[StrangeFox]

Is it the regular ballerina or the twisted ballerina you’re trying to do? I remember feeling something similar to what you described while trying to do the twisted ballerina. For me that was a back and shoulder flexibility issue.

As for reverse grab…I really don’t like it but I do work on it at my own pace at the studio. I don’t think it’s a move that is right for my body. I always get this horrible popping noise in my shoulder when I do it so I tend not to. I’m working on both strength and flexibility to see if that improves anything but I’m not a big fan of spins so who knows? The studio I go to has us work on one-handed chair spins before attempting reverse grab.

[StrangeFox]

I also dislike static spins…and I’m OK with just not doing them! I never feel comfortable or secure. I feel like they’re just a shoulder injury waiting to happen for me. I remember when I first started pole I had such a difficult time with spins. I used to wonder if I’d ever be able to do anything, but it turns out those just aren’t my thing. There are polers whose first fireman spins look better than my current fireman spin – lol!

[StrangeFox]

Awesome! Glad you found the joist. It’s a pretty safe bet to use a light fixture as a point of reference. I actually did that in my basement. As long as you check your ceiling for cracks periodically and check your pole before each use you’ll be fine. 🙂 I know when I first put mine up I was so scared but now I practically throw myself at it.

Have fun, and happy poling! Keep us updated on how you’re doing!

[StrangeFox]

Thanks so much everyone for your awesome replies and great advice! I’m really glad to hear from so many ladies I consider so talented saying they’ve said “no” to handspring/cartwheel mount. I can see now that this move just feels like a big deal to me because I’ve seen so many pole friends reach the cartwheel mount milestone. It’s one of those “everyone is doing it so there must be something wrong with me if I’m not” scenarios. These feelings are actually a huge part of the reason I have decided to take a small IG break.

Fortunately, handspring/cartwheel mount is not a required move at my current studio but it was one at my last studio. I love that at this studio the curriculum is always evolving to better suit the students, and that there is a high attention to technique and injury avoidance. My current instructor has also struggled with this move and has excellent tips and some sympathies to offer – she has been amazing at letting me “nope” out of moves and do something more suited to my body. She’s always just glad I’m being safe and working within my limitations, but I still feel like I’m being a bit of a brat – lol! I’ve decided as long as I’m polite and have a related move that I want to work on, it’s probably OK for me to say no to this move until I’m truly ready for it. I’m just not having fun training it and I can only get a few tries in before my forearms and shoulders start complaining, so it will probably be a long time before I can actually train it. I’m having a lot more fun training my flexibility right now, and I’m seeing huge pay offs in my transitions, not to mention the lack of aches and pains!

Veena – if I ever do make it out to Vegas I would love to take a private lesson with you! That would be amazing. Also, I didn’t realize private online lessons are a thing. How do those work? I might be interested in the future…

[StrangeFox]

Congrats on your new pole! I’m not sure what brand you bought, but be very wary of some of the inexpensive poles sold on Amazon. Some are not made very well and are actually dangerous to use for pole tricks. For example, Peek-A-Boo poles should not be used for tricks. I can’t say much about brands because I don’t have experience with any poles except X-Pole, and although they’re quite pricey (between approx $200 and $800 USD depending on the finish, and whether you want a stage pole, or a pole that does spinny), they’re extremely well-made and safe. X-Pole customer service is exceptional, too. I’ve heard Lil Mynx and Lupit are good brands as well.

I had the same issue with joists and the stud finder (which was completely useless!). I actually didn’t get my pole right under a joist and I didn’t realize it at first. It eventually started to push my ceiling up and it left a crack. I went out to my local hardware store and bought a rare earth magnet and used it to locate the nails in the joists. The magnet was super cheap, but mapping out the joists was time consuming, and I had to map out a bunch of them around the area I wanted to install the pole so I knew what direction they were going in and how far apart they were spaced.

Also, using a level can help you get the pole straight. Watching the X-Pole installation vid will give you some good tips, too.

Best of luck! 🙂

[StrangeFox]

Thanks LatinPoler! I will give working out my glutes a try. I can’t yet use this new flexibility on the pole, so working my glutes will probably help that. Also, I find I’m gaining a new ROM, losing it, and then gaining it back again. Perhaps having a bit more strength would help it be more consistent.

[StrangeFox]

Thanks, Marilyn Monster! I’ll check those exercises out. I’ve heard strengthening the glutes helps to release the hip flexors. 🙂

[StrangeFox]

Thanks Veena!

Your point about being warm is relevant! I usually do splits at the end of my stretching session and it is still quite cold where I am, so I do start to cool off. Might be worth while to do some leg swings and squats before going into the splits. I find in the summer my flexibility is much better.

I think it might be glutes and lack of strength. I know this isn’t great and I should NOT do this but I can push myself all the way down if I grab onto my pole, so it might be the piraformis or glutes that are keeping me suspended. When I do this the stretch is more in my groin than my hip flexors.

