[Suzanna]

clmeverhart35440, thanks for your lovely input as almost as tall as me, and even a bit heavier. I truly appreciate finding a tall lady who also carries some weight, because I can now relate. I am slowly surrendering and believing it is possible even with my height & weight combination. I am now patiently practicing the basics, and building a good strong foundation. I do see progress (small progresses) almost daily, so I am on a right track. I do a lot of cross training in the gym, and now all the things I do, I have the pole in my mind 🙂 And then I do some strength exercises on the pole at home, because it is and feels, indeed, completely different.

Veena, thank you for your answer too, and for all your lovely videos and tips. I am a performance coach, teaching athletes how not to get overuse injuries, so I do love the analytical approach and you are presenting it nicely—what we should and shouldn’t do, what muscle to use and not use. I think it will help me to build a good foundation. I have been taking once a week classes for a couple of months, but not practicing home, because the progression felt really fast, and I had my rotators completely strained for the first 5 weeks 🙂 now I am recovered and ready to rebuild my strength your way. In the classes we were doing the one-handed spins, and some things that were totally too much for me, and maybe that’s why I felt a bit frustrated. Seeing all the other girls (40 lbs lighter) could do them, I became to question myself. But now, after joining the community, and reading all the inputs, and other discussions, and watching the videos, I am super excited and motivated. I committed to small daily practices at home, whatever is needed, and the classes on Sundays. The classes will show me how the homework works for me 🙂

garynnnjb5232, wow, what a motivation! I am just starting to work on my pull-ups. And my pole holds. And headstands… and name it… whatever is weak, will get strong. Thank you!!!

[Suzanna]

Hellcat, thank you for your inputs. I am slowly surrendering to the fact that I am not as athletic on the pole as I am used to be in other arenas. I just have to be patient and it will all come. I’ve been watching many videos here today, and practicing, and it was so much fun… Even though I have my 100-day goal, I know that even if I don’t know achieve it, it’s not a big deal. I will keep going and achieve it eventually. That written goal and journaling about it every day makes me more focused on things/practices that are maybe too hard and I would tend to procrastinate otherwise. The goal keeps me focused.

I am kind of smiling to myself, thinking about me today, struggling holding onto the pole and just now for the first time in 50 years working on a headstand… and already thinking and planning that handspring. Ha ha, talk about ambitions 🙂

Impressive accomplishment with that cartwheel mount. Maybe that will be my next goal 🙂 Thank you also for the names of the tall pole dancers, I will definitely check them out.

AllysonKendal, thanks for the names too. I just want to see what the tall body can do. A picture or vision that I can keep in my head.

[Suzanna]

Thank you, Kelly, for your input abut your long arms. I can relate. Much less upper body strength and mass, compared to my bottom. I have been training really hard in the gym to get my booty big and round (and I did get it 👌) but now I had to drag that thing around the pole… grrrr…

Thanks, bformosa922163, for your input how you too are losing your grip after a really short time. It feels better to see that I guess I am going through a “natural process”. Maybe I have had high expectations from myself, because I am quite athletic, strong, and lean… and you girls make the pole look so easy, so I thought I’d just dive in and here we go, I can do it all 🙂 ha ha. I am learning that strength is very specific, and I have none regarding the pole.

Runemist34, that is so cool to hear that you are even heavier than me and you are working that pole. It is very encouraging. I am not really worried about my weight per se, I love my muscles, and I am pretty lean too. Very bottom heavy. So gaining more muscles and strength on the top is going to be really great! Maybe it is a bit frustrating to me that I feel so “out of control” on the pole, while being quite skilled and athletic in my other physical endeavors. I am realizing now with my few encounters with the pole, that I have to be patient and just work on it little step by little step. Maybe I compare myself too much to my shorter and lighter ladies in the class (I’ve been taking a class one day per week for a couple of months). While I could invert on my first try (that felt easy, even though not very sexy), I can’t spin in the split grip (one arm up, one down) as I cannot hold my heavy booty in the air. Ha ha. I am learning that I should only compare myself to whom I was yesterday, and be inspired by all the others.

I keep reading and watching the videos and practice all the tips. I also do dead hang in the gym, any time I pass by something that I can hang from, just to improve my grip.

I will definitely post pictures and videos from my journey. I gave myself a goal, using a special journal “100 days to accomplish your goal” and that is that I want to do the twisted grip ariel handspring. (If the name is right? My teacher in the class called it that way.) I am only in the beginning of my journey, day 4 today, so I have a hard and obsessive work ahead me.