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Grip Aids
Unfortunately, the closest studio to me is 2 hours away from me, my cousin goes to a studio and told me they won’t allow them to use any grip aids. My question is, Do you guys think using grip aids it is going to hurt you in the long run? My hands get really sweaty and I feel that without a grip aid I can’t do much. I’m still looking for that amazing grip aid, everything I’ve tried so far sucks. Thank you.
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8 Replies
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What is their reasoning for not allowing grip aids? I think grip aids have been invaluable for me as a beginner because they help me feel safer.
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Grip aids don’t hurt your progress. I would quit that studio. Fuck them. If I’m paying money for lessons and feel I need grip aid so I don’t fall and bust my ass then I don’t want them telling me I can’t. There’s no magic grip aid, you just have to experiment. Nothing is perfect but many will help.
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Sorry for the language – I think this one just really got to me because I struggle with excessive sweat and it is downright dangerous and discouraging if I wasn’t allowed to use grip aid. I had people tell me to not become dependent on dry hands , etc and that way sweating would get better. I’ve been poking for 3 years and for me it has. It improved. I sweated a lot before pole just everyday- why would it stop now? For many it does improve because their sweating is usually nerves and weak grip. But for others, the starting doesn’t stop. I would have quit if I wasn’t able to use something for sweat. Different grip AIDS work for different conditions and skin types. It really depends on if your slipping from excessive sweat or is your skin too dry and not grippy. And what body parts are your concern. Like if your hands are sweaty or your legs are too dry, etc. I just can’t believe a studio would enforce that. I think it’s easy for people who don’t need grip aid to tell others not to use it.
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Her instructor said it’ll her in the long run because you’ll become dependent on it, and it also break the pole. My hands get extremely sweaty and it’s not because I’m nervous or anything, they are always sweating. I tried dry hands and had to keep reapplying it since I sweat so much, and itac was not good either. 🙁
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Yes my hands sweat all the time too. And not using a grip aid just isn’t an option for me. Some things that work , not perfectly, but seem to help are the following: apply tite grip 1 hour before poling, then 30 minutes before poling and using dry hands while I pole. It’s not perfect and it takes some strategy but it has been one of my best methods so far. Also mighty grip gloves work pretty well. There are some draw backs- the gloves are just annoying to wear sometimes but they work when nothing else does. You will still need to wear dry hAnds underneath the gloves to reduce sweating. Drysol is a prescription antiperspirant – sometimes it makes my hands so dry that I have no grip. It must be applied nightly and you need a prescription for it. These are the things that have worked best for my hands. I do have hyperhidrosis and have had it since I was about 11 years old so my case is pretty extreme. I keep all these grip methods because at different times different things will work better. Grips aids will not break your pole. And I hate that people will tell me that using a grip aid will make you dependent on it. If you don’t sweat and don’t need a grip aid you won’t use it. If you sweat bad and need a grip aid but don’t use it you will either fall and hurt yourself or you will quit poling because it is impossible for you. You do have to kind of accept that while training you are probably gonna need to reapply grip and wipe the pole several times. It will become possible to use grip in a way that you can eventually do a whole routine or performance. But this will probably not be a practical expectation for everyday pole practice. You will just need to experiment and find what works best. Itac is not meant for sweat. It is a wax and melts , it’s a terrible mixture with sweat and will make you more slippery. 🙁 some people like dirty girl poltice. However you will still need to use a product like dry hands with it. It is an antiperspirant but will leave your hands smooth. You need the dry hands to grip the pole. Both dirty girl poletice and tite grip are Antiperspirants that make dry hands more effective and last longer. Neither dirty girl poletice or tite grip were good when I used them alone. They minimized sweat but make my hands not grippy. I didn’t find dirty girl poletice to be very effective . I liked tite grip better. Also I ordered from dirty girl poletice and never received my order and never got a reply when I tried to reach out to them a few times about my order. So don’t order it directly from them if you do buy it. Get it from someone else like mighty grip. Mighty grip has great customer service. Try a few things and see what works. Also wipe your pole with alcohol while you pole if you are not already doing that. Hopefully you find something that works for you.
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I use grip aids a lot – I suffer from permanently sweaty hands, not just from nerves and poling. I’m in the UK and use a deoderant called “driclor”. Basically it blocks your sweat glands so you don’t sweat. I put it on my hands before bed, I need to reapply once a week. I’m guessing the instructor doesn’t want grip aid on the poles (which makes me wonder if they get cleaned…) so maybe try that. Some people just have unfortunately sweaty problems and need the extra help, it’s not fair to struggle and get left behind when your problems can be solved with something simple like grip aid.
I use driclor, and tite grip like pheonix said, and sometimes dry hands if its a particularly sweaty day!
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My boyfriend has extremely sweaty hands and I have super dry skin (to the point where I sometimes can’t get any grip). We both use a grip aid that my friend who poles in Florida (where it’s super humid all the time) recommended called Stunt Grip. It’s a rosin-based grip aid that is actually activated by liquid. It goes on like a powder, feels a little like Dry Hands (sorta chalky) when you put it on, but when your hands get sweaty, it turns sticky like iTac. When I’m trying something that needs a whole lotta stick, I jump-start it with a teeny spritz of alcohol (but only when I don’t plan on doing spins). It comes off with any kind of lotion. We found that the liquid activation really helped my boyfriend (though there are days where he still sweats through it, so it has its limits). Also, it doesn’t seem to leave any residue on the pole (I use it frequently on my pole and it doesn’t leave sticky patches the way iTac sometimes leaves behind). You can order it directly from Stunt Grip’s website.
I hope that helps! I understand why some teachers discourage a reliance on grip aids in order to build hand strength (I got a little reliant on grip aids when I started doing more difficult tricks and realized my left hand is too weak to do one-handed spins now), but I think most students realize when they hit a wall with hand strength and work on it. Having a temporarily wimpy hand is way better than slipping and falling off a pole! No one should ban you from doing a sport in the manner you feel is safest for you. Best of luck!
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If I were you, I wouldn’t carry my money to that studio, or then I would just use it and see what happens. My palms sweat always a lot, but on the other hand my body is moisture and grips very well to the pole. I use grip aids on my palms, kneepits, elbow pits, and footsoles. I wouldn’t progress without the grip aids, so I use them all the time. Its not about being weak, sweating comes from the nervous system. Good strength helps, but it doesn’t remove the basic sweating.
Liquid chalk (or those magnesium chalk bars that gymnasts use) has been best for me. It makes hands white, but it works 🙂 I sometimes use the dirty girl politice beforehand and the apply the chalk later. Dry hands is ok, but I have to apply it often.
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