[StrangeFox]

I’m always shocked at how “psychological” pole is. When I first started learning to invert I used to psyche myself up for it so much, and then I was up there for, like, 2 seconds before I had to come down. I also used to wonder where all of my skills went when I got home. All of the tricks I feel comfortable with now were ones that used to scare the bejebuses out of me at some point and eventually I just got used to them. It’s totally normal for inverting to be scary, but eventually it’ll feel so natural.

I would recommend adding more pole to your routine. Even small, safe stuff that you can do at home for conditioning and to get used to the feel of the pole will help. For example, you can work on tuck ups, or even just play around with getting comfortable with the foot positioning on the ground. There are some great lessons on here. What really helped me get more comfortable and stronger on the pole was doing a conditioning class. If there’s anything like that at your studio, I highly recommend checking it out. I’ve heard the strength from lyra translates pretty well to pole, and it’s a good way to get used to being inverted. 🙂

One more thing that might help: invest in a good crash mat. It gives me so much more confidence when I’m practicing a move I’m not super confident in.

[StrangeFox]

Woohoo! Thank you! I’m going to give this one a shot. I always get busy and have trouble finishing challenges but I really want to participate! I’m going to try and do as much of this as possible on both sides.

Unfortunately, I cannot qualify for prizes as I don’t wish to set my profile to public (had an unfortunate experience that was luckily not pole stigma related or mean people related and now EVERYTHING is set to private), but I don’t care. I just want an excuse to pretty up my gemini on my dork side! XD

[StrangeFox]

I haven’t done this personally, but a suggestion that was made to me when I had pole mounting issues was to securely fasten a board between two of the beams, and then install my pole on that board.

I’m drooling at the thought of 11′ ceilings! I have so much ceiling envy – lol! 🙂

[StrangeFox]

Hi Gina! And welcome – really glad you came on here to introduce yourself. The pole community is super supportive and everyone on here is so kind and helpful. 🙂

I’m sorry you’re experiencing discrimination in the yoga community and with your friends. I’ve suffered one very minor bit of discrimination but I was lucky in that the person who made the derogatory comment recognized they were being unfair and apologized for it. I like what grayeyes said about “owning” it. When I first started learning I was a bit shy to talk about it, and when I did bring it up, everyone sort of followed my lead and treated it like some big taboo. When I stopped caring and started being completely nonchalant about it, everyone I told just thought it was cool.

I’m glad your hubby is being supportive. What type of pole did you end up going with? Looking forward to seeing your progress! 🙂

[StrangeFox]

Awesome progress! 🙂

I’ve been working on my splits for over a year now (mostly front, but sometimes middles). My middle splits are pretty inconsistent. Sometimes I can sink right into them if I’m good and warm, and other times I’m miles away from the floor even after warming up. Front splits are getting a little more consistent but I still have stiff days and flexier days.

It takes me a ton of warm up before I can reach my lowest point in either split, and I’m not perfectly flat yet. For middles, I can’t seem to do it unless my knees are pointing up. I had to play around a lot with hip and pelvis rotation to find what worked for me. Also, I sometimes lower into them with support from a wall, a chair, or my pole.

I do a lot of static stretching. Once I got to a certain point, though, I had to mix some conditioning and active flexibility in with the static stretching in order to see results. I’m struggling a lot right now with active flexibility. I can’t seem to use my new range of motion on the pole…only on the floor. 🙁

[StrangeFox]

I’m struggling with Superman myself. I got it a bunch of times from a gemini to thigh rest and then I lost it. Now I can’t remember for the life of me how to get back into it.

From what I remember the last time I got this, I believe Veena’s stay tucked tip worked for me. I’ll have to try it again. Allison Erin’s entry from invert looks gorgeous and very doable! I know a few of my classmates have had luck doing it from flatline scorpio, and if you watch the dragon’s tail lesson on here, you can get into superman from that move, too. I’ve been meaning to try that one because I love dragon’s tail and it looks similar to getting into it from the floor (you’re already turned over with your chest facing the ground).

[StrangeFox]

Yep…totally normal. Check out the climbing lesson on here. It took me many times watching it and many months before I was able to climb without putting a lot of pressure on my foot. I used to get friction burns on my climbing foot so bad they would bleed so I got the Mighty Grip Ankle Protectors when I was first learning how to climb:

https://www.thepoledancingshop.com/ankle-protector-with-tack-strips/

They’re awesome, and great to use if you want to take some of the pressure off of that bruise while it heals, but I would caution against using them too much. I got reliant on them, and I had to really work on conditioning the skin on my feet when I had to stop wearing them.

[StrangeFox]

Your pole space is gorgeous! And yes…I’ve developed bad habits because of my low ceiling (inverting with frog legs/crooked legs). Maybe one day we’ll have pole spaces with nice, 14 ft ceilings! 😀

[StrangeFox]

Thanks everyone! I did end up moving the pole so it’s under a joist. I’m not thrilled about it but it’s better to be safe. It’s usable, just not ideal. If it gets really bad I might see if I can install a beam between the two joists. At the very least there will probably soon be some pretty hilarious videos of me smacking into a wall – lol!

Unfortunately, there’s nowhere else I can put my poles – our house is quite small. I know I’m very fortunate to have two pole rooms when most people struggle to even find one suitable room to pole in. I guess I’m probably a little more upset about this than I should be. A lot of things are going wrong with our house right now so my tolerance for small stuff is low – haha!

