Forum Replies Created

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  • paintilady

    Member
    January 3, 2014 at 8:49 pm in reply to: paypal pains

    Interesting that they ask you to link a credit card, I thought Pay Pal was really an option for those wishing to use their bank account instead of a credit card.

    What happens if you do not own credit cards? I currently have no credit cards linked to my Pay Pal account, but then I ‘ve had it for years.

  • paintilady

    Member
    November 19, 2013 at 7:56 pm in reply to: Sweaty hands

    I’m going to mention something we have tried. NO Antiperspirant under your arms! It works for some people! You stop an awful lot of sweat in one area of your body and it has to come out somewhere. Use deodorant, or nothing.

    We have experimented with this and have found results. The results may not be huge but they work and when you eventually get callus’s on your hands, you won’t have to worry about it.

  • paintilady

    Member
    October 14, 2013 at 11:29 pm in reply to: I need your help with pole fitness market research

    Tucson!  Heart of Conservative land! 

    tucsonpolefitness@gmail.com

  • paintilady

    Member
    September 26, 2013 at 10:18 am in reply to: Shoulder Injury

    Robynpoledancer,

    What kind of surgery did you have?  Did you have a rotator cuff tear? 

    Firstpastthepost  at your age, shoulder injuries are going to be easier to do and take much longer to repair.  I am just about your age and have been told by my Dr he starts seeing lots of what he calls "over head" athletes in his office in their mid 40s and way more in their 50's.  Those who do arms over head sports.  According to him, you body just starts breaking down and some people just can not continue at the level they did when they were young.  A real disappointment when you are healthy strong, and not ready to cut back on progress on the pole.  🙁

    In Jan I was diagnosed by him after X-rays to rest and go to therapy.  I did not rest enough.  The pain went some but never all the way. I went back in July and demanded an MRI a very costly procedure.  It turns out I had calcium deposits on my bone under my cuff that were getting large and growing out into my tendons, very painful and by now a very tiny tear in my rotator cuff.  To repair this is surgery and about a year off to recover and get strength back.  At my age I don't know if I will do it, it is very painful surgery and a long recovery.  Right now I am completely off the pole pretty much, the pain has went away with about 10 weeks rest I have lost lots of strength and have been battling weight gain with trying to replace pole with other physical exercise.  Tendons do not heal themselves.  You have to have surgery. 

    In order to guard your shoulders you really should not ever jump into or use momentum into such difficult moves, and if you can not hold the moves properly you will run the risk of injury. 

    I would advise anyone who is having pain during sleep in their shoulders and think they have a problem, demand an MRI from you doctor, you may be diagnosed properly earlier and not have went through what I did.  My shoulders hurt during sleep more than during the day.  MRI's are very expensive and usually they do X-rays first tell you to do therapy rest.  Tears can not be seen by X-rays at least not mine, and sometimes calcium deposits are hard to see. I don't even know why they want X-rays if you have more than likely a muscle or tendon problem.

    I hope you rest, stay off the pole and don't over do it for your shoulders when you get back on.

     

  • paintilady

    Member
    September 21, 2013 at 12:02 am in reply to: Pole Studio SOS

    We have seemed to manage well, with drop in classes and our policy of we don't like anyone to share poles.  I tell students that sharing poles a few times a year is worth it instead of having to reserve  poles, un reserve and get your card charged because you reserved a pole and did not show up and we turned ladies away. They understand.

    We have 9 poles in one room about 1200 square feet and 6 poles in room 2.  Our unlimited class members don't ever seem to get so many that we can't handle it or classes get over crowded, I think this is because of the type of town we live in and the conservative nature of this town, and apprehension to pole dancing here, and our location.  We some how are just steady eddy, kind of full and not having an over full problem.

    If we had 18 ladies show up and they were unlimited members, we would have to add classes. it would not work for us.

