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Advice for a Beginner – Basic Pole Hold
Hi girls!
I bought a pole to attempt my pole journey at home after doing a class with a friend. I’m stuck out in the country, plus I’m a shift worker so it seemed like the only way I was going to make it was at home! Now my history includes some pretty pore core and upper body strength – I’m also a nurse so while I know the importance of core muscles, proper lifting, etc, I’m not very good at it and it seems like the thing we nurses forget when we really shouldn’t to lift and move people!
So I’ve been doing the strength exercises and the Core Warmup three times a week for about 3 weeks now, and the thing I struggle most with is the pole hold. My body wants to bring those shoulders up towards my ears so badly! My husband has been helping to be my eyes when I need correction, and has even given a few of the exercises a try himself (he’s quite good strength-wise, but his flexibility is crap!) and he keeps telling me that the pole hold uses the lower back muscles but for the life of me I can’t figure out how, probably because mine are so underdeveloped.
Has anyone got any tips or tricks to master this, since I know it’s kind of a core fundamental to master (pardon the pun!).
Thanks, and I’m excited to become more involved here as time goes on!
Kellie -
10 Replies
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Hi, have you checked out the beginners pole hold lesson on here rather than using the pole hold strength lesson.
https://www.studioveena.com/lessons/view/54921dfb-d4f0-474e-b098-238d0a9aa0eb
It has easier variations so you can build yourself up to the full pole hold. I’m currently working on the second easiest variation in that lesson.
Another thing I’ve been doing, because I’m very weak right now, is sitting on the floor with my legs either side of the pole and doing a pole hold from there. It means I’m not lifting my full body weight and I can’t hang from my arms with my shoulders by my ears.
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Also, sometimes it’s about just learning go access the right muscles. It’s about drawing your shoulder blades down your back (without over doing it). Doing that involves accessing small muscles you rarely use. It can be difficult to target them at first. Veena has a scapula video somewhere that is extremely helpful. Hopefully she can chime in and point you in the right direction.
Pole is going to be great for you. I also work in healthcare, and really building up my core and back strength has done wonders for me, and I think it even extended the life of my career. 💕 I love pole!
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Hi! I think maybe what your husband means by lower back is the latissimus? The pole hold will focus on these muscle groups: Latissimus, Trapezius, Rhomboids, Pectorals, Biceps, Abdominals. You will find a list of muscle groups used in the descriptions of most lessons. Now these are the “main” muscle groups, however, anytime you’re holding your own bodyweight it’s a FULL body effort! Your erector spinae along with other smaller muscles of the back and core are working as well! There’s really no single lower back muscle, the movement and stabilization of the spine/low back come from pelvic and hip muscles like hip flexors, and muscle of the trunk like, erector spinae, obliques, latissimus and so on, does that makes sense? This is why we can have lower back pain when our abdominals are weak, it all works together. 🙂
Have you thought about doing the 30 day take off if you’re new to pole? Also, you will see slight lifting of the upper traps when you hold your body up, that’s just how the body works. The issue is when you really scrunch up the shoulders and without seeing a video I can’t tell if that’s what is going on. Feel free to post one if you want us to offer suggestions, or just tell you that your form looks good 🙂 If the shoulders aren’t popping up too high you should be fine, your focus should be on training the scapula to hold the body weight with control, so no jerking out of the position or jumping up into holds. Start with neutral scapula and let them squeeze as you lift.
This video has a lot of info on exercises for scapula https://www.studioveena.com/lessons/view/52f7165d-3484-4ffa-afa9-13de0a9aa0eb
Tons of good info in the Veena’s tips section!
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Fantastic, you guys have given me exactly what I need! Thankyou! I’ll try these tomorrow on my “on” day, today it’s yoga day =)
While I’m on this thread too – I did try the pull in walk, half spin, and extended leg spin yesterday just to get a feel for some of the basics moves (and keep it interesting!) From what I’ve read, a lot of dancers find they have trouble slipping off the pole and therefore increased grip is desired but I have the opposite problem, I get stuck! How do I counteract this without making it dangerous/too slippery?
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As you become more comfortable with your grip you will learn how to control it better.😊
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I also have a question about the basic pole hold – on one ‘side’, so with my right arm on top I am fine but when I switch to left, my left arm position seems off and the forearm ends up really pressed into the right one which is unpleasant. Is it simple a case of lack of strength, do you think?
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Can you post a video? There’s probably something small that is changing😊
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Also remember the belly is against the pole on hold so the forearm theoretically be past the pole!
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Try not squeezing the arms in so much, instead pull down with the hands, like you’re trying to shove the pole down into the ground!💪ðŸ»
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Yes! When I was first learning I squeezed so hard inward that I was causing myself to have elbow tendonitis.
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