Yay to Fleur, Veena and Trina.
Now Aunty Rouge’ two cents.

I can’t invert as I don’t have that strength in my abs – yet. But I know what it is and how to fix it.
I can invert by flinging my legs up and hoping for the best, then pulling myself up by my shins. Not good.
hands get stuck by the knees as I can’t lift my hips above my head.
Also explains the sprained big toe… (kicked the pole at about 8′)

So to invert properly, means a lot of hard work for some of us. And I completely agree about taking your time to ensure you have the strength, it will pay off at a later stage when you can alley oop / basic invert from up the pole. Flinging or jumping is merely using the ground to get you up, once up a pole, you need to use your abs to get up. For us, inverting is near the end of beginner level, when just about ready to go into intermediate. That’s anywhere between 6 weeks and 2 years. I’ve had one student doing the Jamilla split after 5 months, but she’s incredibly strong, very athletic and had crazy strong abs. I have others that after a year are still not ready to invert.

I’m tough with my students, I won’t teach them to invert, but will let them do the conditioning exercises mentioned. But then, I have other tricks up my sleeve that I teach, like different moves, stretching, freestyle etc. Not having a tutor to say, hold back and correct technique is difficult. If in doubt, don’t do it, the injuries are not worth the perceived glory. I’ve seen advanced dancers fall on their heads from inverts (not Lisa Lewis either, she’s just trashy), I’ve injured my shoulder from not being ready and bad technique. So we are cautious with good reason.

So, when I say "invertin’s for crazy folk", I mean it. Don’t do it until you have the strength in your abs and upper body. There’s other far more cool things to do at the earlier stages: aerials, routines, laybacks (again, needs strength and don’t do it unless you’re really sure or have had a lesson), sexy stuff, holds, climbs…. the list goes on.

LOL I always wondered why you said inverting was fo crazy folk LOL!!!!