[amelia2000]

Varying the stretches helps too, because the body gets too used to them. It’s too easy to always do the same stretches haha (I know I’m gulity of that)

[amelia2000]

Depends on how often you practise and how structured you do it. Inverting will come faster with lots of core work (you can encorporate that into your warm-up). Also having some who can spot you in certain moves could also help. Doesn’t help me personally, I prefer to only let go when I can completely trust my body.
The leap as well to advanced (for me that means inverted hands only moves and high levels of flexibility) that will take longest to reach. The last inches on your splits are the hardest, and I’ve always had a problem with hand grip (sweaty hands).
The good thing about not training in a studio is that you set your own targets and focus on what you want. For me, that means no static spins (in fact, I only train on spinning mode).

[amelia2000]

For ballerina, I would suggest practising crucifix twist and forward fold (both sides), as well as peter pan, as those moves train the flexibility side of ballerina.

[amelia2000]

@strangefox, great to hear I’m not the only one hehe

[amelia2000]

Choosing the moves I work on is one reason why I love training at home (as well as geographical reasons).

I hated the focus on static spins when I used to go to classes. I have grip problems and even now struggle with static spins- holding the position, gaining enough momentum AND looking pretty.

Handsprings aren’t on my list of to-do moves either, and that’s ok. I used to think I didn’t want to do a shoulder mount, but I realised last week, I’m actually not too far off getting it. It’s not good to pressure yourself into training specific moves- not all are meant for everyone because our bodies and psyche are all different.

[amelia2000]

Can you send the pole back? It would be better to pay the 200-300$ for an xpole or lil mynx or lupit, those are professional brands whose poles are safe for tricks.

[amelia2000]

Yeah I get that, but if you put the flying pole up without a swivel, it won’t spin round as such (maybe half a turn in each direction), but the bottom isn’t attached and can move- does this make static spins impossible? Or just tricky?
So I was wondering if anyone had tried it…

[amelia2000]

Pilates/body weight type exercises!
For example, some of Veena’s strength routines are only 10 mins long, try those out?

Or play around with different exercises, and rep depending on how much time you have (or circuit training style and do 30-60secs per exercise). Anything involving planks is fantastic, because everything you need for pole is in there, arms, stomach, back, legs (particularly leg/arm raise variants). Obvs warm up a bit first, at least mobilise the key areas.

[amelia2000]

maybe I should try Lupit Grip then… I had seen it but wasn’t quite sure what it was hehe. Definitely looks like a nifty little product 😛

[amelia2000]

Maybe 4 times a week is putting too much pressure on yourself? Leg training like lunges (ideally variants where you hold for longer, like with an upper body twist, or make it harder by putting back leg on a yoga block), squats, abduction training with resistance bands should help too because you also need strength to be flexible.

[amelia2000]

Thanks guys…next session will have to have a floorwork focus then!

I get lazy practising floorwork partly because my ceiling seems instable so I train on an Xstage, so I only have a metre around the pole, and it’s cold metal. Probably will have to find a non slip solution for that, but removable/strong enough to withstand heel use. Also every time I try floorwork it looks anything but graceful/sexy.

[amelia2000]

You can look in the underwear department for pole bottoms- I found some lovely velvet knickers with an elastic waistband a few weeks ago, which became my faourite pole pants =D there was a matching bralette as well and I have some other knickers that I used to use, hotpant style knickers. I also used to use a pair of my husband’s boxers which he didn’t wear because they were to tight on him lol

Other than that I wear swimwear and/or sports bras.

[amelia2000]

If it’s just your knees you have a problem with, you could try knee pads.

I bought the ones from mighty grip years ago as extry support because I sprained my knee a few times. I never use them now, as my knees always sweat under them, and I personally always found them annoying (the tightness as opposed to bare skin, and I have an xstage, so its not like the pads are useful in floorwork, because floor work in a tight apartment with a stage is tricky). Poledancerka have different coloured kneepads, I saw online but have never tried them,.

[amelia2000]

Welsh but living in Germany

[amelia2000]

I tried my pole in a space 2m (roughly 6 ft 8″ I reckon). Theoretically the height was ok, except that on one side the ceiling sloped down, so I hit my head a few times… and climbing from kneeling was hard, because the little screws on my Xpert scratched my feet… and on spinning it spun too fast for me hehe, plus as mine is a chrome pole, every inch counted (i.e. CKR into bow and arrow into handstand was impossible, even just CKR into a handstand was hard, because all of a sudden, I was too low for the hands).

We took it down and got an Xstage (we couldn’t find any joists when we knocked the ceiling- it’s a top floor flat, and the expert had been in a corner underneath a low beam- the rest of the flat, the ceilings are 2.6m). I love my XStage, and I love wearing heels (unfortunately, everytime my daughter is around when I put my heels on, she decides it’s time to come and catch the heels- little pole dancer in the making), which I couldn’t in the 2m space, because it was so short, I reached the top with my hand even without heels hehe

Depending how high your ceilings are you might need an extension- for my 2m ceiling, I needed a 75cm “extension”, because Xpole is usually meant for higher ceilings than mine lol