[ptkells3642]

Hate that I feel the need to defend myself on a “supportive” thread. I’m crossing a couple other bridges right now: moving to a new place in a new city and leaving my job of 8 years all within the next week. These weren’t foreseen when I started the comp training, so sometimes one bridge need not be crossed.

[ptkells3642]

So, I decided to drop out of the competition. I had a good practice session last week, and a ho-hum one last night. After all the wavering over the decision and stress that was equally divided between actually MAKING the decision and the practice schedule itself. I made lots of personal gains as far as endurance and learning long combos on both static and spin pole, so all was not lost!

[ptkells3642]

Thank you for your response, RoMo! And you’re right – pole should be enjoyable and NOT draining (well, physically draining sometimes but that’s just the nature of the beast)! I had a good practice today; I was the only one there with one of the coaches and she told me that I am not the first person to talk to her about possibly quitting this, and that I won’t be the last. So far, I’m staying in the game! It’s only two weeks away at this point and while it’s scary, it will feel like an accomplishment, for sure! It’s great to hear that you enjoy performing, as well!

[ptkells3642]

Ooh, Colleen, you’re also training for a competition? Let us know how it goes, and thank you so much for your response 🙂

[ptkells3642]

Thank you, grayeyes, for your thoughtful response! It’s nice to know that I’m not alone in feeling like a misfit at the studio. I technically don’t HAVE to attend the practices, but it is part of a competition team I signed up for, and paid for, back in December. I have definitely grown as a poler because of the performing and coach feeeback and extra practice time, so it hasn’t been a total bust, but I feel like I can’t bear to be awkward and shy at these things even one more time. I skipped the past 2 sessions for this reason. It’s embarrassing! The performing itself isn’t so bad, but I don’t know…considering quitting this whole thing and going back to being a one-trick pony in my living room, haha.

[ptkells3642]

Do a Google or YouTube search for “Fit and Bendy” or “Lazy Dancer Tips Active Flexibility” and you will find a ton of good videos. It is definitely a very general question so it’s hard to answer this in other ways, because the thread would be freakishly long!

[ptkells3642]

I would say that until you are very confident of your ability to do a move, to not perform it unless you have a spotter. This is especially true for inverted moves, for obvious reasons! Once you know how you feel in a position and have the confidence that you can safely EXIT it in case something goes wrong, you’ll have more confidence to do things alone. Learning exit strategies is what helps me the most when it comes to confidence in learning new pole moves on my own. The last thing you want is to be stuck, upside down, and not sure how to get out of it other than sliding or falling. Veena’s lessons are wonderful and she always includes exit strategies! Hope this helps.

[ptkells3642]

I agree with everyone who has responded, and would like to add that it can be very dangerous to keep poling when very fatigued. A lot of serious injuries occur at times like that, so be careful!

[ptkells3642]

I’m so happy for you! Time to get “pretzeling” again!

[ptkells3642]

Thank you!

[ptkells3642]

Thank you 🙂

[ptkells3642]

So glad to hear that you not only made it through the pain and back to pole, but that you made it back even stronger than before!

[ptkells3642]

I literally JUST got a resistance band delivered on Amazon this past Sunday for the same reason: working on handspring deadlifts. I also have an X-Pole that is pressure-mounted and it was absolutely fine. One word of caution, though – don’t overtrain those deadlifts or you could end up with a very messed-up SI joint like I have now 😞.

[ptkells3642]

I am petrified of the elbow grip Ayesha; I will only do split grip. I am also afraid to invert higher than maybe 1 or 2 climbs. The most recent addition to the list seems to be a fear of ANYTHING I do on my pole at home. It’s crazy-I’m fine in the studio but have developed some sort of mental block at home. Has anyone else experienced this?

[ptkells3642]

Late to the party, but happy birthday! You, and your site, are much appreciated ❤️