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Penny, for some reason it cracks me up that you say 'goober.' Maybe because I haven't heard anyone really say it since I was little–that was what my dad would call my sister and I if we were being weird. I kind of miss that word. lol

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Back injuries seem to be pretty common for people who kick up into inverts. It is very important to engage your abdominal muscles in any type of exercise you do, but particularly during lifting exercises, because this protects your back. If they are using momentum to get into an invert, chances are they're not paying any attention to their abs, so it doesn't surprise me that people are coming away with hurt backs.

I wish instructors wouldn't teach a kick up as a precurser to lifting–instead of teaching students to kick up if they're not ready to lift, they could be using that time to go over strength training that could help their students properly lift into an invert.

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Thanks for the looking at the feet tip–I will definitely have to remember that when I start attempting it.

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I enjoy dancing to Nine Inch Nails–Physical, Hurt, Sunspots, Reptile, With Teeth and Piggy are all good songs from them. AC/DC also always puts me in the mood to dance for some reason. Let Me Put My Love Into You, Ride On, Black Ice, Hells Bells, War Machine, Got You By the Balls, to name a few.

Puscifier rev 22:20 is also a good song if you want to work on slow dancing. I like the Saw II soundtrack version the best.

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Congats! Great job! I will probably be working on this one sometime this year, although I have to admit I am a bit intimidated by it because balance is not my strong suit AT ALL.

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Jooser–I wish all pole teachers taught like that! I incorporate rings into my non-pole workouts, and it definitely helps you to understand how to engage the muscles necessary to pull yourself upside down on a pole. I've been doing strength training since I was a teenager, so over the last several years I've done lots of chin-ups and pull-ups, and that's how I think of doing an invert–when you're doing a proper chin-up you're in a dead hang and can't use momentum or jumping to get up to the bar, so I pull myself up the same way I would while doing a chin-up. That really helped me visualize how to do it using my muscles and not my momentum. I think too many people just invert before they have the strength to do it properly because it looks cool. That's exactly what my friend was doing–though I told her several times that a proper invert, even a basic one, took a lot more upper body and ab strength than you would imagine, she still decided she was going upside down and just hurled herself into it. I'm glad she doesn't have her own pole and won't have the financial means to get one for a long time, because I know she'd be inverting on it despite what I told her and would probably end up injured eventually, or at the very least picking up some very bad habits. A lot of people do the same thing, it's just unfortunate that some of them go on to teach.

HannahElizabeth–it sounds like the same one. I cringed too when I saw it, and then when I realized she was an actual instructor my jaw dropped a little bit. All I could think was how dangerous it was and how many people might be picking her bad habits up as well. I actually showed the video to my sister, who knows next to nothing about pole dancing except that it looks cool, and even she said it looked pretty clunky. I don't think she was as horrified as me, but that's probably just because she doesn't know how to invert and doesn't understand just how badly it was done. To her, it just either looks good or it doesn't look good. 

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Congrats on your new pole! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif

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I agree PMing is probably best–I definitely feel uncomfortable about calling out someone who is an instructor, particularly when I am not, and while you're right, Polefairy, I don't know how exactly she is teaching from watching one YT vid, I assume that if she is using bad technique to get into even a basic invert in a video, then I would imagine that is how she is demonstrating the moves to her students as well. I too thought that she might be a beginner instructor just teaching spins and floorwork and whatnot, however one of the comments was from someone who said they were a student of hers and that she was now a level 4. I know every studio is different, but every studio I've known of, a level 4 is intermediate at least and inverts are being taught. I guess it depends on how many levels they have, but still. Level 4 seems pretty high for teaching beginner spins and floorwork.

I did watch a video of another instructor from the same studio and she was much better–she did hop into her inverts a little bit, but she had a lot more control and didn't have to fumble to get into her invert, which made me feel a bit better, so hopefully it's just this one instructor.

She just reminded me of a friend who used to come and pole with me who would attempt to invert even after I cautioned her several times not to because she was an absolute beginner with no upper body strength. After warning her not to do it, she tried inverting three different times whenever I looked away–once she actually managed to, but only by really throwing herself into the move and by pure dumb luck managing to hook her ankles. The instructor didn't use as much momentum as my friend did, but she definitely didn't lift into it and she had trouble getting herself situated once she was upside down. I guess that was why it bothered me so much–it made me cringe when my friend did it because all I could think of was how dangerous it was, and to see an instructor do the same thing, even to a lesser degree just really struck me.

I'm really not concerned with a little hop here or there–while I would still much rather see all lift and no hop, I understand sometimes people just push off a foot harder than they mean to, or they're being a bit lazy that day or whatever. What concerns me is when I see almost all momentum and no lift being used to get into an invert.  

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"Unfortunately, just as there are crappy doctors, and crappy school teachers, there will always be crappy pole instructors too."

True. I did think about leaving a comment on the video about how she was not engaging her muscles properly by flinging herself into the invert like that and was opening herself–and any students she taught as well–to injury by doing that, but then I thought 'well, she's already an instructor, it's not like I can do anything.' But now I've been thinking about it, and people are going to watch that video and figure since she's an instructor she's doing it properly and might emulate her. I'm just trying to figure out exactly how I could word a comment in a way that wouldn't rile anyone too much–nobody listens to constructive criticism if they're pissed off.

Kobajo–this was a stationary pole and it was just a static hold she was doing, so she wasn't trying to get momentum for a spin. I push off one foot to get a faster spin if I'm doing a spinning v or scorpio on my pole since it's static only, but even then I'm still lifting into it for the most part. And this wasn't just a little hop or something she did–I can deal with that–this was a fling your legs up and get ahold of it however you could.

" I've even heard people say that conditioning exercises weren't really necessary for the basic invert which is sad because without those it leads to the jumping into invert."  

That's scary–if you don't learn which muscles to use in a basic invert, how are you supposed to understand how to properly execute more advanced inverts? Any instructor claiming that really shouldn't be teaching.

It just galls me that people don't stop and think for a second. Pole dancing is very demanding and has the potential for a lot of injuries if safe techniques are not being taught. If you want to be an instructor, fine, but safety should be your number one priority for you and your students.

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"But it seems ok to think it needs a guy name, would i really want a "girl" between my thigh? probably not LOL."

You bring up an interesting point. Previously I was totally hetero, but now that I have a female pole, does this make me bisexual?

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Mine doesn't have a name but I too have considered it. lmao She's a girl–all of my vehicles are too, actually. I don't know why–maybe because I am pretty tomboyish and hang out with guys and men tend to refer to everything–boats, cars, bikes, etc. etc.–as 'she.'

I'm not sure what I would call her though–I feel like she deserves something a little slutty, but nothing over-the-top. The stripper who's sexual without being nasty.

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Thanks for the heads up! I'm in the market for some new heels.

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I love that first shoulder mount with the side press–anyone have any tips for doing that?

Love the whole video–amazing control and grace.

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Happy Birthday!

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Right back at you!