reach back to either grab the other hand, or grab a cloth/towel being held at the other end by the other hand.
I've also been using the Trifecta wrong. It's not really supposed to be a cooldown routine after a session of serious strength training. It's supposed to be done on non-strength training days, or as a warmup.
As an aside, I did an L-Sit variation with palms on the floor instead of parallettes for the first time today. The easiest variation to do on the floor is the N-Hold variation, which I hadn't been able to do because I lacked the core strength to pull the knees high enough to get the feet off the ground. For my next Trifecta session, however, I'll switch back to the P-Barz because in the Trifecta, the L-Hold (L-Sit) practice is supposed to be an active stretch of the lower back, not a strength workout per se. I did have to expend a lot of effort to do the N Hold from the floor. Aleks Salkin also wrote an L-Hold Tutorial. I tried this approach a while back but did not get past the "straight leg to N hold" step. It could have been any number of reasons from not practicing at the correct frequency per week, or not allowing enough rest time, targeting the wrong hold time, etc. In any case, now that I have the Isochain, I don't really have to work on the L-Hold as a strength exercise. I wouldn't be surprised if I made "free gains", as Mindful Mover likes to day, on the L-Hold from Isochain Promethean training, because all 3 exercises work the core with increasing intensity as the target load goes up. I can just practice easier variations of the L-Hold as part of Trifecta.
Speaking of Mindful Mover, I saw their recent post about how practicing their "Big 5" (Handstand Pushup, One-Arm Chinup, Planche Pushup, Front Lever Row, Squat) with give you free gains on the Deadlift. While that might be true, I suspect you have to work up to high levels of skill in their Big 5, and to get those high levels of skill you have to be strong anyway. The problem for me is my shoulder won't let me work on the Planche Pushup or HSPU branches of the Big 5. The Shoulder Press from Isochain Promethean should, in theory, deliver gains in the HSPU. The Bicep Curl might have some carryover to One-Arm Chinup, as it is essentially a bodyweight bicep curl. I suppose I'd have to work up to a double-bodyweight Bicep Curl to see that - or not. The carryover potential from Deadlift to any of the Big 5 isn't so clear - Front Lever maybe? Bent Row from Promethean Mark II looks like it has more obvious carryover to the Front Lever Row progression.
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