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Best metal for general population
Sorry I keep spamming the forum. Deciding what poles to purchase for classes is becoming a big deal. What metal do you think is best to purchase for the general pupulation to use? I am planning on starting with 5 poles: 1 for me and 4 for students. Should I just get 4 chromes and 1 TG (I am a sweaty wench so the TG seems to help, esp with the humidity here.)
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11 Replies
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Chrome is generally well received – I have a few girls who love stainless and a few who only want to dance on tg or brass but overall if you're getting 5 poles and 4 will be for students – maybe 2 chrome and 2 TG and ofcourse your tg because you already have a preference.
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I go to a studio with all chrome 50's. Now that I have tried a 45mm and found it considerably easier, I am glad I have spent all my time learning on the most difficult pole for grip in terms of material and width. I think a consideration will be if any of your students will be competing, what they will be competing on. If they are competing on chrome I think it would be wise to add this thought into your purchase process. My 5c!
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It depends how ruthless you are about your business. If you want to guarantee no one will leave you for another pole studio, go with 38mm brass. No one is going to want to lose 50% of their progress at another studio because they suddenly can't grip.
If you're not quite so mercenary and you want students who have the opportunity to compete, travel and be versatile, 50mm chrome is probably better. (Having said that, I know people who have trained on 50mm chrome and can't grip narrower poles, but I guess that is only an issue in 2 states of Australia…)
I might avoid getting a different pole from your students though, not for any logical reason it just stirkes me as odd. Still, maybe they will just assume that your pole gets a special colour because you're a special teacher
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lol on the 38's. I wouldn't even consider going to a studio that had 38's not that you really find them here in the US anyway. I would never be able to do anything that required thigh grip I can barely do leg grips on a 45, 45 at least I could do some things although a CAR would be out of the question and a CKR I'd have to be incredibly careful, because of the way my thighs are built.
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In my previous studio they had all 50mm brass…
Being a newbie, having a good grip is important. I would love to go to a studio where they have 45mm and move us to 50mm once we become stronger and more confident.
How many students do you plan on having per class? All advance, all newbie or mix? That might be a deciding factor. Just my opinion… ^_^
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Forgot to mention…I personally don’t think there’s a huge different on the material once you are fully warm up (why would you get on a pole when you’re not warm up anyway…)
I started in brass 50mm and I now have a chrome 45mm. Once I’m done with Veena strength training (thats my warm up routine)…my chrome feels very similar to the brass. The only “slippery” point of contact is probably my thigh…
Anyway…final word, good to get a combination or size and materials…but I think size has more impact then material.
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I think I am going to start off with all one size and metal. I am only starting with 5 poles due to space and they will have ceiling mounts. If I had different sizes, and a girl had a fav pole that only fit in the back, she'd be stuck there.
I appreciate the input guys. I placed an order for 1 chrome pole so that I can see how my body mixes with it. I just put up my old SS, and now that my strength is coming back, it's easier to grip (despite the muginess.) I am thinking chrome might be good for this weather cuz my TG is literally causing development and ripping off of blisters in one session (and I don't have a death grip.) My poor fingers look aweful.
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@sensualscimitar
I think you hit the nail on the head there. Better grip comes with better strength and more experience. I think dancers want to advance and think their lack of grip is the only thing holding them back – however, once their grip is good – then they are ready to advance imho. People get too hung up on the next big move without having the base skill of body strength and grip strength to back it up. There's something to be said for having to work very hard on your grip strength – if you can't hang on – on any pole – you need to be working on that first before moving on.
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Okay, this is just a general opinion, and while it was prompted by Polefit's comment, that was just what reminded me, not what I'm really arguing against. Pole twin, you know I think you're awesome. I'm mainly putting this here to give my perspective and hopefully help sensualscimitar with making judgement calls and student retention.
I'm sure for a lot of people it's true that poor grip strength is just a sign of poor strength over all. But honestly, if someone had insisted on making that kind of judgement call with me, I would have been straight out of their studio. I have not-great grip strength (never have), combined with very sweaty hands (which for some reason people with dry hands seem to think don't exist). Well, actually I have sweaty everything even in winter, butd I don't know how I can improve the grip strength of the soft section next to my shin bone for a better knee hold.
