[Cinara]

I have the exact problem with my left hip, and I would advise not doing what I did, which was over-stretching while saying to myself "Come on, you bitch, you'll never be good unless you get this split flat" and then stretching some more.

In my case, I've sprained and strained just about everything in my hip (seriously, it's tight from just above my knee up into my abdomen and back around to my glutes) plus I have some bursitis. There are a lot of muscles in the pelvis and many of them can be get tight. Plus some can "catch" on the bony prominences of the pelvis and femur, especially when tight, and that might be what you're feeling.

I've also heard that adductor muscles (the ones you stretch in a side split) don't respond that well to excessive stretching and you need to take it easy with them. 

I don't want to give specific advice since I'm not qualified, but physio has worked quite well for me. I've been taking NSAIDs, using heat packs, gently stretching hip flexors and gluteals, doing pelvis stabilising exercises, getting physio massages plus dry needling, and avoiding stetching my side splits until I recover. Wow, I'm doing a lot. 

So maybe get it checked out now, before you end up with a crazy all day regimen like I have at the moment 🙂

[Cinara]

I can't think of anything else to add on the tuck invert technique, but with the pain thing, I've had that too, and I think it is a strength thing, but not one you can improve by just keeping on doing the same thing and hoping the pain will go away.

Any time you invert, try to come down either by going into a handstand first, or else just sliding down the pole. (Being able to just slide down the pole in any position is actually a great safety skill to have in general, in case you manage to somehow get all tangled up on a spinny pole going way too fast like I have done a few times :p) Never just drop your feet back down, because sharp twingy pain is a warning sign.

As you gain strength you may be able to drop your feet back down, but even then you need to keep your feet pointing at the ceiling as long as possible and make it really slow and controlled. I've been poling for a year, and only just got the strength to do this.

If you're falling before you even get up to the pole, maybe just stick with the invert you can do for awhile until it gets more soild and then come back to the tuck.

Good luck!

[Cinara]

Lol, why is the word 'but' apparently part of the link? I just dont speak computer :p

[Cinara]

I know what you mean. I hate getting up on the pole only to come back down. I just find it too tiring. I don't know if you know wikipole ( http://www.triagedesign.co.uk/wikipole/index.php5?title=Main_Page&nbsp😉 but that can help with move names, or else I can try some alternates. The joy of being semi-self-taught is that I speak Veena, YouTube, Bobbi's, Wikipole and a little bit of Vertical Dance with varying degrees of fluency. I think I've just made up my own naming system at this point.

Good luck with the showcase! xx

[Cinara]

Star to flipped gemini

Butterfly into scorpio is one of my favourites. Here are some others I like to do.

Cupid or marley, holly drop into scorpio

Scorpio gemini switches (and you can chuck an inverted thigh hold in there too)

Scorpio to scorpio switch looks awesome if you can pull it off

Cross ankle/knee release, bow and arrow, lunchbox or dangerous brian

Brass monkey to eros

Cross ankle release to twisted grip aysha

I love combos. If I go to all the effort of inverting on the pole I like to do a few different things to make it worth my while 🙂

[Cinara]

If it helps, I'm at an intermediate/advanced level (working on aysha, holly drop, dove, shoulder mount) and still have a lot of problem with split grips. I only just learned carousel, for instance. So some of the problem might just be that split grips are hard. (Of course I fully expect some people will come along and say they have no problem with split grip, but do with x other grip. In which case I'll revise to split grips are hard for some people.)

I can tell you, when I do a chair spin with a split grip it barely spins at all. Boomerang and carousel do spin, but I have to put a bit of momentum into them. So I think it's just practice, and never mistaking the split grip for an easy grip 🙂

[Cinara]

Congrats! Straight edge/ aysha seems to be a real milestone move. Good luck on the handspring and cartwheel mounts – I'm working on them too, and look forward to the video when you finally get them 🙂

[Cinara]

I am so sorry about your marriage. It's horrible that some small-minded people are trying to make you feel dirty for doing something you love, and that's it's affecting your family life. 

Having said that, I respectfully disagree with trying to eliminate all association with female sexuality from poledancing, because the problem is not really that poledancing is open and sometimes brash about it, the problem is that society tries to tell women that they should be ashamed of their bodies, their activities, and their sexuality.

Why is it that there is a stigma for women who strip, but not nearly as much judgement of the men who go to strip clubs? What is inherently wrong with sex or the female body? 

I do agree that making poledancing more asexual would make life easier for all of us. Like you say, a lot of people are small minded. These people would do anything to try to make us women feel bad about ourselves and try to dictate what we can and can't do with our bodies. But by educating the world on how poledancing is not about stripping or sexuality, it just reinforces the view that there is something wrong with female sexuality, and I know you don't believe that, because you respect women who strip and enjoy sexy dancing. We have no reason to be ashamed.  

