[iani]

So, I got BITNB, and since I was the one starting this thread asking for reviews.. I thought it would be good to leave one, too =)

From a strength perspective: it’s not amazing, it will definitely not replace any conditioning sessions in the gym, and tbh the legs/butt sections feel rushed and a bit useless. Ab section on the other hand is nice, and I find it much better and ore useful and functional than the crunch-fest that was abs on RLNA. Keep in mind, strength is not the main objective of the video, so it makes sense it’s not amazing, and the good thing is that even the leg/ab exercises are back flexibility oriented.

Everything else: REALLY GOOD. The flexibility exercises are sound, good, well paced and pretty well explained, I like the sequence they are in, and how you are always led through opening your shoulders before starting the actual back bending, and encouraged to not only bend from your lower back. A lot of active flexibility, and of simple exercises to open up backs that are tight from sitting in an office all day. Bridge section is also VERY good imho, giving good pointers on how to improve.

Music is cool like always, and I now have a total crush on Stacey, too… so, as everyone else said: if you liked RLNA, this is at least as good as that, of not better.
Caveat: it is VERY back specific (as if the name was not enough), so don’t think you can use this as your sole training program, cause it won’t do much for strength or lower-body flexibility.

PS: is it me, or Cleo’s arms and shoulders (and her whole body, tbh) are INCREDIBLE in this video? I always had a major crush on her, but she looks so *fit* and *healthy* in this one… *swoons*. Sorry 😀

[iani]

Yay!!! Thanks a lot, that’s exactly the kind of info I was looking for. It looks like my treat of the month is gonna be spent on Cleo! =)

[iani]

It’s harder because you are wearing something that restricts your movements and makes your brain fully aware of the fact you cannot jump down if all else should fail (tbh I doubt jumping out of a failed invert is ever an answer, but your brain is very gullible).
Mostly, though, you are putting sth fairly heavy at the end of a pretty long lever, and asking your abs to just perform the same, when conditions are definitely different. Physics can be a bitch.

[iani]

Thanks a lot =)
Sadly there’s no studs in this kind of ceiling, but my contractor is doing some calculations and studying up on safety requirements for rigging (I was lucky to find this guy!!) and will get back to me with options soon… can’t wait!

I am trying to avoid an A-frame for several reasons… price, space (pole and fly gym go more or less in the same place and I plan to swap them, if I have to move the A-frame every time I want to pole, I am gonna be too lazy), ease of cleaning around whatever solution I find… so I hope to figure out sth that can be attached to the ceiling.

[iani]

6 kids, respect! And with a ballet background, for many things you will need to remind your body how to do things rather than learn from scratch.
Try to figure out some clear goals of pole things you want to achieve, and then figure out what the steps for getting there are. It will make training in a consistent way easier, more fun, and seeing yourself achieve goals will make everything more rewarding.

And remember to train safe, and to make sure you are treating your body right. Pole is a lot of effort, and the potential for injury is proportional, I am sure you know this from ballet. Do all the research needed before trying something new, and if you train at home, make sure you have the strength and flexibility required before trying something new 🙂

[iani]

Honestly? With that attitude, you could be 20 and strong and flexy and get nowhere 😉

Pole is hard. But it’s amazing in that anyone, if they work at it, can get to do things that are absurdly cool and which they would have never imagined.
I know polers who started around your age and who are miles better than me (31) (ok that means nothing as I am a beginner, but they are actually advanced and really quite good). Two of them had no sporty past.
Starting at 46 with no background in dance or gymnastics means it will be very hard to get some things down. You might never have the pointed feet of someone who did ballet since they were 4. The flexibility and core control of a gymnast. But you can definitely become as good as any 20yo who starts without a specific dance/gymnastics background.

Replace the “half-heartedly” with a “passionately”, and you can get to anywhere you want 🙂

[iani]

I took the survey and thought it was fine. I have no psychology background so the “offensive” bits might just have gone over my head.
Is it maybe possible that people got offended because some things are sore points for specific reasons?

In any case, peace and pole

[iani]

I never used an activity monitor but was looking at some of the wrist ones last week and they seem very interesting. From those who use one, do you really find it worth the price? Do you actually keep it on most of the time, or is it annoying for every day wear? How reliable is it, and how useful do you find it?

[iani]

That sounds like a lot of work!
Only obvious stuff to say, but make sure you pamper your body in every way you can if you are asking it to work a lot for you… try and sleep at least a full 8 hours on those days, eat well, warm up as thoroughly as possible.
Kudos for your hard work!

[iani]

I cannot pole for some months cause of knee injury, but this should mostly be doable! yay! Thanks Veena, for unknowingly giving me motivation to do something at a time when training is super frustrating!

[iani]

Don’t feel discouraged! Things take time, and we do not all find the same things easy.

Pole is good at making you realize where your weaknesses are. If strength is one of yours, then don’t get discouraged, just take it as extra motivation to train it 🙂 Veena’s conditioning lessons are pretty cool, so you even already have a good starting point.
Another thing I notice for a lot of girls who do not have gymnastics or fitness background, is that they do not know how to engage their shoulders and back, which is a bit of a pet peeve for me. When you lift yourself off the ground, you are definitely not aiming to do it all by arms strength. It should be at least half from your back, so maybe try to get familiar with the concept of lifting yourself using your back with static pole holds, and then apply it to spins and such. Veena’s lessons about shoulder positioning and scapula mobility are really great for this.
(Seriously, I always thought I would never be able to do a single pullup. If I try with my arms alone, I probably still can’t. After learning how to engage and use my back, I can now do 10 straight pullups, which is more than many guys can. There is hope for everyone!)

[iani]

Rant warning.

I wanted to make this challenge so much, I even got a camcorder, figured out how to use stuff, was so hype about it all. So hype about the fact it was for beginners like me so I would have no excuse.

Then I missed 2 days because of figuring out how to use the camcorder cause I’m a fool, and now it seems like every single day there are people over and I cannot pole (pole is in living room). And now it’s my birthday and it was planned that I would have some time to relax and pole and catch up, and guess what, bf is on the couch with friends watching a tournament on stream. (I like them and I understand the tournament is today and they cannot watch it at another time, I am not complaining against them, but DAMNIT I wanna do my challenge T_T )

/endofrant.

Sorry, needed to vent.

[iani]

Totally agree with what has been said, and my addition to the “look at your clothes and how they fit and not at the scales” (which is golden):
Nobody seems to ever remember this on nutrition programs, training schedules, and the like, but… the female body lives on a 28-day cycle (more or less). You cannot expect it to forget this just because you are training.

Try to compare yourself once a month or so. The week-by-week approach a lot of guys take when training to lose weight or get buff does not really work for girls, and can be very frustrating. And frustration leads to 1kg ice cream buckets, and 1kg ice cream buckets lead to… well, happy places, but also to the jiggly side =D

(Real life example: I always get 3 to 5kg on “those days”, and feel and look bigger. I normally lose it right away in less than a week, but if I were to take pics of myself expecting to look cut it would be a severe disappointment =)

[iani]

This is my starting point… let’s see where I get to! (Hopefully I will get to better camera conditions, if not to my splits!)

[iani]

I feel so stupid. I’ve been taking vids with the new camera, but I am still looking for a free software that will allow me to crop them and trim and import to instagram… at some point I will spam the challenge with all the days that have gone so far, in the meantime does anyone have suggestion? camera records in mp4.