[kittyface]

I have to wear platform heels at work, and I really dislike it. There’s so many moves (mostly the ones that involve having your legs far away from the pole or ones where you’re moving your legs through tight spaces, also foot and ankle holds) that they get in the way of. For a while I could only consistently shoulder mount in the studio because my heels weighed too much for me to do them at work =/ The higher platform you have, the more they weigh.

So I’m definitely part of the “no shoes” crowd, but when I need a new pair for work I typically stop at a Fascinations for a pair of Pleasers. They definitely have ones under $100 there, and I’ve always gotten a pair under $70.

[kittyface]

@AllysonKendal …*facepalm* Whoops. I feel silly now =P

Huh, the only thing I could think of is that maybe it was more or less humid on certain days. The usually slightly-slippery SS poles at my studio became ultra-sticky one day because of that. The floor was slippery as hell though O.O We were putting Dry Hands all over our feet that day.

[kittyface]

@Strawberrysmoothie That’s an awesome video!

Kirkthomas, I’ve found that most studios (in my area at least) will say somewhere on their site if they’re co-ed or women-only. It sucks that most of the pole places near you are women-only =/ If it makes you feel any better, even as a woman I am vastly more comfortable poling at a co-ed studio, and I don’t think I would go to a women-only studio at all.

If you can’t find a good co-ed studio, I wonder if you could find someone in your area who has a home pole and use that, either alone or with him/her as a pole buddy? You could even ask on here, I’ve seen people find pole buddies that way, so maybe it could work for finding a home pole. If not, I like Nina’s idea of getting an inexpensive quality pole and buying Veena’s lessons. It’s more expensive up front, but keep in mind it’s waaaay cheaper in the long run. You could save up for it, get it, and not have to spend another dime on pole for at least a year, as opposed to continually paying for lessons at a studio.

I would recommend Kenneth Kao’s videos for more male pole dancer inspiration. I can’t embed a video because my phone browser is crap, but search “Kenneth kao pole expo” or Kenneth kao pole jump” on YouTube if you want to see it.

Good luck, I hope you hear good things from the studio you emailed!

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@AllysonKendal Do you think maybe the poles were more narrow, like 40mm or 45 (if you don’t usually use a 45)? That could possibly explain why hand grippy moves like Ayesha and butterfly were easier, and that would also decrease the surface area on your shoulder and make shoulder mounts a bit more difficult.

I’m very comfortably situated with my studio at home, but my wife and I were considering taking a trip through the West coast this summer and I was recently looking for studios I could visit. It didn’t occur to me to ask about pole diameter/finish. I’m not sure what finish I prefer – brass seems to work a bit better than stainless steel for me, that’s about all I know, and the difference isn’t huge – I know I greatly prefer a 45 over a 50. Honestly, if a studio had 50s it would be a bit of a turn-off but not a dealbreaker, since I can still work with them and I wouldn’t be there for long anyways. I imagine it would be different if I were leaving my home studio and looking for a different one, but I feel like diameter would be more important than finish in that case (unless it was SO sticky that I couldn’t do drops, like powder coated or something).

[kittyface]

Club like strip club, or club like dance club? Or am I way off base here?

If you’re talking strip club, most clubs (from what I’ve seen, I’ve danced at three clubs so far) are pretty much constantly doing auditions for new dancers, if that’s what you have in mind. I can’t really tell you about waitressing/bartending/being a shot girl in a club, if that’s more what you had in mind, but I’ve seen quite a few girls start as dancers and become waitresses/bartenders, as well as vice versa.

I have more to say on this – as a current strip club dancer – but I want to make sure I understood you correctly before I make a fool of myself and answer a question you didn’t even ask =P

[kittyface]

I don’t think you’re ragging on anyone, I think we need to call out questionable stuff when we see it. We don’t need shady companies endangering pole fitness newbies and giving us a bad name.

And yeah, that looks horribly unsafe to me – the width of the base and the top, like you mentioned, but also – do you see how the pole narrows at the top and bottom, right before the base? That seriously looks about ready to snap O_O And they claim to have a spin option as well? Yikes! It would make me feel a bit better if they at least screwed it in, but the website says they don’t use screws. I can’t imagine how this could be safe at all.

[kittyface]

I know you feel frustrated with your current progression, but please please don’t feel like you *should* be at any given trick or lesson or level as defined by whatever lessons you’re using! I work at a strip club and I’m ALL about the pole and my stage show, I always have been, I’ve always worked at least three nights a week, so I get a hell of a lot of pole time – and it still took me a year to invert! And you bet that was a sh**ty invert, with me barely catching the pole with my leg and hauling my butt up =P

In pole dance you’re just working with your own body (and lifting/spinning/etc. your own body weight) and a pole – and everybody’s body weight is proportioned differently through various heights and shapes, varying ratios of fat to muscle, etc. Everyone’s body is SO different, and that affects each pole dancer’s strengths and weaknesses so much. There really is no saying where any given pole dancer *should* be in regards to what she/he is working on, as long as she/he isn’t pushing her/his body too hard. Also, it can take a while to really strengthen the muscles you’re using for any given spin or trick. Don’t be hard on yourself if you’re moving more slowly than you initially expected. This stuff takes a lot of strength and body awareness – including the beginner spins. Take a minute to think about and be proud of what you can do right now, because what you can do right now is amazing 🙂 You will get to where you want to be, but don’t let your focus on that frustrate you too much and take away from your joy in what you can do right now!

[kittyface]

Do you ever practice on static, or are you always practicing on spin mode? Because I have a really hard time doing any kind of ground spin in spin mode. When the pole is spinning, you have to exert more force to overcome the outward pull of the spin and stay on the pole. I’ve got quite a bit of strength but that’s still really challenging for me, maybe in part because I’m used to static.

