Smokegrey
Forum Replies Created
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🙁 I'm sorry for your loss. *hugs*
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I have a new brass X Pole, and sweaty hands with dry skin. Fresh out of the box, the grip on the pole was odd; over grip on body skin, but slippery on hands. A week (and lots of use and cleaning) later, it evened out a lot and now both hands and body work with the brass just fine. I have decent grip with both, but can release to slide. And I sweat A LOT because all my new muscle is still hidden under layers of fat. 😡
FWIW, temps here are 32-34°C in daytime, and it never really gets below 24-24°, even on the coolest nights. Humidity about 80-90+%.
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Speaking of static stretching and strength, did anyone see this article?
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/reasons-not-to-stretch/
Thought it was an interesting read.
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I'm not trained in anatomy or physical training of any kind, but here's my 2 cents' worth anyway. :p
Being strong shouldn't stop you from being flexible. After all, gymnasts and dancers and acrobats are among the strongest athletes there are, and they're pretty darn flexy.
But if you're very bulky, getting into certain positions is going to be more uncomfortable than if you're leaner. So maybe it depends on the kind of weight training you're doing. If you lift really heavy to bulk up (think those dudes whose elbows stick waaaay out from their sides because the arms are so big), then I'm guessing you're going to have a problem with some kinds of flexibility, just because, y'know, your arm and your leg trying to be in the same space defies the laws of physics.
Strength and flexibility work with each other, I think. Being too flexible without strength leads to injury and pain, because things that are supposed to oppose and support each other are out of whack. And if you have developed muscles, but don't have full range of motion, arguably you'd be unable to use the muscles to their fullest potential.
Tangent: I also think that there's strong, and there's strong. There are dudes with big-ass gym muscles who can't actually seem to USE those muscles, because they've worked on the big showy muscles, but neglected to train the small ones. Then you get people like pole dancers who maybe don't look nearly as big and strong, but can do amazing things with their bodies. I guess that's why functional training is so popular now. :p Real muscles for the real world.
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So I settled on a brass 40mm, and I think I probably made the right choice re: size at any rate. I took a photo of my (longer*) hand wrapped around the pole:
https://www.studioveena.com/photos/view_photo/515d60a8-2f88-461a-b1ab-25ac0ac37250
Not much overlap at all. Even that 2mm difference between my X Pole and the 38mm studio poles is noticeable.
Thanks for weighing in, ladies! 😀
*It's odd, but my left hand is about half a cm longer than my right.
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Why not transfer the video from your iPad to your computer and upload it that way? Or upload it to YouTube and share the link (there's an option to only let people you share the link with view the video)?
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AerialGypsy’s posts:
Material – https://www.studioveena.com/blogs/view/51098593-72cc-41f6-88f2-49110ac37250
Diameter – http://flexines.blogspot.sg/2013/02/pole-diameters_25.html
Brands – https://www.studioveena.com/blogs/view/511d6380-f714-4fef-96ad-0b0f0ac37250 -
Nanette, not sure if this helps, but the option to upload a profile pic doesn’t show on my iPhone (viewing the mobile-optimised site), but does on the iPad.
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Just curious: what phone are you using? I access SV mostly on my iPad and iPhone and haven’t had any trouble getting videos to play, even on a mobile data connection.
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cccraft, you’ll get there! I had so much trouble with pole tucks too at first.
It’s a question of strength-to-weight ratio, but there’s also the issue of exactly which bits of you are strong. The first time I did pole tucks, my abs (and maybe hip flexors?) weren’t strong enough. So while my arms were perfectly happy to hold my weight, I had trouble holding the tuck, and yes, lots of leg flailing. I also had some trouble negotiating the boobs and was all “BUT I CAN’T GET MY ARMS ACROSS!”
It took me a couple of weeks to build up enough strength in abs and hips to get a decent tuck. Keep at it, and you’ll get it eventually!
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Aha! Like so:
http://www.lasenza.com/eng/categories/panties/braziliansIf La Senza has the same fabric in both boy-shorts and Brazilian, I buy both and stack them.
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Brazilian-style knickers work great for me. The front is pretty much like a low bikini — sits on the hipbone — but the back has less coverage than a bikini cut. They work even under boy-shorts; the back cuts diagonally across the bum.
When I was younger, all I wore were strings and thongs, but for some reason I prefer a little more bum cover now. This cut seems to be a nice compromise. 😀
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Just reading both your stories made MY toes hurt. O.o
Hope you heal fast, Mama Sunshine!
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Lyme Lyte, I’m going for the X Pole Xpert, since it’s the most readily available here, and because it’ll break down for the move.
AerialGypsy, I’m in Singapore. I looked at Bobbi’s Portable, but it runs around $1000, IIRC, and that’s a bit more than I want to spend. There’s a studio here that brings in the X Poles, but no one has a 40 set up for me to try. 🙁 Thanks for the blog post though, very informative! It was your blog post that made me think hard about the material in the first place. I don’t like that chrome flakes sharply if damaged, but the bit about how brass might corrode also gave me pause.
I think you’re right about the diameter though. So I think I’ll be settling on a 40, and I’ll do extra conditioning so if I have to transition to a 45 later, it won’t be so challenging.
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Apologies for yet another 'which pole' discussion, but I'm so stuck, and I could use some input.
I finally got the okay from the husband to buy a pole, in part because we're likely to be moving (from Singapore to Jakarta) for about a year. The move means I'll have to stop classes, so my plan was to start learning and practicing at home instead with Veena's lessons.
I currently learn on a 38mm brass spinning, and even so I have some trouble sometimes with grip. My hands are both sweaty AND dry — it's terrible, they start out dry, and go straight to sweaty. I know some of this is because of stress learning new things, but not all of it is; my hands have always been like this, and it was a problem when I was doing free weights.
My options are:
40mm brass (~$800)
40mm chrome (~$600)
45mm brass (~$800)
45mm chrome (~($600)
I'm quite short (5'/152 cm), and my fingertips don't meet around a 45mm (just about shy of touching). I also have a short torso and waist, even for my height. (There's less than 4" between my hip and last rib.)
I played around with a 45mm chrome briefly (climb, pole tucks), and I managed to work with it, but it left me very sore in the wrists, fingers and palms.
Whether I live in Singapore or Jakarta, it'll always be hot and humid (30-32ºC/86-90ºF, 70-90% humidity), unless I have the AC on, in which case it'll be around 24ºC/75ºF.
I'm trying to decide if I should stick with the closest to what I know best (40mm brass), or to get chrome, which is cheaper, and will probably force me to develop a stronger grip. Also, any thoughts on size would be helpful — stick with smaller diameter, or move to a more 'standard' size?
I'm afraid of getting injured by working with something too slick or too big, but on the other hand, I don't want to wuss out and then find myself unable to work on a 45/50mm studio pole later. Also, I worry that if I got a 40mm brass, I would find working on static pole moves impossible.
This has been a crazy long post, but I really could use some help!