HeavyEvents.com Forum

so one little secret I have not shared that Jim Cawley used to do is the hammer twist or french hammer twist. It is a dynamic core exercise that hits the obliques and the delts big time. Take a barbell and put one end on the floor in a corner and you hold the other end. Add a donut (45lbs) less or more - start light and then work up to heavy. grab the end of the BB with the weight and hold it in front of you then twist to your right. When the bar gets to about waist high snap it around to your left. Keep your arms straight so the end of the bar goes in an arc of up and around to the left. Here is where it gets interesting. As the weight approaches your waist height slow the weight and then snap it up and around to your right. Rinse and repeat. The result will be a dynamic and plyometric core workout that will add a fair amount of thickness to your obliques and give you the strength you need to finish the heavy weight for distance throw. Do sets of 3-5 one day a week. Also you will find that giving yourself a wide base (spread your legs) will help with the torqueing forces trying to pull you off your feet.

I cannot find a video of this on the web tho. Maybe master dickens can come over and we will do some so we can post.

Isn't that a russian twist?

brent

I think Pavel T. calls it a "full-contact twist". The folks over at Sorinex sell a "Landmine" device designed for that move.

barbe705 wrote:Isn't that a russian twist?

brent

A russian / roman twist is done on like a sit up twist at the waist with arms extended holding the weight out the whole time.
I do them on an de-cline bench with a 45 plate 3 sets of 10 - 15 realy rips. Like plate stacking.

yeah russian twists are a seated core exercise. The hammer twists are standing. I like the standing better because I include hip shifts involved which is more throwing specific however russian twists really rip the core so pick your poison - they both are good.

With the french hammer twist, you get all of the supporting muscles for the wfd involved. Like Bryan said - if you setup right, you get the hips, legs and even shoulders involved. You can mimic the final pull of the wfd and start deep behind you and go high in front. I looked for the video but the site that used to have it is no longer up.

Is this the exercise you're referring to Bryan?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG0mgmuuIiY

Darn close. Get the whole body into it, take it deeper to the sides and put some weight on it and you have it.

That looks like fun. I will have to add it to my reppetoir. rapatour. repatoir.........I'll have to do it some times.

That is EXACTLY the exercise. Only I would go faster. The goal is to make it a plyometric type of movement.