    What does seem to overflow our classes are punch cards, drop ins, or some kind of payment option for beginners with no commitment.  They don't come regularly, and it is hard to gage when to add classes.  For this reason our regulating members seems to be related to price and packages that require commitment, like 2 month commitment of unlimited classes. We figure out who comes when and get to know our students and add classes when asked to.  With this type of payment options many don't come and it is just as well, students really need to come on a regular basis, to get better.  Drop ins, punch cards and week passes are only for our intermediate advanced students that fare better with coming to pole less frequent. They have to have been around a while to get that payment type option. This is what works for us.

    Only in our slow season which is Holidays, Thanksgiving to New Years when classes are empty, people are traveling and busy do we bring back drop ins, punch cards and weekly passes for beginners.   It is at this time classes change a little with more infrequent type students and not so many regulars. 

    If there are a couple extra that show up to a class the teacher gives up her pole and demonstrates moves and has the whole class work on moves instead of a routine. If there are a few extra that show up we may turn the class into some kind of fun rotation workshop kind of like Curves, where everyone moves from  pole to pole with specific moves in between poles like somersaults, lunges, pirouettes, then a spin on a pole move on and a new move on the next pole and it turns into a circuit, with teacher leading.  Class really only does moves they are familiar with or easy.  It becomes a workout with emphasis on fluid movement, and creativity of the individual getting to do the move on the poles they are familiar with.  This is for beginner types. The in between pole parts are where student have to work on walking from pole to pole slinky, sexy  or getting to the other pole in some way other than just a boring walk. This they are not use to doing and brings something unexpected to class they have to focus on.

    Intermediate pole members we are never too full, only beginning pole can be over full.

    More often than not we take over flow into room 2, pull out the newest members and work with them.  This only happens maybe not even 10 times year!

  • paintilady

    Member
    September 19, 2013 at 1:04 am in reply to: Dancers who use short poles

    Korinne is right!  If you have a shortish pole, spin pole will work better as you can climb, pose and practice maintaining a position, then invert into a leg hook, maybe slide down a little pull back up, and by keeping yourself on the pole, and not touching the floor much but you can concentrate holding poses on a spinning pole ….. building strength, and learning transitions in and out of moves while you are "stuck" on the pole.  At least that's what I find feels better on a shortish pole.  If that makes sense.  Since climbing up and transitioning down a tall pole is not possible try maintaining poses in the middle of the pole, it's a whole different pole world!   Hopefully you have spiny mode!

     

    🙂

  • paintilady

    Member
    September 18, 2013 at 12:35 am in reply to: SV Pole or Pole Sleeve?

    I am disappointed that Pole Sleeve did not have at Pole Expo the 1.50 inch competition grade pole with a sleeve on it.  I ordered the sleeve for a 45 mm pole and the sleeve put the pole back to 2 inches.  I sent the sleeve back and ordered the super skinny pole and sleeve. 

     With all the complaints about how thick the pole gets once you put the sleeve on a 45 or 50 mm pole you think they would have brought a sleeve and a super skinny pole which would have made everyone happy, but then it was designed by a dude!  Not a lady!

    Platinum stages makes a 1.50 pole and the sleeve on it is much better!  A sleeve is good for trick and strength training, posing and really helps with certain things but you absolutely stick to the pole and can not spin or slide.  It should be viewed as  supplemental pole  equipment and can aid a lot in training, but not replace an ordinary pole when you have slip problems. 

    The problem with the 1.50 pole is the thickness of it makes it not suitable for a removable pole and it must be screwed to the ceiling and floor.  Not really a huge problem if you are not afraid of filling holes in the ceiling or floor when you leave your place.

    Over all the pole sleeve in my opinion is a great option, wish it was thinner like bicycle tubing and not so thick of a rubber. If it were, you might just be satisfied with it on a 45 mm pole.

     

     

  • paintilady

    Member
    September 3, 2013 at 1:22 am in reply to: 40mm to 45mm

    I hope you love your Brass pole!  Yuma is a little hotter than Tucson, and we love Brass here. 

    I heard from some of our students, who moved here from Yuma, there is a pole studio right across  the border in Mexico, not to far from Yuma, about 20 minutes.    They bring in some Pole Champions for workshops, have you heard of it?  You might want to look into  it, or send me an email and I'll find out for you… 

  • paintilady

    Member
    September 3, 2013 at 12:07 am in reply to: Battle of the brass: X-pert vs PlatinumStages?