I’ll bet we all have (or have had to) cope with a less than ideal pole space. 🙂

[StrangeFox]

YEAH! It worked!!! It took a couple of weeks for the rare earth magnet to come into the store, but I got it and spent the afternoon mapping out my ceiling joists. Even my fi, who thought I was crazy (he swore up and down I was under a joist) was impressed. And once again…I was also impressed with the sheer amount of idiocy that went into our house’s design.

So, the ceiling joists appear to be running in the opposite direction as the floor joists, and they are also spaced differently – they are much, much wider apart. Unfortunately, this means that placing my pole directly under a joist will put me waaaaay too close to one of the walls. I mean…so close I can’t pole in my 8 inch heels. So close I can’t do spins or spin pole combos, which seriously sucks because the pole in the basement is too short for combos period. Heck, I’ve even started stubbing my toes on the ceiling when I invert (Veena’s nailed it program for inverts works a little too well – lol!).

There is nowhere else I can put my pole. This is so, so frustrating. Now that I’m getting stronger (yay!) I’m having a heck of a hard time poling at home. Unfortunately, my studio is 45 mins away and although it’s awesome, there’s nothing quite like having 100% control over music, time, and lighting.

Is it OK for my pole to NOT be under a joist? I mean…it has damaged the ceiling a bit, sure, but as long as I make sure it’s tight before every use will it be OK? What are my options here?

[StrangeFox]

I’m so glad to hear you don’t have a rib injury! Wishing you a speedy recovery, and looking forward to seeing your beautiful flows again soon!

[StrangeFox]

I thought Bad Kitty’s customer service was exceptional, but I found the quality of their products lower than expected for the high cost. They also didn’t work well for my body type (flat chest, big hips/booty). I have trouble with the shorts and shirts staying in place. Also, not sure if this was just my experience but it took them 4 weeks to even ship my order. I’m in Canada, and everything was in stock.

My fave brand is Hey Hey and Co, although they are a bit pricey you get what you pay for. You can get a custom top made to your measurements, too. Alternately, if you go to Marshall’s, Wal-Mart, La Senza, or any other store in your area and look for a sports bra, you can find some really cute, very reasonably priced stuff.

[StrangeFox]

I will say that I am not the type of person who enjoys conditioning, but I find Veena’s exercise programs fun. It honestly doesn’t take long to complete 1 day of a program, and many of the exercises she uses are pole moves (spins, transitions, floorwork, tricks).

Another thought – if conditioning is just not going to happen, you could always try to take a bunch of exercises and throw them into a dance routine. I hate conditioning my core so I choreographed my own little dance filled with core strength-building moves. I also made a point of hanging a sheet of paper on the wall of my freestyle room so I could remind myself to include certain strength-building moves into my freestyles.

[StrangeFox]

As per my promise, I have figured something out and I have returned with tips! This really helped me so I hope it helps you. 🙂

(Note: I’m working on split grip ayesha – it may be different for elbow and forearm grips). I enter from caterpillar, and before I go into this move I make sure I have a solid grip on the pole between my knees so I’m not flopping around.

1) Pull with your top hand – even more than you think you need to. Squeeze the pole with your hand and pretend like you’re trying to pull the pole out of the ceiling and drive it into the ground.

2) Curve your side body ever so slightly so that you’re tilting your hips towards the pulling arm. If you check out Veena’s video here on the split grip ayesha, you’ll notice her torso has a very gentle curve in it. If you don’t have the lessons, look up images of other polers doing ayesha and pay close attention to their torso. If you find a picture of someone from the front or back you should be able to see it. Understanding this really helped me “get” the core engagement necessary to balance in this move instead of immediately cartwheeling out of it.

3) Point your toes towards the ground and contract your quads so your legs are straight. If your legs are bent or your toes are pointing upwards this move is so much harder to balance in. Keeping your lines straight means keeping your limbs predictable, which makes them much easier to manage.

Last night I was able to hold my ayesha for what felt like forever and I got to decide when I exited the move instead of falling out of it! 😀 Not sure if this helps at all but best of luck!

[StrangeFox]

I feel the same way sometimes because there are just so many things to work on. It’s tempting to want to go back and forth between many moves, but what has worked for me is choosing no more than 3 bit moves to focus on at a time. I like to keep them related so I can do the same conditioning/muscle memory training.

It’s really frustrating to feel like you’re getting nowhere. There are times I feel like I’ve been working on a move forever and I’m never gonna get it. We all have strengths and weaknesses, so I recommend combining them. It’s nice to have a “feel good” move to fall back on. As an example, I’ve been working on ayesha/straight edge for 8 months now and just last night started getting it solid and consistent. When I started to get frustrated and lose interest, I had caterpillar climb as a “feel good” move I could work on. As a bonus, caterpillar climb helps with the strength/positioning needed for ayesha. Win-win!

I try to have both long-term and short-term goals, too. Lots of small short-term gains help me feel like I’m at least accomplishing something and it keeps things interesting. I always, always keep videos of myself so I can measure my progress. Progress in pole can be a very subtle thing, and it’s not always linear (sometimes I regress a bit before I get something).

Most importantly, have fun! If you’re trying to do tricks or conditioning and you’re just not feeling it…do something that makes you feel good! I will sometimes freestyle, twerk, do chair, or stretch if I’m really not feeling up to trick training. 🙂