[Runemist34]

Many of these sounds similar to mine (such as #3!) but I wanted to say…#5 is subjective, and pretty much can't be measured. This is very similar to most (if not all) of my goals, so I recognize it! How will you know if you succeeded?

My adaptation: Try to be happier more of the time than angry, depressed, or sad. It's relatively easy to measure (Gee, was I happy today?) and the results are more fun! That way you don't berate yourself for "not being a better person" because you had your own life to live, or sometimes you can't afford to give to the needy, or share your food, or whatever else you base "being a good person" on. 

Just my thoughts.

It's great that you're making goals, though! I've been meaning to do this properly for a while 🙂

[Runemist34]

As far as I know, you buy it that way! The brand of pole I use, Lil'Minx, sells poles that are powder coated, and different colours, such as pink, red, black…

That's the only way I know how! Unless you just want to photoshop it, and pretend you have a pink pole for pictures ;P (Woo, alliteration!) 

[Runemist34]

I've considered it, but I don't think mine requires a name.

Mine is, however, a male.

I heard from my first studio "The pole is the perfect dancing partner: Always ready, will always hold you up, and always erect." XD

Hence, I consider most poles to be male…also, if I'm a girl, and generally heterosexual, then I would expect this kind of dance partner to be male. Just my own thought!

[Runemist34]

Major lack of gymnastics and dance background here! I hadn't even done a somersault for more than 15 years until about 2 years ago! I had to do it on my nice safe bed, with lots of cushions and stuff!

I agree with trying to "walk" up to try and get it into your head how it feels, but for me, it's also a major fear of being upside down. I've been working on that, by trying to hang my head off the couch and see how I do. 

It's mostly the "mount" into a head/hand stand that I have issues with. I don't have the arm strength (or the core strength), and I don't feel I have the control. I'll be working on that soon, too, though!

Good luck!

[Runemist34]

Erm, I suppose I should mention that the above is for my FACE, not the rest of me. I shower every day, sometimes twice a day (it's so warm and nice!), and I always use soap. I've found that certain ingredients will moisturize better than others, such as Shea and some kind of nut…butter…thing. I forget. It's been a while.

During the winter I get very dry all over, so I shave less, I moisturize more, and try to deal with it.

[Runemist34]

I've got some pretty picky skin, and it's quite fair as well. I live in a wet, cloudy climate, so sunlight isn't one of those things I have to deal with.

That said, I found my skin is REALLY picky with what I do, and how often. When I was younger, I didn't do anything for it; I just got it wet when I had a shower. When I started to get zits, I learned of the wild world of face cleansers. I didn't use it often, but my cleanser of choice for a while was the Neutrogena stuff.

However, since learning more and experimenting, I have found that I have limits to good things. I cannot exfoliate more than about once a week, and even then, I have to be careful about it. If I exceed the tolerated amount, I get…problems. They look and act like mini zits, they're usually white, and they hurt like hell. It's only ever happened to me when I exfoliate too much, so I know they aren't zits.

Otherwise, I use toner sometimes (usually before I wear makeup, which is extremely rare), I use a high quality makeup remover (again, very rare) and I try to cleanse every once in a while. If I find I'm getting dry or start breaking out, I moisturize.

My 'brand' of choice right now is stuff from Lush. I like natural things.

But…every day? I get it wet in the shower. I rub it with my hands, and then dry it with a towel. Oo;

[Runemist34]

As far as I'm aware, it all depends on your internet speed, the size of the file, the traffic on the website…

The video player (as far as I know, I could be wrong!) tries to buffer enough to give you one whole video, even if it's downloading as you're watching, and give itself enough time to get more video before you've watched everything it downloaded!

[Runemist34]

Thanks guys! I kept thinking "Oh man, no one's gonna know what I'm talking about!" but you did 🙂

And argh, we need to have a tutorial on that one 😛 Maybe, if one day I actually figure out how to do that move…I'll post my own tutorial. HAH.

Thanks so much!

[Runemist34]

Sparklie, it actually depends. If you're working out, doing cardio…you are anaerobic FOR 20 minutes or so, and then everything catches up, and you reach aerobic exercise for as long as you work out after that.

That's what my Fitness Trainer teacher told me, anyways!

