Welcome, BailaHoops!
Congrats on your major Christmas score and for finding the community. I am also a newbie poler who received her very first pole for Christmas this year! :o) I've been begging for three years and have finally seen the dream come true. Had I known then was I was getting myself into (the obsession and physical demand), I would have spent the past three years working on upper body and core strength along with flexibility. ;o) I don't know why I never thought to look up an online community dedicated to poling prior to owning my newest movement partner.
There is another newbie (mintchocochic) who posted a requested for resources on how to build her strength. I spent a considerable amount of time compiling recommendations from other threads and some of my own searches. You can see the results on the following thread: https://www.studioveena.com/forums/view/Dont_own_a_pole__20110112055258
Hope this helps as you (and mintchocochic and I) work to build the strength and flexibility to rock the pole!
Joy in movement,
Nayana