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Frustration of getting the invert
sorry for being whiney… but I am getting a bit frustrated of not able to get my basic invert… it is been 2 months… I feel like I am stuck and wondering if I a not suitable for pole dancing… sigh
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15 Replies
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I didn’t invert for 4 months, I had to build up my arm and ab strength before I was ready. When I am having trouble getting a move, it is usually related to one of three things.1)I do not have the strength yet to do a move. If that is the case, I will step away from a move, do some conditioning exercises to build up the strength needed for that move. 2)I do not have the proper technique down. I have awesome instructors at the studio I go to but sometimes it is hard to remember everything in class(why I also have Veena’s lessons). Sometimes there is this tiny tidbit I am missing, maybe hand too high, that makes all the difference. that’s when a watch, rewatch the lesson to make sure I am not missing anything. 3)Sometimes my brain prevents be from doing a move(fear). Sometimes this is the most hardest to overcome. Being in a community of supportive people is so helpful, sometimes you can borrow the confidence they have in you!
It is frustrating when you want a move so bad and you are working really hard at
it and are just not seeing results(this will happen throughout your pole journey). Hang in there and don’t give up. -
Autumn Sky said it best, don’t give up! It took me 5 months to invert, and I am proud of that. You will get it, and you’ll be so happy!
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I know it’s frustrating to not be able to get a move as soon as you want it. But, for many, many people two months is an incredibly short time to get their invert in. I have students who have taken well over a year to get their basic invert. Contrary to the word “basic” in the title this is not an easy move. It requires strength in a lot of different muscle groups, the coordination of those muscle groups and good technique. Just because you haven’t achieved one particular move, YET, out of the thousands out there that are possible, doesn’t mean that you’re not suitable for pole dancing. There are tons of moves you can do that don’t require a basic invert and working on those will help you gain the strength and (often the technique) needed to do that basic invert. I’ve been poling 16 years, I teach pole, and there are still moves that, for whatever reason (lack of strength, lack of flexibility) I still can’t do. It doesn’t mean I’m not suitable for pole dancing. It means I need to pole dance more and harder so I can maybe eventually do those moves. You will get this eventually! Enjoy the journey to get there!
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Please don’t feel pressured to be inverting as quick as possible. Depending on a persons physical background some can invert day one, others may takes months, years or inverting may not even be for them.
As mentioned by others there are still many things you can do that do not require an invert, working on them too soon can cause injury if positioning is incorrect and then you’ll be off the pole! That’s not what you want! We all have our strengths and it’s a good idea to find them so we can focus on our strengths during the times we feel frustrated with our progress.
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There are many threads here about inverting and also the pains of rushing inverting and getting injured. As others have said, this is not a race. Being safe and injury prevention should be top priorities.
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I was able to invert right away but it took me a long time to do simple spins gracefully (and without bruising!) we all learn and grow at a different pace; be patient, it will come 🙂
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gosh, 2 months isn’t very long! I don’t typically teach inverts until 5-6 months in, and even so I have students not ready to invert then and that’s ok.
keep in mind–pole is HARD. you will always, always be frustrated by something no matter what.
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We were shown how to invert maybe in my second month of lessons. Every time I tried I got my toes to the pole, then about the fifth go I bashed my ribs and possibly cracked them. I spent the next two months not even being able to try inverts as it hurt my ribs too much. All the people in my class carried them on and learned a few poses while all I could do was learn to climb. It got me down at first but I soon realised I was fab at climbing and could do all this other stuff that the others couldn’t, then last week out of the blue I realised I had built up the strength i lacked in the first place ( why I got injured), and low and behold I felt comfortable and brave enough to invert. Guess what…. I did it straight off, with a few poses, and best of all I could even do it on my other side. So don’t get down about it, listen to your body, try some other stuff, work on some strength and it will come, then you will be even more proud of yourself cos you really earned it!!
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Hi there Vanessacat. I feel your pain! I was taught to invert by basically kicking up and trying to catch one leg on the pole. It took me a while to get, and even after I got it, I would mess it up about 75% of the time. The whole idea of throwing myself upside down scared me.
The secret I learned that made inverting SO MUCH easier for me was this: Instead of thinking about getting your legs to the pole, think about lowering your head back to your butt so far that your legs are just forced up. I would basically hold the pole pretty low, about shoulder height, and then bend backwards. My legs would naturally want to go up in the air this way.
I hope this helps a little bit. And don’t worry, you will get it in time! There is SO MUCH cool stuff you can do without having to invert, so don’t be frustrated!
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yes, it took me 3-4 months to be able to invert. and honestly, I don’t think I should have been inverting until 5months. even when I figured out how to do them, I did them very sparingly. really work on doing those knee tucks from a side pole hold position. And if you can already do those, then work on doing them with legs straddle. Veena’s 30 day ab challenge really helped me with my inverts!!! I don’t think you need her lessons to do the ab challenge. she has a video on youtube. I swear that helped soooooo much. 2 months is not a long time. I know how frustrating it is. girls were inverting their first try in my class. don’t worry about them. they are not in your body and if they were, they would not be able to invert either. just really work on doing strengthening exercises. do venae’s pole strengthening routine if you have her lessons.
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Veena not venae!!! damn autocorrect. here’s the video
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It took me about 4-5 months before I was able to do a basic invert. Pole is fricken HARD and we all learn at different paces & although frustrating at times, it’s OK. You will get it in your own time.
Work on other pole moves that you can do…work on making them pretty & going into & coming out of moves with control. Work on your core strength–I too recommend doing Veena’s Ab challenge, it is great & really helps.
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Everyone gets the invert at different points in their pole journey. I’ve been poling on and off for about two years and I STILL can’t invert yet! I am hoping at the end of this year I will have the basic invert, but also realize it isn’t the end of the world if I don’t. Like others have said work on other moves and come back to it at a later point. Good luck and good pole journey! 🙂
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I totally agree with SexyRockStarsWife- I was poling, off and on, for about 5 years before I managed to get the basic invert. Due to… a variety of circumstances, poling consistently wasn’t really possible for me. But, I did manage to get the BI, and I still have it (barely). It’s not pretty, but it functions. I’m still very pleased to have it, but mostly I work on other moves, I work on strength training, and I remind myself that it’s not the end of the world if I don’t invert that way!
You are totally suitable to pole dance! If I can do it, you can do it 😉 Lots of people don’t even attempt the invert until 6 months in.
Have you tried some other upside-down moves? You could work on a CKR or CAR, which also took me a while to get (control in those moves is a B*tch when you don’t have the abs to do it! Great workout for your core!), and then you can work on handstands and variations, all that fun stuff! Lots of spins to spin and perfect, lots of strength moves that don’t require going upside down (like a split grip leg lift?) and all of those will get you closer to a basic invert… even if you don’t think they will.
If you really want pain, too, you could work on a teddy hold. Get you used to it before you try your Scorpio/Gemini 😉 lol -
I agree with the others. I am proof that inverting too soon is a bad idea, although I didn’t know that was the problem at the time. I thought that because I could throw myself into it and catch the pole with my foot or leg that I was fine, but I can think of at least three occasions where inverting like that caused me to pull a muscle somewhere near my scapula.
Don’t get discouraged. I had zero strength when I began this journey, and it took six months before I could even climb the pole! lilred’s suggestion of the pole tucks/leg lifts will totally get you where you want to be.
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