[MilienElayne]

I am always bruised, scratched, burnt, sore, overtired or something when I go to pole (otherwise I never would, I am a klutz). I hate that piercings (except ears) get rejected by my body…but if I got a body piercing and poled with it, with my luck something horrific would happen.

Bandaids always come right off. I use a bandaid or a dressing and then tape. A LOT of that papery surgical tape over the top well beyond the bandaid area. Plastic sticks to the pole and doesn’t want to let go and fabric tape edges always stick to the pole and rip off. I have had to tape up my aerial rope burns so they don’t rip open on pole or other aerial apparatus in public. At home I don’t care (I’m a tough cookie) because it’s just me and my pole. Papery tape should be applied right before going on the pole so the edges aren’t rolled up from wear already. It will stick to some dressings and will take the dressing off with it when you peel it off when you’re done, so make sure if it’s something that needs to be dressed still that you have a replacement. Don’t leave paper tape on to shower or wear one set for more than a day or it will start to stink. I haven’t had problems, but tape can potentially make for slippage on pole if it’s on a contact point.

I’d also cover up or take out exposed piercings because the jewellery can scratch up the pole!

[MilienElayne]

Veena! Wedgies drive me insane! I am constantly getting them too. I have to wear undies with really tight leg bands or they ride all the way up (I have no butt to stop them). Does anyone know how to stop front wedgies, btw? Back wedgies I’m not too fussed about (was that tmi?), sometimes they’re deliberate with hotpants, right? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_razz.gif I always have to adjust my bra straps though. I am morbidly afraid of falling out.

Oh! I totally forgot about bad filming habits! I check what I’ve just done a LOT. I have see how to make the next attempt better… or so I tell myself, but I’m probably stalling. If my camera is not filming, I’m not poling! I have no mirrors and just HAVE to catch any cool little extras or new combos I fall into and always want to catch my falls and see my injuries as they happen.

I change my music all the time too. My mood can change mid-song, or the moves I’m practicing need something different.

I need an hour and a half or more too! Otherwise I feel like I haven’t gotten my fix.

Az, I think your pole prep, warm ups and stretches are good for you! Those lips certainly need hydrating and your body will thank you for the good warmup and the stretches after. I am SO bad and barely ever warm up and stretch properly at home on my own.

I’ve only just started making myself dance to a full song…actually dance, not just do a little warm up wiggle for half a song and then jump into trick trick trick and I’ll skip cool down and stretching and sit down to watch, edit and catalogue my footage straight after… or even mid-session and then I’ll jump up again after a little inspiration and go for more tricks.

Sometimes I’ll EAT right before or in the middle of a pole session. I ate an icecream right before my last spin practice. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_r.gif . Lol, not really, but I felt a tad gross.

Sometimes I’ll also repeat one trick over and over and over and OVER until I am totally frustrated with it or physically can’t do it properly anymore.

I am so addicted to pole lately that if I am not on a pole for a good while every day, I get anxious and grumpy and it’s all I can think about. At the moment I take 3 pole classes a week and just had my last 2hr once-a-week aerials class ( https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cry.gif ) and then I’d practice at home two days and take one day for rest. But this week… I feel like I need two sessions a day on a pole every single day (and I feel jittery if my body says no, I need to rest right now. I listen to it well, I love my body, but I do resent it)…and classes: I love having two back to back (which I used to have once a week but can only get on a Sunday this term which SHOULD be my rest day, but I am considering taking them in addition to the 3 classes a week I am already doing) and would adore three back to back, but my classes don’t match up like that. Pole is becoming a habit in itself… a really really big one. I write and read over moves and plan what I’m going to do in my practices and go over my performance routine in my head when I am on the train and bus instead of reading a book like a normal person. I plan my meals, the housework and errands and my social life around when I ‘need’ to pole.

The studio where I take classes just announced Pole Camp where we’re poling in classes (with breaks) from 10am to 6pm! Guess who jumped RIGHT on that bandwagon with LOTS of gusto?! My fidgets are going to get embarrassing there if I can’t break them, but I think instructors and students of pole are the only people who can understand…lol.

Ok, maybe I share TOO much.

[MilienElayne]

That is so cute! I’m no song writer though https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_razz.gif

[MilienElayne]

Knee hold on my to-get list, but it’s way at the bottom because I bruise up my entire knee SO badly whenever I’ve tried it before. I bruise my knees just doing very basic floor work and from dropping into the splits, so having it jammed into the pole is 50 times worse. I am in total awe of you working through that pain to get this! You must have good posture too https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

[MilienElayne]

Here’s one vid: http://aerialdanceclasses.com/#/beginner-fabric-3/4538841525

[MilienElayne]

Just found this: http://aerialdanceclasses.com/

There are some vids from this site on youtube to advertise it. Not actually in as a member yet, not sure how it works, but I will let you guys know! Just fell head over heels in love with lyra in my last beginner aerials class when I tried it for the first time. Feel so natural!

[MilienElayne]

You could always check out silks performances on YouTube. That’s how I started learning pole before I found more comprehensive sites (like this one). There’s also a series of French books with lovely pictures illustrating moves for a few different apparatus. The ones I’ve found so far are silks, ropes, static trapeze and hoop.

[MilienElayne]

You flew into the wall?! That would have been awesome to catch in video! l’m weird and think pole falls, bloopers and injuries are cool as, but I also like having my blood taken and am an adrenaline junkie, so maybe that’s just me. Hope it didn’t hurt too much. I don’t know about sizing. I like mine tight and splitting is rare, apparantly, but I think mine were too small for me or my hands are just freakishly proportioned – skinny but large? Lol.