    We had  Platinum Stainless poles and in Arizona, it is dry and very hot, and people tend to sweat easily. We acquired a Pole Danzer pole in our studio and it does have superior spinning capability. We bought it as it was less expensive than Platinum. 

    It was the only brass pole in the studio and ladies started fighting for it, and swearing they stuck better.  We gradually changed out all our stainless poles for Brass Poles from Platinum. 

    My original reason for picking Platinum stages is they did make a great pole and were manufactured in America.  Since my background is in Bronze casting, I watched many foundries in America close due to high environmental fees, high cost of copper and cheap competition from other countries. I chose to stay with and buy from American Manufactures as I believe  I should support them.  I also did not see the good reason to choose a pole that was "plated" like silver jewelry where the plating would wear off, so we went brass. Brass is a soft metal, it can flex more, warp more and is harder to work with and manufacture than stainless. Warped poles are easy to fix. 

    This being said, I do have to agree their customer service is not so great if you want something taken care of easily and quickly.  The Brass poles we have we love.  We stick well, I never have ever heard anyone talk about a "smell" from brass. 

    For our studio sticking on a pole is so important that if they stick "too" much, we have a really cheap brand of hand lotion by the Rubbing alcohol to use so they can get a little more slippier.  But if you sweat a lot or easily in a very hot environment like here Brass is what works. 

    Platinum Stages poles are  brass Tubing,  so they will remain solid brass, and with the cost of copper being so high and rising, they are expensive.  Since Brass is at least 63% copper, it can be expensive,  and with copper mines in this country being forced on the way out they will only get more expensive, the metal is softer so manufacturing these poles is way more difficult and problems arise. All Brass tubing from various companies have different recipes as to how much copper is in brass, this is why they can turn green if you don't use them! 

    As for joints, they sometimes slip and unscrew, this is rare, I have had these poles replaced. Multi piece poles if you do not take them apart will be impossible to get apart without strap wrenches and a Vice Bench Clamp cushioned with a yoga mat.  I've learned how to get these poles apart with tools and not damage them. 

    Never heard of  PS pole cracking, that's odd seems like PS should replace those. 

    PS was talking of a single pole with option for extending, they can't seem to get that done, it would be the most wonderful thing they could do. 

    PS multi piece poles can get stuck together really hard if you leave them up for a while and never take them down. Strap wrenches, Vice Grips, both of these tools or a work bench with a vice grip will be needed to get them apart. A good motorcycle shop has these tools and taught me how to use them.  For  a small cash tip, you can usually go in and have them get your pole apart for you, if you line their vice with a yoga mat. 

    Vinegar on Brass, not a good idea. Red rot is a de-zincification of the metal, leaving behind the copper, which is more brittle (brass is an alloy of zinc and copper.)  

     

     

  • paintilady

    Member
    September 1, 2013 at 10:30 pm in reply to: Pole Parties

    Private Parties are actually my favorite part of our pole studio!  The ladies that come to parties are a whole different crowd than our regular students. Bachelorette parties are huge, and in these ladies come to have the time of their life, do things they would not ordinarily do, they are willing to pay for a really good experience.  Keeping all that in mind, most often than not, they are not the "fit type" crowd.  Many do not work out ever, have children full time jobs, and only want to try something fun. There often is the mom, aunt or older one tagging along with much younger ones, so the crowd can be mixed in ages and abilities. 

    So in our parties we have certain routines mapped out that we have memorized and quickly change out certain moves if the party is not physically fit.  Like SunshineKonigin, we teach to the least fit in the crowd.  The moves tend to be much easier, we are focused on fun, not fitness which our regular classes are, we throw in sexy moves.  We keep High heels in our dressing room a huge shelf full of them just for party goers to put on and dance in. Our regular students do not want to use the shoes…. 

