[kasanya]

Posture issues may also be preventing her from making progress. I had a really pronounced anterior pelvic tilt (AKA sway back), but I've been working with a personal trainer lately to correct that and I noticed that my front splits have improved by 3 inches even though I haven't been stretching much.

[kasanya]

Yeah, if I can't find one here then I'll try touching bases with the pole studios in town. Spending an entire month sitting around bored in an empty condo is not an option! (Although my floorwork would probably be amazing by the time I leave, LOL!)

[kasanya]

Better questions to ask:

Are you bigger than average or have big hands? You might prefer a 50mm.

Are you smaller than average or have small hands? You might prefer a 45mm.

Are you a tiny, petite little thing? You might prefer a 40mm.

Are you planning to dance in clubs? They usually have thicker poles. You might prefer a 50mm.

Are you planning to dance in non-exotic pole competitions? 45mm chrome seems to be the standard for those in North America.

Do you want to be able to easily transition between your home and studio poles? Go with what they use.

Do you want a good resale value for your pole? Go with a 45mm. It's easy to find second hand 50mm poles, but not many people are parting with 45mm ones.

[kasanya]

Dirdy Birdy has a really good tutorial on YouTube which covers inverting / aerial inverting / spin mode inverting / spin mode aerial inverting / invert preps.

[kasanya]

I have had really good results using Tite Grip on the inner thighs. It's an antiperspirant grip aid, so it prevents sweating wherever you apply it. It's made a world of difference for me with pole sit and plank types moves during hot, humid weather.

[kasanya]

Extended butterfly… Roxi spin…

[kasanya]

The trigger point book has the maps Inky was talking about. I was amazed to discover it was a knot hiding behind my collar bone that was causing all my rhomboid pain! Who would have thought? It's very strange how knots in one part of the body actually refer pain to completely different spots.

[kasanya]

Oh, for anyone that does decide to do an amateur show and wants to bust out impressive pole tricks… Make sure you check how stable the poles are and CLEAN THEM at the start of your set. You have no idea how well they're being maintained and what sorts of lotions girls have been wearing on stage before you got up there. Better safe than sorry!

[kasanya]

Honestly, it all depends on why you're thinking about doing it, what you hope to get out of the experience, and what the club / show is like. Amateur shows can be a lot of fun or they can be super lame.

I've done probably around 15 or 20 amateur shows at 5 different clubs. My favorite ones are the shows that aren't structured as competitions. At those clubs, you just show up and get paid whatever that club pays for a standard stage set, plus you get to keep whatever tips the guys throw up on stage (and the tipping culture is good here). It's an easy way to make $100ish for 15 mins of work. (And honestly, I consider it more play than work.) I don't really care for the competition style ones, because most of the time you'll walk away with nothing to show for your time other than a bit of stage experience… which can be valuable, in and of itself. As I said, it all depends on what you're hoping to get out of the experience.

I would also like to add, dancing in amateur shows was the best thing I ever did for my self-esteem. It is such an honest compliment when a guy throws money up on the stage, for no other reason than he likes what he's seeing. They know they're going to get absolutely nothing in return for their money.

Anyway, that's my 2c. Most of the responses so far have been pretty negative on the amateur show thing, so I wanted to offer a different perspective.

[kasanya]

I would recommend getting a copy of this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Treatment/dp/1572243759/

It took me 2 days of self-treatment to get rid of my upper back pain and inflammation that 7 months of rehab had done nothing to fix. I'm finally back on my pole and progressing into new move territory and my forearms are taking a beating from all the SG work I'm doing now. I've found the forearm section of the book helpful with that.

If you're not already doing them, you should also be doing Veena's wrist conditioning exercises. If you have strong, Popeye forearms, they're less likely to get irritated by being used. And, as Lina said, stretch them out!

Good luck. Chronic injuries are sooooo frustrating. *hugs*

[kasanya]

If you're interested in learning to do it yourself, you can download a free program called Audacity. I've used it to shorten a lot of songs (super easy!) and to lengthen others by creatively cutting and pasting (trickier, but gets easier with practice).

[kasanya]

It's always legit to tell someone "no" because you already have too much on your plate. If you keep that in mind, you'll never be caught without a "good" reason to decline something.

[kasanya]

Congrats! I'm glad it was a good experience for you. =)

[kasanya]

Good luck!! =D

[kasanya]

You might be thinking of the video Dirdy Birdy did recently on the Icarus? It's a similar trick.

Here's another Titanic tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbGtoovvuvE