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Too tall and too heavy?
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I couldn’t agree more with clmeverhart about the physics aspect. I’m sure you’re no stranger to that phenomenon! But in the gym, it’s not like you’re really swinging weights around, out at the edge of your levers (limbs), while in pole, your hands will need to learn to hold much more than 160 pounds…once momentum and distance get ahold of your long body, you are generating a lot more force pulling away from the pole than just your normal weight and how gravity affects it in an up-and-down exercise. You’ll need a lot more strength than someone 5’3″ to hold spins, strength holds, etc. So be patient patient patient! Good luck!
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I have been amazed and the variety of body types I have seen doing incredible things on the pole! (And in and around the pole, too.) There are so many things you can do on the pole while you build your strength up to where you want it to be. Check ny videos with Shaina Cruea. I took a class with her in NYC at Body and Pole – I’m 5’9″ and she was quite a bit taller than me. Her modeling bio claims 6’0″ and 149 pounds. She is at least that tall, I’d say. 2014 Pro champ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3Wo_axmH7U
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RkhPXQuEn0 and another.
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Lots of men pole too who are 6ft plus and I’m sure in the 200 plus range. No reason a woman who is tall can’t do it but a man can
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Men naturally have nearly twice the upper body musculature and strength ability as women.
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I guess I’ve just seen so many body types that can pole so I don’t put limitations on it. tall, skinny, fat, disabled, you name it. I hate that we put limitations on ourselves – it’s bullshit. It’s something we learn from others . We use it as an excuse to not let ourselves shine. also, not all men are strong like we would like to think. There’s no reason why a woman cAnt develop enough strength to support her body in pole dance. Being permanently disabled myself I know it is very possible to build strength and overcome obstacles. I follow a woman on Facebook with cerebral palsy who has paralysis on one side of her body and she’s a more advanced poler than I am. There are women in their 60’s with double hip replacements and numerous spinal fusions who are stronger polers than a lot of us here on this thread. We all need to quit judging ourselves because we don’t fit a category / limitation that exists in our minds. You just do what you can do and see what happens. And if you keep doing it and working through the struggles then something great might happen.
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Suzanna- just keep working at it and you may surprise yourself at what you can do. You don’t have to be a tiny petite gymnast to do pole. Pole can be very hard , yes. But there is so much that is possible. The hard part is being ok with being bad at it for a while. But along the way you will achieve goals left and right. You will be so happy with every achievement. You will get blissfully lost in the journey and may not even care about your first goal of one handed spins. I have spinal cord damage so grip strength has been a challenge. I still can’t do one hand spins but I can shoulder mount, Ayesha, jade, Allegra, you name it. Believe me, I’ve achieved so much I don’t care about not doing one handed spins. But it is likely you will be doing one handed spins. It just doesn’t always happen in the time frame you st for yourself, but then again it might. Just ,I’ve forward and have fun and see what happens 🙂
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Wow, thanks for posting the Shaina Cruea videos, Tango. It is nice for me to see what a tall, solid body can do. Just an inspiration. Visualization. I know I need to be patient, and create my own style and all that, but it is still nice to see a tall, built body in action, especially because it is so few of us out there.
Phoenix Hunter, thanks for your input. You have overcome some serious obstacles and are truly inspiring. You are right about the limitations we set on ourselves. Who know when it started, maybe my parents told me something when I was young, that I cannot do, and boom, maybe it became a belief. I have overcome many such “limitations” in sports and life, so I know what is possible. Thank you for the reminder not to put them on myself here with the pole 🙂
Maybe the pole fooled me a bit, it looks so easy, graceful and beautiful. But I forgot that behind any mastery hides thousands and thousands of practice hours. The more of a “master”, the easier it looks.
I am obsessively determined, so I know I am not going to give up, and I’ll keep practicing. It is nice to hear all your experiences, and Makasha, yes, patience, patience, patience… I forget that sometimes. But I can be impatiently patient 🙂
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Shaina is gorgeous! One of my favorite pole dancers! I love those long legs!!! They look beautiful with pole 🙂
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I’m 5’5′ 135. Took me 1 year of doing pole 1-2 times a week to be able to do reverse grabs and one handed pole stuff consistently. I cross train at the gym too and nothing in the gym replicates what happens on the pole, I’ve found. After two years I barely have the grip strength to do the reverse grab transition on spin pole (not sure what it’s called). Hang in there! Think Shaina Creau!!
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Briwi, thanks… you are so right, the gym cannot do what the pole does. I have been working there on doing dead hang off a bar, just to do extra grip strengthening. Both arms and one arm. Then different grip machine etc… and something non-pole specific, I work on my booty to get it round and perky (as with age, the gravity does horrible things, haha). Now it is working against me because I have to drag that booty around the pole 🙂 but that’s a good problem 👠Thanks for sharing your story!
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It’s great to train your grip in various ways but you’ll probably also feel faster progress if you work on strengthening your lats and shoulders working towards being able to do pull ups. If you can’t do one pull up try starting out with negatives. If you can’t do one negative pull up try chin ups, and if you can’t do those focus on being able to do horiztontal rows and pushups with good form for 3 sets of 10 reps.
The body weight fitness community on reddit is a really good source of info for stuff like this.
And of course there’s your core strength to work on too!
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Wibberoo, thanks! I can now do two pull-ups (the easier way, with palms facing me). I was not able to do any a few weeks ago. Feeling like my pole-strength is getting better. Now I need to start working on the pull-ups with palms facing away. 🙂
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