I’m also having trouble achieving this level of flexibility on the pole, which I know is a strength thing. I’m looking forward to this being a usable and effortless range of motion – that will take some more time though!

[StrangeFox]

Sorry you had a bad practice and are frustrated. I know that feeling all too well. And I lose moves all the time! They come back relatively quickly, though, and there are certain moves I don’t ever seem to lose no matter how little I practice them. I think the moves I don’t lose are moves I’ve really broken down and focused on (as Veena says, learning the fundamentals makes a huge difference). I also tend to lose moves if I gain a new range of motion. So be aware if you’re doing flexibility training on the regular you might have to recalibrate some of your moves.

I find it impossible to work on all of the moves all of the time, and I’ve been trying to find a way to figure out which moves I actually want to focus on, and which ones are OK for me to lose. So far I’ve found freestyling is really helpful for this. Some moves are just my “style” so I work on polishing them more, and I try not to worry about the ones that never seem to work for me.

[StrangeFox]

Thanks Veena! I think it might be placement of the pole, which is being caused by me not pulling enough with the hamstrings. I tried again last night and had great success. I paid really close attention to hamstring activation, and tried on a smaller diameter pole. I was able to twist my body around the pole in gargoyle but lost my nerve when it came time to lift my chest.

I have noticed I get the same pain when I get the knee pit hook wrong for brass monkey, too, and it’s just recently this move has stopped causing me show-stopping agony.

I’m not quite ready to put my full weight on that knee hook due to lack of training (and general lack of trust in my knee pit) but I’ll do some conditioning and in a few weeks I might try marley again and see where I’m at. I just figured out baby cupid/star and am working my way up to a full cupid/advanced star. It’s so weird that I have no issue with things like hands-free genie and gemini, but baby cupid took me a year to figure out. Bodies are weird things – lol!

[StrangeFox]

Yikes! Sorry to hear your shoulder is still sore. With pole I feel like everything uses every part of the body so any injury means taking a break until there is no more pain. 🙁

Leg hangs and laybacks use the legs more than the shoulders, but you still have to use your shoulders to climb and get inverted. My advice would be rest up until your shoulder feels 100% better (however, I know if it were me I would probably still be on the pole – it’s so hard to stay grounded). I think there are some floorwork moves that involve mostly the legs and abs you could work on. Stuff like leg waves, heel skating, and any splitty moves (the flip split). Perhaps doing chair would work, too.

I’m kind of in a similar spot with my hamstring right now. It’s almost 100% better but it still likes to remind me every now and again it was injured. It’s so frustrating having to accommodate an injury – I really hope you heal up soon. 💕

[StrangeFox]

I can’t qualify for prizes, but I’ll take any excuse to practice jade! lol! Also, I’m dying to learn Orion.

[StrangeFox]

Veena – I find because my hands and wrists are very tiny I am always much happier/more secure in a cup grip. I’m going to play around and see if I can get it in ayesha. Would your thumb be up (closer to the ceiling) or down (closer to the ground) for a cup grip ayesha?

I’m loving the programs and how things are broken down. If one of the things you have in the works happens to be a cartwheel mount nailed it program I might just have a pole-nerd happiness meltdown. 😱

[StrangeFox]

Had to chime in because Ayesha was my nemesis for a long, long time. For the last few months I’ve been wondering how I can tighten this move up and get my hips further away from the pole – closer to the position you’ll end up in after a cartwheel mount. That tip about looking up at my legs was just what I needed. Check out the difference. It felt far more secure and balanced, but it scared me a bit. I suppose it’ll take some getting used to. Granted, there was no way in hell I would have been able to look up at my feet when I was first learning this move – that would have been waaaay too disorienting for me.

A lot of getting stable in this move was figuring out where that bottom arm was comfortable, making sure I was pulling enough with the top arm, and finding out out where my hips needed to be. Because I have very wide hips, I found I had to curve my torso towards my pulling arm slightly. I do my ayesha from caterpillar, because it feels more comfortable for me. But I have to make sure I point my toes and drop them towards the ground the second my legs are off the pole or else I fall crotch-first into the pole. I’m going to try bending my arm a little next time I practice this move and see what that does for me.

Veena, I’m so looking forward to the new things you have in the works. 🙂

[StrangeFox]

I’m in the same boat. I’m falling behind and I’ve hit a plateau. I’ve hit a plateau before and I did manage to mix Veena’s invert program with 3-4 times per week studio classes. It helped me break through that first plateau, and I’m going to be trying another of her programs this time, too. I find Veena focuses on smaller muscle groups that often get forgotten but make a big, big difference.

When I mix the programs and studio classes, I try and schedule it so that I do Veena’s strength routines and the class on the same day. I sometimes have to stretch the program out longer to make sure I’m getting enough rest days. I also make sure I pay attention when I’m feeling extra sore or weak/frustrated and take some extra time to rest if I need it.

Best of luck! Let us know how it goes. 🙂