Alternatively, do you have sweaty hands? That could make hand grips quite a bit more difficult and make you slip. I use Dry Hands when I start to sweat, but there’s a variety of other grip products that could help if that’s your problem win hand grips 🙂

[kittyface]

I just started to get a really consistent shoulder mount, and I got a bunch of no-hands brass monkeys this last weekend 😀 Can’t wait to show my instructors!

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@dizzykitty19951263 – Hey, I used to ride horses too! I just fell a lot, and I could never quite get over my fear, I think. That’s why I rode for 4-5 years and never really jumped much =P I do miss horses, though, even if I don’t really want to ride them anymore.

Okay, I totally just realized there was a question about pole-life balance in your original post. I feel super silly and unobservant now. =P

I feel super lucky in this regard because, even though my wife and I met before I started pole dancing, she’s always been super supportive and proud of me. I’m always the one worrying that I’m talking about pole too much, and she’s always the one reassuring me that I’m not 🙂 I’ve mainly been meeting people through pole lately, so they obviously don’t mind either. As for school, well… I dropped out of college and started working as a strip club dancer =P I’m afraid I can’t help you much unless you’re planning on doing that, hehe xD

Oh, and I have the problem of thinking about combos when I really should be asleep.

@Casi – Ugh, that really sucks! I hope that injury heals faster than expected and you can get back on the pole soon 🙂

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Hello, and welcome to StudioVeena – and to pole dancing! 🙂

I don’t have a pole at home, and I’ve never tried a 38 or a 40mm pole, but I do work with two different diameters of pole like you do (45mm in the studio and 50mm in the club I work at). It sucks because I work with a 50 the vast majority of the time, but EVERYTHING is easier on a 45 for me =/ Hand grips especially are terrible on a 50, especially with my baby hands, so I understand your pain!

Kudos on getting a Cupid, BTW – I’ve gotten that a grand total of one time in 1.5 years of poling, hehe. You’re doing really well 🙂

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Hehe, I love this question 🙂 My response is probably way longer than you expected, sorry if it’s a bit of a novel o.o

I’ve been poling for about 1 1/2 years, a bit longer. I always really liked it, but my real pole frenzy – like, think-about-it-all-the-time frenzy – didn’t really start until about a year in, when I got my basic invert/outside leg hang. That was a big win for me because I came into the sport with NO upper body strength, and once I got that I started to feel like I could really work on what I wanted to do. I had felt really stuck and kind of hopeless up to that point, which did ruin some of my enthusiasm, but after that I really took off and started *getting* things. That was the point when I really knew this was my passion.

One thing I can say for sure is that I’ve dabbled in so many different things throughout my life – fitness-related and otherwise – but absolutely none of them has stuck the way pole dancing has. I tried some dance classes (as well as music, science, art, etc.) when I was younger, but everything felt way too strict and structured for me and any real joy I got out of it was sucked out by the strictness of it. Zumba/biking on my own wasn’t super structured, but I never felt like I was building towards anything I could identify. Pole dancing, on the other hand, is the perfect balance of structured teaching and self-guided play. I never feel like the structure of learning sucks the joy out like it did for everything else, but I have enough guidance so I can learn safely and feel the difference in my own body every day. I am stronger, more flexible, and more body-aware than I ever dreamed I could be. I can do things with my body that I never thought possible for me. I never thought I would end up realizing that my big passion in life is the wonderful mix of dance and acrobatics that is pole, but I did, and it’s *awesome*.

That’s why I definitely see this being a lifelong passion and not a fleeting interest for me. Hopefully that made some sense, and perhaps some of that resonates with you 🙂

[kittyface]

I don’t have thin legs, but I have tiny little baby hands, and I empathize SO MUCH with grip issues on a 50. My hands don’t even go all the way around a 50 -.- I haaaaate using a 50 for anything with my hands especially, but I’ve also found everything else – body holds included – easier on a 45. I’m not sure why, but that diameter just agrees with me all around. I’ve never tried a 40 (I imagine that would be too small for me for body holds to be comfortable), but I love the 45 way better than the 50.

Have you tried a 45, and compared how the 45 feels compared to a 40? 50 to 40 just seems like a huge jump especially considering how much of a difference just 5mm can make. If you’re a small person then I imagine a 40 will work for you, but I’d definitely find a way to try both diameters before buying.

[kittyface]

I got my EG ayesha bout a year and a half from since I started pole, maybe slightly more, but I was a slow learner. It took me a year to get my basic invert, so it was about six months after that point that I got my EG ayesha. I honestly wasn’t focusing on it at all – I had set it to the side, sure that I didn’t have the strength to do it, but one day I was doing a bunch of really solid caterpillar climbs and just decided to try it, and it worked.

I got my shoulder V and my Ayesha at about the same time, so if you can hold a shoulder V + have a solid caterpillar climb I’m inclined to say it’s not a strength issue. Honestly, my biggest barrier to the caterpillar climb and the ayesha on my weak side is the pain of the elbow grip, since I haven’t conditioned my left elbow as much. I know I have the strength, it just hurts the skin of my inner elbow too much to hold it long enough even for a caterpillar climb. Could that be part of the issue?

[kittyface]

With my instructor’s help, I finally got over my nerves/lack of confidence and got a shoulder V 🙂 One of these days I’ll get his crazy shoulder-hop-up-the-pole trick =P

In general, I’m really starting to feel confident in my own strength, and capable of seeing myself learning the advanced tricks that I want to learn. Even if it is in months or years for a lot of them, it’s not a generic, vaguely hopeless “someday” anymore 🙂

I love all of these!