[Runemist34]

I've noticed, for most exercise instructions I've encountered, one should try to breathe out while lifting or working muscles…so when you actually do the arial invert, or a spin, or whatever other move, try to remind yourself to exhale. It may seem very strange at first! I know it does for me.

Otherwise, keep in mind that the first 20ish minutes of a workout, you are in the anaerobic state, which means "no oxygen." This means your cardiovascular system hasn't caught up with the amount of air your body is demanding, so you've got unhappy muscles and you'll breathe hard, a lot! This can get better with time, but 20ish minutes is the average, as far as I know! So, take it slow!

Pole is, at the very least, demanding on muscles you may not be using as strongly with running, and also, many MORE muscles at the same time! I would imagine you'd need more air to feed them, so it'll be demanding on the cardiovascular system, as well. It's a demanding hobby! So, give yourself a little extra time. And yes, remember to breathe 🙂

[Runemist34]

Veena, I completely agree with you. A lot of people are surprised to find out their favourite athlete is injured, or deals with chronic pain. 

I prefer to think of myself as a "fun and exercise" kind of girl, though that ever-niggling need to be "advanced!" is in the back of my mind, no matter how much I swat it off. I think it's more that I love to see improvement, so getting into things like spins and inversions that are very hard is always an achievement for me. 

However, I'm starting to also realize that I like the idea of pretty-ing up my moves, so I'm hoping that even that gives me a sense of accomplishment. I'll need to set up my video camera, after a while!

Thank you, Veena, for letting me know! 🙂

[Runemist34]

Oh yes, I know all about this one. I don't really have any sexy wear, because I live in a stupid small town and it's boring and so expensive to order things online! Ugh! 

Just thought I would add my support…Canadians want to be sexy, too! It's not just all snow up here! There are poles we DON'T stick to! 😛

[Runemist34]

Scandalicious: Yeah, it used to be that I would dance for a couple of days, and then if I woke up sore, I'd stop until I wasn't so sore anymore! I didn't want to push myself, you know? 

And…well, isn't their protein in bananas? Maybe I could have some of those…or is granola bars having of protein? I'm horribly picky with what I eat, unfortunately, and that DOESN'T mean that I eat healthy! I tend to eat like a little kid, actually…all sugar and chocolate and salty things! It gets better when I actually exercise though.

I think I have a plan, however…thank you very much, ladies! I appreciate the feedback. 🙂

[Runemist34]

I agree with Meganoff…you guys pole a lot!

@Meganoff: Yes, I know 😛 I should be listening a bit better. It's an interesting catch 22 for me…it's kinda like physics! You know, object in motion tends to stay in motion, object at rest etc? Well, normally I find myself "at rest" and it's hard to make myself not be! So, when I'm in motion, sometimes I fight it, and sometimes I don't. The funny part is that, after a while, I hit a seemingly insurmountable plateau, where I've gotten everything I know how to do down pretty well, but the next step is too hard! I'm strong in one way, but not strong enough in another. It's frustrating!

It's interesting to me that some of you pole 3 times a week for an hour each time, and some pole once or twice a week, but it seems like for longer, usually. And, people seem to have other methods of fitness, too, so that's also probably helping.

Thank you for the information! It gives me a good gauge for what people are doing and how they progress. Of course, I'll be making sure that I don't overdo it with my own fitness routine (whatever it ends up being). At least now I know I should probably be doing stuff for longer! 😛

[Runemist34]

Kobajo84 – Thank you 🙂 I know that people progress differently, but this has been an ongoing problem for me. I started pole dancing…well, probably three years ago? Maybe more? I seem to have my phases, going in and out of passion for it, but the longest was the most recent, of 8 months or so. 

I started dancing through a local pole dancing studio, of which there was only one, and we didn't have a lot of moves. I've done Veena's lessons some time ago (probably about a year ago, actually!) and I've been learning a lot of moves from the internet. I realize it's a whole lot harder to learn things without someone around to tell you what you're doing wrong. I've had some difficult times with moves that people tell me are easy, but I've been doing wrong somehow. 

And yes, I likely need a regular routine. It's hard for me to transition from my normal status of chaos to something more organized…really, I would get a lot more done and feel happier with organized, but…I get worried I'd lose a lot of those weird spontaneous things that happen during my day, too. It's an interesting issue.