Twisted Grip vs Cup Grip: Which Handspring Grip Is Kinder to Your Wrists?

Cup grip is usually the kinder handspring grip for your wrist, because it keeps the wrist close to neutral, while twisted grip bends the wrist hard towards the little finger and needs a lot of overhead shoulder mobility. Twisted grip is still a perfectly good grip that many dancers use for years, and cup grip is often harder to learn because it asks for more pulling strength. The best choice depends on your shoulders, your wrists and what your teacher sees when you try both.

I get asked this one a lot, usually by someone holding their wrist after class, so I want to lay out both grips fairly. Neither of them is the right grip for everyone, and the strength and control behind the grip matter more than its name.

What are twisted grip and cup grip?

Both are ways of placing your hands on the pole for a handspring, the move where you go upside down with your hands on the pole and your body held away from it. In both grips your top hand holds the pole above your head and your bottom hand does most of the pushing, and the difference is in how you turn your hands and arms.

Twisted grip

In twisted grip your top arm is turned so the inside of the elbow faces away from you and the hand wraps around the pole with the thumb pointing down. That turns the whole arm inwards at the shoulder and bends the wrist sideways towards the little finger. Your bottom hand presses into the pole lower down. Many dancers find twisted grip feels locked in and secure once they have the shoulder range for it, which is why it's so popular.

Cup grip

In cup grip your bottom hand cups the pole with the fingers pointing down and the thumb on the same side as the fingers, and the elbow bends with the arm turned slightly outwards. The wrist stays much closer to a straight line with your forearm. The top arm has to pull actively, and you need a firm drive from your hips and knees to get up, so cup grip often feels heavier and harder in the beginning.

How does each grip load your wrist and shoulder?

A pole physiotherapist who has broken the two grips down describes cup grip as keeping the wrist in neutral, which cuts down the twisting force through the joint, and twisted grip as combining a lot of sideways wrist bend with a fully turned-in forearm and shoulder (The Pole Physio). That's the main reason cup grip has a reputation for being easier on wrists. The same source is clear that you can get hurt in any grip if you aren't engaging properly, so a cup grip with a floppy shoulder isn't automatically safe.

Some studios also teach a true or straight grip, with the palm of the top hand turned up. It gets the biceps working nicely but puts more load through the wrist and forearm, so it needs careful control too.

Which grip is better if your wrists hurt?

If the pain is on the little-finger side of your wrist and it shows up in twisted grip, it's worth asking your teacher to help you try cup grip, because that side is exactly where twisted grip puts its bend. Pain on the little-finger side when you twist or lean on the hand is common enough that we have a separate guide on pinky-side wrist pain.

If the pain is on the top of the wrist and comes from pushing with the bottom hand, the grip of the top hand may not be the main problem. That pattern usually has more to do with how much load the bottom wrist takes when it's bent back, which is the same thing that makes shoulder mounts hurt the wrist, and conditioning helps more than switching grips.

And if your wrist hurts in every grip, the answer is usually less handspring volume for a while rather than a different grip. Our main guide to wrist pain from pole dancing goes through the different pain patterns.

Which grip suits your shoulders?

Twisted grip asks your shoulder to go fully overhead and turn fully inwards at the same time. If you can't comfortably get your arm straight up next to your ear without arching your back, you'll probably find twisted grip strains the front of your shoulder, and your body may borrow the missing range from your wrist and elbow instead. Cup grip keeps the arm lower and turns it outwards, which many people with stiffer shoulders find easier to control.

That doesn't mean someone with stiff shoulders can never use twisted grip. Shoulder mobility can be trained, and plenty of dancers build up to it over months.

How do you prepare for each grip?

For both grips

1. Warm up your wrists every time, with circles, gentle rocking on your hands on the floor and some easy holds on the pole. Our 10-minute wrist warm-up for pole covers it.
2. Build your bottom-hand push with wrist push-ups on the floor and plank holds on your hands, 2 to 3 sets of 20 to 30 seconds, stopping well before your wrist feels sharp.
3. Train the grip itself on the floor. Practise the hand placement standing at the pole and lean away a little, so your hands and shoulders learn the shape before you go upside down.
4. Get your hips up with your legs. Hip and knee drive drills take a huge amount of work away from your hands.

Extra for twisted grip

Work on overhead shoulder mobility, for example gentle hanging and arms-overhead stretches against a wall, and practise holding the twisted-grip shape with your feet on the floor so your shoulder learns to stay active at the end of its range.

Extra for cup grip

Build pulling strength with the top arm, for example bicep curls or pole pull-ups with bent elbows, and drill the cup with the bottom hand while you lean back, because that push is what holds you up. Our six-week pole conditioning plan includes most of these.

Masha's tip: Whatever grip you pick, try it on both sides. Most of us have one side that's stiffer or weaker, and it's often the wrist on that side that starts complaining because it's covering for the shoulder.

When should you ask a coach to look at your grip?

Handsprings are an intermediate move, and your teacher can see things you can't feel from upside down. Ask for help if your wrist or shoulder hurts during or after handsprings, if one side feels very different from the other, if you're thinking about switching grips, or if you've been stuck on the same step for a long time. A good teacher will usually let you try both grips with a spot and tell you honestly which one your body is ready for.

If pain lasts more than a couple of weeks, keeps coming back, or comes with swelling, clicking, weakness or numbness, see a physio or doctor, ideally one who knows pole or other upside-down sports. The NHS guidance on wrist pain explains when to get help.

Can wrist wraps help with handsprings?

Some dancers like wearing wraps for handspring practice, because firm compression low on the wrist can make the joint feel more stable and keeps it warm between attempts, while your hand stays free to grip. Wraps won't fix a grip that doesn't suit you, and they don't replace strength, but they can make conditioning and drilling feel more comfortable. Our guide to wrist wraps for pole explains how to choose and wear them so they don't get in the way of your grip.

Both grips are valid, and lots of dancers end up using both depending on the combo. If you start with the one that keeps your wrist happiest, and keep building the strength and mobility for the other, you'll have both options in the end.