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Grips
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Ok, I will call them. Update you tomorrow. OH I HOPE I don’t have to take that whole pole down again. Wait, are they an Australian company? If so, I can call them now… Anyway, I will leave you in a soap-opera suspense to let you know what I have to do! And I will try static, even though I can’t even get around once on a static! Hahaha!
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Hey Lazarenka!
I just want to say this: The Art of Pole DVD’s (By Jamilla DeVille) are fantastic, but you should definitely be working on the very first one! The second follows up on the skills you learn in the first, and they both give a lot of very important conditioning moves that are even still difficult for me!
However, Felix Cane’s DVDs are… not quite so “beginner.” I have them, I am a HUGE fan of Felix, but I don’t think the moves she considers to be “beginner” moves are very achievable by someone at the beginner level without a dance background. Felix had grown up dancing, and had a huge leg up on pole- she won the Australian Pole competition six months after starting pole. So… I wouldn’t necessarily listen to her progressions!Most other pole DVD’s are like Felix’s, and have wildly unrealistic ideas of what a beginner can do. The Polepeople DVD’s (sometimes also called The Art of Poledancing) are like this, as in the “beginner to intermediate” DVD, their first one, includes things like inversions and very difficult spins.
I love Jamilla’s lessons, and I would say that they are on-par with the ones here on SV. They aren’t evolving like Veena’s, but they are clear and strong, and don’t move too quickly, and they have great instruction.
I hope your pole gets figured out so you don’t have to deal with those screws! And take your time with pole dancing. You’ll get there, and it’ll be so much better to get there when you’re strong enough!
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@Phoenix yep, I put one screw in back to front and it didn’t go in properly either and sat just flush with the pole.
I was very lucky to get it out using superglue and a toothpick to help me turn it to get it back out again.
Thank god I didn’t tighten it any further or I would never have been able to get it out.
Hopefully these ones won’t need to be drilled out but they *definitely* need to be fixed. -
I am definitely on the first DVD, just the second lesson! I should be progressing past that!!
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Ok, well they don’t open until 9 a.m. So, I should just go to bed and try not to obsess about it until morning!!! I have my master’s degree, but the idea of having to deconstruct this pole makes me want to cry. I have a feeling that I will be having a break-down on my floor, rocking back and forth, repeating some sort of mantra like “screws should face in… screws should face in….” ANYWAY, I think it’s time for me to get to bed!!
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haha! i hear ya! it took 3 of us to put my friend’s pole back up. it wasnt hard… i just dont know..it seems like each of us had information that we used together but if any of us had tried to do it alone we would have been in tears. haha! just watch the assembly video tomorrow. take your time putting it up. do it in sections and take breaks. seriously. it helps. once you really understand how your pole works you wont have any difficulties with taking it apart in the future. good luck!
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“I am definitely on the first DVD, just the second lesson! I should be progressing past that!!”
You WILL do so. Eventually!
Please remember that a lot of people don’t even invert in the first few months of pole dancing! I hear, usually, that most people begin to work on spins around the second or third month, and then on inversions around the sixth month. PLEASE take your time with this!
I know how super exciting it can be to get lots of moves, to feel the thrill of getting a new move, to feel like you “should” be feeling stronger, but Pole dancing uses a lot more muscles, and a lot of different skills, than almost any other sport.For reference, I’ve been poling for 6 years, and I’m not really strong enough to invert. I’ve had my ups and downs, I’ve had my times off, but I am not unhappy. I love pole dancing, and I progress at my own pace! I’ve been doing more recently, and I hope to start properly inverting by the end of the year… but, seriously? These things take time for everyone.
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LOL when I put my pole up I didn’t realise I could wind it up to the ceiling without having to turn the base, so I was trying to lift the pole up and adjust it omg I was swearing and sweating and almost destroying my arms trying to hold the weight AND balance the pole… smdh
Then I realised what they mean my bottom loading hahaha
But yeah, I definitely had trouble and wouldn’t want to have to do it again 😉 -
Everyone has such lovely advice and I just wanted to tack on a bit as someone who has done Art of Pole, Felix Cane’s DVDs, as well as the lessons on SV. In my opinion, SV is hands down the best way to start poling. Jamillas DVDs are second as they are clear and detailed as well as provide good conditioning exercises, and Felix’s DVDs are amazing for stylistic adjustments and attention to detail after you get a good handle on some of the tricks (she has a very specific style which is very influenced by her training as a ballet dancer, as mentioned above). Once you get your pole up maybe check out Veenas lessons, she does a free three day trial and you can get an idea of how she lays out each lesson as well as overall progression. There just isn’t the same amount of time allotted in a DVD set to adequately address the minutiae of injury prevention or provide comparable guidance for really long term progression into the more advanced tricks. Again, not to say those DVDs aren’t fantastic cuz I bought them too and learned something from all of them, but I would venture to say they are better as a learning supplement vs Veenas lessons can be used as a standalone training program.