[MilienElayne]

Thanks ladies for replying!

I lose my mind when my hair is out. I forget how to do things I’ve done a million times…it’s like having my hair out puts my balance off and lets my mind ooze out of my skull. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

Walking around the pole can be a good thing. It builds momentum, helps you catch your breath, stalls for time, keeps you warm and it can look really good cause you can make it sexy https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

I’m consciously trying really hard not to fidget right now! For the most part it’s not working…but getting there. It’s less of ability and doubt anxiety now for me as my pole moves are getting better and more performance anxiety. I am practicing dancing to a whole song with NO FIDGETTING. Ok, so that makes me forget to put tricks in there and I stall for time with floor work and dance moves that look no good on me as I have no butt to shake, but I CAN do it. I am also forcing myself to trust my grip and work out when sweaty is TOO sweaty for safety and when I can just work through it. You can work through it! There’s always sweat. No pro is sweatless! (Or are they? Zen state, anyone? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_razz.gif) With aerial chopper I really had a huge mental block to work through because of my (mental!) grip issues and hand wiping up-pole fidgets. Now I just don’t think about it and make myself flip straight over even at the top of really tall poles. Chopper is safe, or so I tell myself. I’ve done it over and over. I do it everyday. If my hands slip, I won’t plummet and if I did freakishly lose all hand grip completely and couldn’t just slide down I could catch with my legs. These things I have to tell myself sometimes with old moves and constantly with my new ones. Exude confidence and you’ll start believing it yourself. And now I can do them. Even if there’s a little sweat on my hands I slip maybe an inch and grip tighter and the next bit of pole is drier and I stick somehow and just keep moving. I don’t know how, and can’t give blow by blow tips… but working through mental blocks like these do make me realise how much I can actually do and then it builds from there. You get these moves you never thought you could and the little things don’t matter anymore. I’m still freaking out with extended butterfly (though I am strong enough), need to use grip product for handspring attempts and am nowhere near split grip moves like pencils and jacknifes because they’re new and my grip suffers because I over think it. I can’t get over how some people on YouTube and here hold moves perfectly when they’re so obviously slipping slowly down the pole… I’d freak out! Shouldermounts I am still excessively wiping and rosining my hands and shoulders up… *sigh*

I did rely on gloves heavily for a few weeks. But I have split every pair of gloves I’ve had so far. With unsplit pairs I get frustrated because they tend to slip on my hands if I change my grip mid move (like jamilla to butterfly and jamilla to hero…hero is my glove splitter move). This might be a fit issue, but I’ve tried their different sizes. They’re good for spin mode where you place your hand and keep it there til you lift it off and replace it…and for one trick at a time on static where you’re stationary holding a pose, but for combos and especially moves where your hand has to slide, they suck. I haven’t even attempted static spins with them. I have similar issues with all other grip products though – they’re good for some things, and not for others. I’ve only tried the matt gloves, not the slick ones. Maybe you’ll have a better fit and/or a different experience with them. I say give everything a hearty shot, cause you never know what might work for you.

[MilienElayne]

Ah! I couldn’t stop giggling at my mistake. LOL! Snow is awesome, I love snow! It’s pretty rare here https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_razz.gif

[MilienElayne]

Hi fellow Aussie! Where abouts are you? I’m in Melbourne.

[MilienElayne]

Oooh! Awesomeness!

Thanks so much for the updates, guys! Keep them coming!!!

[MilienElayne]

I love that rockstar to butterfly and can’t wait to try it. I am also dying to try the triple spin to butterfly TrophyWife had in one of her latest vids, I love it! I hate non-pole days (calves are BURNING from over-use, I have to work late shift and I feel like puking because I binged on sugar…lol)

To work out how to do the rockstar I just watched Karol’s in her second beginner to intermediate pole moves vid on YouTube at 4.12 over and over: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC19xBqfeYk&feature=related

[MilienElayne]

What is that move at 1.48?! It’s like a Brass Monkey / Cupid hybrid! Is 1.56 like a twisted grip reverse aysha…from a shoulder mount!? Love chopper to thigh hold swing into like a no hands marley, looks so impressive (but not really that hard) at 3.32.

[MilienElayne]

Inverted crucifix was the first move I saw online, thought was going to take me years… and I set my heart on learning it, and it was actually the first move I did! I taught myself basic invert straight up and made myself take it to an inverted crucifix over a week when I got my pole over uni holidays. Psycho, dangerous, stupid…I know. Don’t hurt me! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_razz.gif

Then I got obsessed with Aysha and it’s taken me 2 years but I finally decided I could and would do it and I’ve just got the forearm version and not just for two seconds to take a photo! YAY!

Then there are the moves I’ve always and still kind of do think are crazy impossible: Superman, Jade Split and that up pole upside down banana split. Still hate Superman and am almost giving up on making it smooth and consistently mine, but I can Jade (with much effort, and I have no hip contact…what’s with that?!) and I can newly banana split! Still can’t wrap my head around being upside down and doing a front split on a pole. That’s just INSANE! When an instructor said I could probably get into one I said: "No way, that’s crazy talk!". I also told her she was bonkers when she said my leg hook was good enough to do a cupid no hands. Ha! Wish I could show her that she was right and I got her ‘crazy’ suggestions the week after. So tempted to blow all my money on more private lessons to see how much crazy stuff we could do pole jamming. I seriously need more real-time really here pole buddies… or maybe just need to get a life https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_razz.gif

I am so very straight, but I am not at all ashamed of being bi-poler in the head, pole is HOT!