Here's the thing: I can only do upright split grip and single hand grip work on spin mode when the pole is cold, but as soon as it or I warm up I can't grip any more. But, I have the strength for air shoulder mounts, ayshas in all grips (except Chinese…yet), one handed bow and arrows and I'm only about 15 degrees from an iron x. So does my lack of hand grip really mean I should still be doing scoprios and geminis over and over and over because I'm not "ready?"
Sometimes I feel like there's this little bit of exclusivity where people say "If x happens, you're not ready to progress, if you have x problem, you're not ready to progress." By some people's standards I should not be inverting at all! But, I do invert, maybe a hundred times a week and the sky has not fallen in, and my injury rate is the lowest of any physical activity I've ever done.
And sometimes, the "you're clearly not ready" comes across as condescending (this is other threads and forums, not this here!). It seems like a way of keeping new polers on the outside, by constantly jumping in to tell them they're not good enough to belong. (Polefit, I know you weren't saying anything like that at all, I was just reminded of others doing it).
And for some reason, sweaty hands (if people even concede that they exist) and poor grip strength are the biggest targets. Do people say the same thing about poor upper thigh grip? Getting dizzy on spin mode? Not having basic acrobatics skills like cartwheels, handstands and backward rolls on the floor? Because I have never had any of those problems, and can't even really relate to them, simply due to having the good fortune of having large thighs, vestibular hyposensitivity and over 20 years of gymnastics and similar sports experience. Still, I don't think that people who get dizzy or queasy on spinning poles really should work on their aerial awareness before they even think of learning advanced tricks on static. I think they should just learn what's right for them on each pole.
I do grip strength exercises every night, I ignore the people who tell me that using antiperspirant grip aids is "cheating" (using grip aids is the only way I can get enough grip to actually build my strength until my fingers and forearms ache) and I force myself to work on poles that I have so much trouble gripping it causes physical pain (50mm spinning chrome in humidity!) . But if someone were to look at me and say that I'm not allowed to try skills I know I'm perfectly capable of doing, I would leave that studio and never come back (after crying for an hour, but that's just me).
But by the same token, I know others would be fine, or even prefer that approach and they are certainly welcome to keep attending this hypothetical studio!
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One of the main reasons I started this thread is because I personally have a major sweat issue, so I know my needs are not the same as other peoples in the way of poles. When I say I sweat, I mean I POUR sweat. My hands are always sweaty. I keep a fan by me so I can blow dry my hands while poling, and I am constantly wiping down the pole. I learned on a stainless stell pole, which was REALLY difficult for me, but at the time I didn't know there were other optins, and SS what what the 2 studios in my area had. I'm glad I had the challenge, so I can now spin on SS.
In the studios I learned in, I never learned the pole hold, pole sit, or anything related to pole tricks. I learned all spins, and climbing. It wasn't until the last year that I learned inverts and shoulder mounts. I am now super good at spins, but I can't do tricks yet.
My plan of action with regard to teaching is to allow all the girls to go at their pace. I liked how my former instructors had their class formatted. They would trow a spin out there, show some harder variations, and tell the grils to practice what they were comfortable with. If I couldn't do the tricker version, I practiced the simpler version until I nailed it, and kept in mind that there were other fun variations I could try later.
I think with regard to the tricks, each trick fall under a certain category, so if a girl is really good at leg and body grips, that girl could be challened with more difficult tricks in that catergory, while in the same session be given a hand grip trick or spin to practice, that might be considered easy. Every girl is different.
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Good points by all…
I made the comment about grip vs. overall readiness because of my recent experience getting ready for a competition. It's only my experience, and you guys are relating yours so I certainly don;t take anything personally. I have always had grip issues too – v. sweaty hands. However, grip has improved over time, I now use a bit of mighty grip and/or chalk and find it works well with a bit of sweat! I put myself in the advanced level of the competition I am entering in (2 days to go!!). However, I soon realised that although I could do all the advanced moves individually, stringing them together for 4 minutes in a pressure situation without wiping my hands and wiping the pole was going to be impossible. So, I made the big call and dropped myself down to intermediate level. No less time on the pole, no less grip required, just less difficult moves. And, guess what? No pole or hand wiping required. So, my observation is just from my experience with this I guess. Plus, I spend as much time in the gym working on my grip strength and overall body strength as I do on the pole. Hey, being ready for certain moves, and being good at some and not others is such an individual thing.
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