Nancy Baker
Forum Replies Created
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It’s funny, I feel like you wrote my letter! I felt that way about a year ago. The studio I go to is like yours, good atmosphere, great teachers, supportive and I’ve made some really good friends in class. But they were all more flexible and more advanced than me in spite of the fact that we’ve all been taking classes together since the beginning. I had been taking classes for 8 years and was a Level 4, able to do advanced tricks requiring a lot of strength but always feeling like I looked sloppy, couldn’t execute combos without stopping between tricks, dance moves feeling awkward. So my solution was to drop out for a year. I love pole, it’s the only exercise I’ve ever actually enjoyed and the whole time I was out I missed it. I finally signed up to return at a lower level. My advice to you would be to just drop back to a lower level now and don’t stop completely. It’s so frustrating to know that you used to be able to do something and you know how in your head but your body has lost the strength that you had. I know I can build back up to it but if I had never completely stopped…… I’m really even enjoying the Level 1 classes now. Every time I go I learn something new about a trick I thought I had, a new way to do it or a correction in my technique that makes it prettier. I go to Level 2 and Level 3 classes sometimes too. The Level 2 classes match my strength level pretty well and I can do most things but once again, I find there are things I’ve forgotten. On the ones that I know well I can concentrate on how to make them prettier. In the Level 3 classes, I struggle with not being able to invert yet when I could do it easily before. To do a shoulder mount invert will take me a long, long time to build back up to. If I had it to do over again, I would talk to the studio owner and confess that I still felt awkward and inferior (I did) and I would start over in Level 1 & 2 and progress without losing my strength, concentrating on perfecting the basics as I went along. This time I’m not so anxious to be promoted to the next level. Hope my experience helps you to decide what you might want to do!
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It’s no different than when the Pussycat Dolls sing “Don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?”
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I thought the survey was fine. It presented what I must admit are some very real misconceptions about pole fitness and gave me a chance to say that I thought they were misconceptions and to tell why. I’m 56, a nurse, very conservative upbringing and live in a very conservative community. I’ve been taking pole classes for 8 years and I consider myself intermediate in skill. I love it but I’m very selective about who I tell about it. I wish it didn’t have to be that way. I am very excited that someone in a university setting finds pole fitness a topic worthy of researching. Thank you, I hope the results of your research will allow people to have a more realistic perception of what pole fitness really is in these current days and times.
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What size is it?
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I’m 59, will be 60 in July. I started pole fitness 5 years ago and if I miss a few days I really miss it! My shoulders and thighs have definition and I don’t have any arm wing flaps. I can wear sleeveless shirts when my friends can’t because they are “women of a certain age.” Too bad they don’t know what I know! This is the only exercise I’ve ever liked in my entire life and I’ve tried them all. I won’t give this up until I just can’t do it anymore. By the way, I’m Level 4 at the studio and I do inversions with the 20 somethings.