    Our regular students want fitness type pole classes and are not so excited about a sexy styled class.  Our parties though tend to be quite the opposite, for one night in their life they want to let their inner stripper out!, they want to dance to music, learn a few cool moves, take lots of pictures, and pretend they were a pole dancer for one evening. They want to feel beautiful, sexy, and not worry about looking silly.  We have learned how to pose the whole party for pictures at the end and even video their dance routine for them if they bring a camera or phone that can. 

    Simple body waves, step around type moves, kick and slides, a little floor work ( unless you have ladies that are quite heavy, have bad knees, or look like getting up and down off the floor will be a struggle.) If this type of crowd shows up, you have to change your routine to take out floor moves, and make it more dancy.  We usually don't put in any feet off the ground type moves like spins.  Any type of pole move that is not easy becomes frustrating, when the party thought they would show up and "dance" sexy on a a pole.  

    Coming up with super easy moves, and not going to the floor at all, can be a challenge, and you will learn quickly that party goers, at least in my experience are not interested in doing anything that requires work, or is complicated.  So think fun pole dancing.  Its that easy, Make it really easy, have them learn a mini routine, at if you can let one of them or you film them on the camera they brought all doing the routine. 

    The atmosphere in our studio for parties is dark, we have out rope lights on, a disco ball, music playing louder than usual when they arrive, this atmosphere is crucial I think to helping the party keep in the "party" spirit.  Sometimes we even pick out "stripper names" You have to guage the crowd on this, and so far they always love this part.  

    (this was suggested quite a few times by parties so I picked up the suggestion and now suggest it) Many can not think up cute names so we have  a list for them to choose from, this helps them put on a fun personality for an evening, and keeps them in the party mood.  Calling them their "fun" name for the evening helps change the whole mood of the class, as they all take on their sexy personalities and play along.  Name Picking happens while they are putting on their heels and filling out forms, 

    I love parties, they are really fun, not serious and we hope those ladies leave with some experience they will truly cherish and never forget. 

  • paintilady

    Member
    September 1, 2013 at 2:24 pm in reply to: stupid carpet!

    But you will have to cut out a small circle for the  bottom of the pole to go through and still be on the carpet, because once you tighten up the pole and it is on they vinyl the vinyl won't be flat, if that makes sense. 

     

  • paintilady

    Member
    September 1, 2013 at 2:23 pm in reply to: stupid carpet!

    You might try vinyl  flooring, they type that comes in roles, cut out a huge circle and place it under your pole… it will be slippery enough  that socks or trixie toes type footwear will work. 

  • paintilady

    Member
    August 28, 2013 at 11:25 am in reply to: Overly Helpful Students

    Well maybe the term apprentice is not a good one, these apprentice's are paid teachers. We do have them also help out in classes.  This puts 2 teachers to 9 students, It's pretty safe and beginners aren't doing anything dangerous. Teachers with years of experience teach intermediate class. I use the term apprentice because they are helping in peculiar classes but they teach regular beginning pole. My teachers are covered under my insurance whether they teach at my studio or some where off premise. 

    We do not ever let students help each other ever. It is not allowed, Teachers have to go through lots of training, and continue training. 

  • paintilady

    Member
    August 28, 2013 at 10:26 am in reply to: Studio Owners

    I do have Pandora right now, we pay for the version where there are no commercials. But I understand we can not use it in the studio any more. 

    The $300.00 is what it would cost to pay all three licensing agencies.  Actually more, And I only have one studio. 

    Webmaster, Why would any amount be considered excessive? There comes a point when the licensing fees from Cities, taxes, cost of insurance, all kinds of costs just keep going up and new costs coming in cut the profit to a point it gets difficult. Pole studios in cities like the one we live in or small businesses for that matter are closing at an alarming rate. 

    My water bill has more that doubled in one year, electric has skyrocketed with all kinds of fees on the bill, taxes and fees are just going up.  The public only wants to pay so much for pole classes. Kind of at that point. 

  • paintilady

    Member
    August 28, 2013 at 12:24 am in reply to: Studio Owners

    I think $300.00 a year is excessive

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