A male newbie

gatapetallomenos8766 started this discussion · 6/18/2015

Hello I have a question to ask. I watched videos of Lebedev and i am amazed by him. I know that i will never reach him but i promise i 'll do my best. I was wondering if it would be a lot better for me as a male to start a crossfit program for a year or so to gain some strength (I really can't do a simple pull up) and then after a year or so to start attend pole dancing lessons. Is this a good plan? Do you have any suggestions to make ?

7 replies

LunaLovely · 6/18/2015
No, just start now! Pole is such a great workout, and you will find yourself making progress no matter how out of shape you are. You build strength as you go. I couldn't do pull ups when I started either, and most people can't when they're new. That's totally normal!
Veena · 6/18/2015
Yes, I agree with Luna, just start now! You WILL build strength as you pole, once you have the fundamentals and basics down then to move on to more power moves you may want to do some weight training in addition to your pole work. :)
grayeyes · 6/19/2015
Agree with the others--just start poling and do whatever other workout floats your boat. Personally I feel like I need to do some lower body stuff to keep up with the upper body strength gains from poling. And welcome, I wish more guys would try this.
Summerthyme · 6/19/2015
For whatever it's worth, I started poling in December at age 49 and could not for the life of me do a pull up! I followed all of Veena's lessons without ever going to a studio (which by the way are so informative and detailed) I'm not working on intermediate moves and have gained so much upper body strength. This is a great place to start, so don't hold off what you can start doing today. Welcome to the best pole site ever.
zoilife6233 · 6/19/2015
Gatapetal IMHO here is a good place to start but if you like the style of russian male polers you will have to cross train in Calisthenics which is also a good way to start.
Mike Burns · 6/20/2015
As a male, I feel the need to chime in here. I agree with the previous posts saying that you should just dive in. I believe you'll see more strength gains with pole than cross fit. Since there is more variety in pole fitness, you'll train all your muscles (even the little ones with the weird names) plus you'll have more fun watching yourself progress through little victories rather than doing the same 12 actions day after day and getting bored with the repetitive nature of it. Also, we're all a little bit biased here so you probably already knew our answers would be to go for it.
DanteD · 6/22/2015
Another guy here - I agree with the above. Simply doing pole work will help you more than Crossfit. I came from a weight training background before starting pole, and while it was helpful, pole required/requires so much more. Also, Crossfit or weight training by themselves will likely make you stiffer, and you need flexibility for pole. If you do Crossfit or weight training, make sure that you spend a fair amount of time stretching after you work out.