Removing sexuality from poledancing would be good for poledancers in the short term, but bad for women in the long run. Of course, it's easy for me to say this, because I live in Australia, where the conservative fringe is far less vocal and powerful (and by conservative I mean in terms of views of women and sex, not necessarily politically). Plus, I have not been affected personally by this stigma, so it is easier for me to take the feminist stance. For other women, the decision to openly embrace their sexuality is far more difficult, and also far more courageous, and I would never begrudge a woman who chose to downplay her sexuality for her own safety and/or mental health.

I hope that your husband can learn to accept that you are doing something that makes you feel happy, and love you for it.  And I hope that your sons grow up to learn that all women are free to make choices about their own bodies, and all are worthy of respect, whether they are not overtly sexual, or strip for money.

You have my admiration for being brave enough to do something you enjoy in an environment that is not supportive of it. If downplaying the sexual side of poledancing would make life easier for you personally, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, all of us choose to dance in whatever way we want. But I hope that one day no woman will have to be ashamed to be true to herself. The only way poledancing is ever dirty is if you use a brass pole and it makes your hands all green 🙂

I wish you a lot of love and good luck for the future.

[Cinara]

Another thing that helped me was making sure my shorts were short enough, so I could get good grip with the fleshiest part of the top of my thighs. Also when I started out I thought the pole was just too slippery, but then I realised that I just needed to squeeze a lot harder all the way along my legs. Focus on squeezing from the top of your legs to the bottom. If anything it will build your strength.

[Cinara]

Thanks guys, it looks like I'm just going to have to suck it up and film a lot of dancing. I'll keep practicing, use nice slow movements, cover the mirror, stay on my toes, relax my body, practice some more and then practice some more. I'll definitely have a hunt around for S factor. I went through a few of the beginner lessons last night and it was very helpful – especially the leg kicks video, it was like "Aha! That's why everyone else's leg kicks look sexier than mine!

I'll check out Leigh Ann's video too – always nice to find someone else to admire on YouTube. I might have to postpone my hair flicks for a few days though, because I got rear ended yesterday, and hurt my neck, so now is probably the perfect time to be focussing on nice, slow, smooth dancing.

Once I'm happy I'll post a video to show you how I'm going.

[Cinara]

I've just started at Bobbi's this year, so I've seen your Miss Pole performance on the DVD 🙂 Very awesome. I've been at another pole studio, and also self-taught a little. I'll have to give dry hands a go.

[Cinara]

Ooh thanks for the shaving cream + Dry Hands tip. Do you think Tite Grip would work instead of Dry Hands? I'll give it a go to get through this awful Perth weather 🙂

[Cinara]

Ouchies! I've had the same thing where it hurt right along the ulna (the bone that is on the little finger side, not the thumb side). It hurt mostly when I released my grip from things like the cradle and boomerang, basically anything where my weight was supported on my hand with my fingers pointed down. With me, even though the pain was along the bone, the problem was actually the muscle underneath, and the pain was just referred to the bone.

Is that similar to what's happening for you? If not, from what I've read forearm pain and injuries are some of the most common for poledancers. You're supporting your weight with your arms, and gripping onto the pole tightly, so it's something your arms aren't used to doing in everyday life. It's very easy to strain the muscles by suddenly demanding more form them than they're used to.

What worked for me was going to the physio to get it checked out and release the muscle a little, avoiding split grip tricks for awhile, and going back to basics with the cradle and completely relearning it. It turns out I was taught some bad technique at a pole studio, but Veena's lesson fixed it right up.

So yeah, get it checked out by a doctor/physio/shaman/whoever, because I have absolutely no qualification to give you any help beyond general waffling, and just go easy on your arms while they get used to the pole. 🙂

[Cinara]

Yaaaayyyy! Well done! I just got the superman last night. What worked for me was banging my head against the pole, going "come on, you can DO this!" and then resolving to get into the damn thing whether I ripped all the skin off my legs or not. And then I did with no skin rippage. So possibly not the most conventional technique.

I went back to Veena's intermediate lessons to relearn the cradle, and now I'm very close to getting into a butterfly from it. Once the weather calms down a bit (it's been over 90 every day for a month) and my hands aren't so sweaty, I should have the confidence to do it. Can't wait to get back to ayshas and bow and arrow without having my hands sliiiiiide down the pole.

[Cinara]

https://www.studioveena.com/users/view/4d437ca8-de10-4989-87a6-046c0ac37250, we're pole twins! I could have written your post, because I have trouble with the two same skills. I'm very close with the superman finally (thanks, Veena), but the cradle to butterfly has actually reduced me to tears. See, I heard a rumour that you can't get into advanced at my pole studio if you can't do it, and kind of catastrophised it into "If I can't cradle into butterfly I can't do advanced lessons, and I'll never be a pole dancer and my life is meaningless!" But then I got some perspective.

The problem is, I learnt the cradle at a diffferent pole studio and got taught with some bad technique (top arm straight, body away from the pole) which put crazy pressure on a tiny muscle in my forearm, and now I've had to take a break from anything upright with a split grip for months while it slowly heals. Hopefully with healing + good technique I'll be able to hook my leg on the pole, and then start working on the actual hard part of the move.

Bizarrely I got marley and CAR very quickly, but am nowhere near knee hold.