Katherine McKinney
Forum Replies Created
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StrangeFox, saaaame. My PT for an injury included a lot of work on glutes, so I’m hoping that pays off at some point! Maybe we should post progress pics to this thread?
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Pole Raven, thank you!
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Thank you for the tip! I’m going to give that a try tomorrow and will post the results.
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I think spinning lessons are a great idea and something I don’t see too often!
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Hi, there! I used to be advanced and teach pole, but now I mainly do aerial silks and so am not nearly as on top of pole as I used to be. I’m trying to get back into it more lately, so I wouldn’t mind another Skype pole buddy. Plus, I see you are in Valdosta, GA–I lived there for a decade and would love to connect on that level, too. 🙂
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I agree that it is very distracting to have students working on moves that I am not teaching in my classes. It is also frustrating for students, and I have been told this many times by many different students.
Because of this, I do not allow students to work on moves that I am not teaching. However, in order to challenge students that are not beginner, I come prepared to throw more work at them! If there is a more advanced version of a move, I allow experienced students to work on it. I provide them with alternative ways into the move and ask them to practice. I ask them to transition into and out of the move using other beginner moves.
There are many ways to continue challenging students who are not beginners. However, I do feel that it is very important for students to work on what the instructor asks them to. As another poster noted, moves can always be perfected. The basics are lost if not practiced over and over again, and you will increase strength and improve flow even as an expert practicing beginner moves. I remind students of this all the time!
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I just had a baby last year, and I agree with Veena 100%. I don’t fit into mom groups as a mom because I don’t have the same complaints, and I DON’T want to talk about my baby when I’m in the company of other kickass women. In fact, I’d rather talk about just about anything else! I have a sweet little guy, and much like Veena said, we don’t fit our lives around him. Instead, we fit him into our lives! This means that pole time is a priority that is right up there with work, and thankfully I have a spouse who supports that completely.
I’ll be 32 in July, and I’m a mom who never thought I would be a mom. I was terrified about having a child–terrified that I wouldn’t be me anymore, terrified that it would be too difficult for me–but I have found that it is not as difficult as I always heard it was! Regardless of whether or not you become a mom, I would say that the best way to decide is to think of becoming a mother as taking on another really important job on top of the responsibilities you already have–and you don’t even know if you’ll like the job until you start it! However, if you do like it, it is incredibly rewarding and fulfilling.
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I agree with donnalee. Having sold and bought two houses in the past three years, go for clean, bright, and bland! It’s not fair, but a pole will turn away many buyers who won’t be able to think of other purposes for that room and will thinking about what you do in that room rather than what their lives would be like in that room.
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I’ve been on since 2010! I’d love for us all to chat more. The pole world sure has changed quite a bit since then! Chemgoddess, I completely agree with you. I am doing my best, but the pole world is just different now. This site is the closest I get to that passion I used to feel.
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Summerthyme,
First of all, I’m looking at your pole photos and thinking that you’re an incredible woman! You have gorgeous lines on the pole. It’s good to occasionally think about what you’ve already accomplished to keep you going through the dark. I don’t have a lot to add to this discussion medically, but one technique that has helped me in the past when I was working a crap job and didn’t feel that I had the time or energy to pole is to start scheduling my workouts.
I know that sounds terrible! Pole is supposed to be fun and an escape, etc. However, I’ve found that sometimes I have to schedule my escape, just like I have to schedule a vacation. And sometimes I don’t even want that escape/exercise at first and have to drag myself through it, but I always feel better after doing it. Once it becomes a habit, the fun and spontaneity will creep back in. If you’re tired when you get home, is it possible to schedule your work out for early in the morning before work? What about days off? Sometimes you just have to find the time and schedule in your fun in order to take it seriously. This may or may not work for you, but it’s what has worked for me in the past. Either way, I’m rooting for you!
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Veena, can’t wait to see your scope on this. Sexuality in pole is one of the areas I’m struggling with as a mom now. I’m hoping it will get easier once I finish breastfeeding in a couple of months!
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Good stuff here. I poled (in heels!) until I was nine months pregnant last year (there’s a video still up on my profile), and it really is sad how much women are shamed for trying to keep some semblance of normalcy in their lives while pregnant.
I mostly was concern-trolled for continuing to wear heels when I danced, even though I’d stopped inverting as soon as I found out I was pregnant and stopped climbing once my belly got in the way. By the end, I was only doing very light spins and floorwork. I went from wearing my usual 8-10 inch heels to 5-inch heels, and I felt incredibly safe in them. If I’d ever felt wobbly for a moment, I would have stopped wearing them, but I didn’t.
Some people felt the need to tell me to “slow down, be careful, it’s only 9 months,” etc. We all make choices while pregnant, and people should just stuff it, whether they agree or not. You don’t have to make the same choices I make, and whether I agree with the choices you make, I won’t open my mouth about it. I think that’s what it comes down to–for whatever reason, people feel that women’s bodies and choices are open for discussion, while men are often seen (in my experience) as the masters of their little universes.
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I second Eva Bembo! Alethea Austin and Cleo the Hurricane are classic dancers with amazing floorwork.
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I’ve fallen out of superman before as well, and that is not a fun experience. I managed to roll and hit my shoulder instead of my head, but I had horrendous bruising and held off on that move for probably six months after that. I took it very slowly and also tried a different way to get into superman first that made me more comfortable. I fell out of it from a shoulder mount to superman, and I spent a lot of time on the gemini to superman and the side climb to superman. You’ll be happy to know that this was four or five years ago, and now superman is one of my favorite moves. You’ll conquer it again, and your fall will only make you a stronger poler with more awareness!
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Lol@ginger78, yeah, I have the same problem. This big ‘ole booty will be held in by no shorts! I do think PinkPony makes a great point that being comfortable goes both ways. I want everyone to feel comfortable, including myself. I absolutely hate poling without heels. I realize a lot of people feel differently, but I started in heels, love my heels, and really, you’d have to pry them off my legs. I also like wearing booty shorts and shaking said booty.
It just comes down to preference. Personally, I wouldn’t attend a studio with a subtext of “Cover up, you might offend someone!!” I prefer studios where the subtext is “Open your mind! We’re all different, so let’s embrace that!” I have attended both kinds of studios and find that the latter is where I feel most comfortable. I’m just hoping those kind of places aren’t squeezed out as pole fitness mainstreams.
My classes all revolved around everyone feeling comfortable with themselves, which I loved, and girls who weren’t comfortable became more comfortable as time went on. It would be nice if studios could offer both types of classes, which is how my studio ended up panning out. I taught choreography and sexy floorwork classes where the atmosphere was really low key and accepting and we joked about our “vagina monsters” when we learned to straddle-walk. The studio also had classes under a “fit” moniker that were much more fitness based and wherein ladies wore longer shorts, tank tops, went barefoot more often, etc. There’s a place for every poler! I do agree that these two schools of thought can coexist peacefully, but only if we work hard not to exclude people.