Also agree with everyone about spin pole being harder. You said you have good grip from playing tennis, and that’s likely why you screech to a halt on static. I have a strong grip from working as a massage therapist and encountered the same problem at first (much to the bewilderment of almost any poler I came across at the time). It is just a learning curve and as you get more confident and familiar with the pole your grip will likely loosen up naturally. Try just holding the pole with one hand and walking around it on static and play around with what I call “playground spins” where you literally just let your arm take a bit of your weight while you walk around it. This gives you the feel for what it’s like for your hand to be loose around the pole while still maintaining good contact. And as the other girls mentioned, holding yourself away from the pole in split grip is a move that requires deceptively more muscle recruitment than grip strength. It is not a beginner move even though it is often taught as such. So many polers experience forearm injuries because of this grip being taught so early, myself included. Patience is a virtue in pole and there is something to enjoy at every stage of learning, so try and enjoy it!
Comparing progress and thinking about where you “should” be is such an easy trap that I think we ALL fall into sometimes but everyone progresses at different speeds and there is no concrete timeline for when is the right amount of time to land a trick. Sasja Lee, a damn PROFESSIONAL pole dancer, just posted on Instagram that Cupid (an arguably intermediate to advanced intermediate trick) is her nemesis move and she still struggles with it. And she’s mindblowingly amazing. AND she still feels like she struggles on spin mode (I say feels cuz it sure as hell doesn’t look like it o_O). Everyone is seriously so so different, and it’s cliche but it’s all about the journey, cuz there is absolutely no destination.
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I know you feel frustrated with your current progression, but please please don’t feel like you *should* be at any given trick or lesson or level as defined by whatever lessons you’re using! I work at a strip club and I’m ALL about the pole and my stage show, I always have been, I’ve always worked at least three nights a week, so I get a hell of a lot of pole time – and it still took me a year to invert! And you bet that was a sh**ty invert, with me barely catching the pole with my leg and hauling my butt up =P
In pole dance you’re just working with your own body (and lifting/spinning/etc. your own body weight) and a pole – and everybody’s body weight is proportioned differently through various heights and shapes, varying ratios of fat to muscle, etc. Everyone’s body is SO different, and that affects each pole dancer’s strengths and weaknesses so much. There really is no saying where any given pole dancer *should* be in regards to what she/he is working on, as long as she/he isn’t pushing her/his body too hard. Also, it can take a while to really strengthen the muscles you’re using for any given spin or trick. Don’t be hard on yourself if you’re moving more slowly than you initially expected. This stuff takes a lot of strength and body awareness – including the beginner spins. Take a minute to think about and be proud of what you can do right now, because what you can do right now is amazing 🙂 You will get to where you want to be, but don’t let your focus on that frustrate you too much and take away from your joy in what you can do right now!
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Baby Dragon exactly! Pole work is a lot harder than most people realise, it takes enormous strength, coordination, skill and flexibility to do most moves and, unless you do work in a club or have some sort of gymnastic/dance background most of the moves are going to be completely alien to you.
You have to give yourself time because trying to rush ahead often leads to injury, especially things like elbows and shoulders and they are the sort of niggling injury that may never fully heal.
Take it easy, remember it’s not a race, it’s about slowing things down and enjoying each step of the journey 🙂 -
@skramamme I agree with what everyone is saying about spin vs static, We dont even do spin mode at our studio until you can do a variety of spins, climbs, and holds on static. Which takes some people months. I am commenting about the screws. I can see your problem, no need to deconstruct, no need to call xpole. Yay! This is hard to explain, so feel free to ask questions. In the photo you posted, I can see on the second to bottom piece of the pole (not the base or that bottom one inch part where the spin pole screws are, buth the next 4-6 inch segment) There is a line. There is only one line, so look all the way around until you find it. On the next part up (that 6 inch segment directly below the screws that are sticking out) there is a small keyhole slit at the base. I can see both in the photo you posted. These NEED to line up, or else the screws will a) not screw in all the way like yours and B) damage the threads that allow you to put the pole up and down. let me know if that doesnt make sense!
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Oops, I tagged the wrong person I menat @lazarenka
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jsheridan no worries 🙂 I’m glad you know what to suggest about the screws, all I know is it looks painful the way it is 0_o
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Wow. Thanks for all the GREAT responses! Yeah, I had a construction worker put up my pole… so you can see my reluctance on taking my 12 foot pole down and reconstruct it by myself. I need to get myself a boyfriend! I tried to call X Pole and they directed me to get online and watch the construction video. I will figure it out. I am about to post a nice pic of my scars.
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