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Body building and pole
Hi!! I’m a competitive bikini athlete. I do body building in my off season 5-6 days week. I’m having trouble finding the right schedule for adding my pole training. Bear with me.
Monday: Heavy leg day
Tuesday/Thur: AM Upper body lifting PM: 1 hour of pole (includes Veena’s pole strengthening)
Wed/Friday/ legs/booty with bands and lighter weights
Sat Rest
Sunday Shoulders + 1 hour poleI am only 30 days in. I did my first pole climb this week. I’ve had great progress so far.
Curious..
Do you think this sounds reasonable?I’m not doing more pole now because I need recovery time. I am a coach/trainer so I also have a lot of work demo ing for my students.
Thank you!! 😉
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17 Replies
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I’m not a professional, but I do lift, and my schedule is similar to what you listed. I think you’ll be fine with what you’re doing as written. You’re probably better off than most when it comes to knowing your limits, so just listen to your body. Keep up the amazing progress!!
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Oh that’s so good to know, Stacia! thank you so much for your feedback!
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No problem, Tracy 😀
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Hi Tracy, I’m not a professional either but I have been working out since I was a teenager, so I have some knowledge about training plans and fitness in general. Your schedule sounds balanced, however I am missing two things: 1) core specific training, key for pole (besides what’s included in Veena’s lessons) and 2) cardio. I know that cardio can hinder muscle growth if that’s your goal, but it is also very healthy, so you might want to consider adding 3-4 sessions a week after you lifts: 20 minutes steady, 30 minutes interval and something longer about 45 minutes. With regard to upper body training, I would focus on conditioning the small muscles that are usually overlooked in body building, specially rotator cuffs and forearms. Hope this helps!
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I would like to second what Latin Poler said about conditioning the smaller stabilizers that may not be utilized regularly with the bigger lifts you do–especially in the core, back, and arms. Veena has so many great conditioning videos. I’m sure you probably already incorporate this in your training with pole, but I just wanted to reiterate how important it’ll be. My arms hurt so badly the first few weeks, and I think it was due to jumping into it too quickly without properly conditioning those little muscles 🙂
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Thank you. I’m a competitive athlete and a trainer for the last 35 years.. I have the appropriate amount of core and cardio. But.. I do appreciate your input, because you are correct and I would recommend the same.
I did not break down my whole lifting program as I was more giving a schedule overview. 🙂
I do Veena’s pole strengthening workout. Do you do more pole than 3 days a week if you lift?
Are you saying I need to do more accessory work than veena recommends? -
I only pole 2x per week, and I use her pre hab videos where you’re conditioning the wrists/arms/shoulders. She uses bands and stretches, sometimes the poles itself to help execute them 🙂
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Maybe super obvious already, but make sure you pole equally on both sides! Being you’re a competitive Body builder you need symmetry. Doing pole unequally favoring one side can easily over or under develop one side vs. the other.
Also I’m so glad you brough this up! I lift weights and pole and I’m stumped on how to work all the muscle groups in during the week and pole AND get appropriate rest time. It’s sort of a puzzle!
Happy poling!
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Brilliant! One side is awesome. The other is nails on a chalkboard. Great advice!!!
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Ps. On your light lifting leg/booty days, how much lighter is your weight compared to heavy lifting days? Like 50%? Thanks!
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Briwi–Tracy will probably have a better answer for this, but on my heavy leg day I only do 4×4 of squats and Deadlift. My max on both is only #155, but that’s about a year’s worth of working up from a #45 bar. My pump days for legs is usually quite lighter, so I can get 3×12 in of whatever exercise I’m doing. Usually for squats/DL I’d take it back down to #115. I can still feel a burn, but it’s not like a build day. Not sure what that is, percentage – wise but hopefully that gives you some direction. I love to lift, so this conversation rocks my face off 🙂
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Heavy leg day is my thrusts. Squats, Bulgarians, press, deads and I lift 8-12 reps for hyper trophy. As heavy as I can. Really basic lifts .
Leg day 2 is endurance. I do lighter weight for volume. I do anywhere from 30 to 60 sec intervals of moves. I don’t lift fast or heavy for
Lunges, squats, sumo, plyo, box jumps . Lot of db or barbell work with 50/60 percent of my normal lifts. I focus on glute work, bands , unilateral body weight stuff like RDLs, donkey kicks, pistols. Etc.Last booty day is Pilates, barre, bands, pole squats.,just a finisher day Of body weight or bands.
😀😀😀💪ðŸ»ðŸ’ªðŸ»
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Stacia! You are strong!!!💪ðŸ»ðŸ’ªðŸ»ðŸ’ªðŸ»
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Thanks, Tracy–from the look of your pole lift pic, you’re super strong, too!
I like your workout breakdown, too. Sounds like it really hits all the right stuff!
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It all sounds good but try to be adaptable as time goes on and really listen to your body. My first year, everything went fine until I got to a point where I was not recovering properly for what I was doing in the weight room and with pole and I pulled several muscles…rhomboids, intercostals…not all at the same time, but at different points because those muscle groups were being way too taxed by heavy squats, deadlifts and pole without proper recovery time. I definitely learned the hard way. In the beginning everything felt find and dandy but the more advanced I got in pole, the more important it became to recover properly. At this point I pole 2-3 days a week and lift 2 days a week (and cardio 2-3 days per week).
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