Any tips on practicing pole dance during pregnancy?

catharsis started this discussion · 3/30/2009

Hello, I just started pole dance a few months ago, really getting addicted and feeling the improvements on the core and flexibility. However, I just found out that I am a few weeks pregnant, now I am seriously looking for advice on practicing pole dance or general body training during pregnancy. Like I am so concerned when I have to engage the abs or practice some back bent etc... Would appreciate any of your inputs!

40 replies

Veena · 3/30/2009
Sooo it sounds like your new to pole dance and new to pregnancy. First I want to say Congrats!!! 🥂 being a mommy is the best thing ever...even better than pole dancing. LOL First thing you need to do is talk to your DR or midwife and make sure they give you the ok to exercise. Unfortunately most DRs have no idea what pole dance is or how difficult it is. So most have no idea how to help you. One more thing I want to share before I give you my guide lines I used for my pregnant pole dancing. Will using my abs hurt the baby? No, not in a normal low risk pregnancy! I did abdominal exercises though out all 4 of my pregnancy's. If your high risk you wont be exercising anyway. Here are the rules I followed in my pregnancy. Keep in mind my body was use to years of hard physical training. First trimester I continued my regular routine but didn't learn any new moves I focused on moves I knew were solid for me....I didn't want to fall and injure myself...I was pretty sick 🤮 but I did find that exercise helped my morning sickness a lot (and peppermint gum) That gum was a life saver!!! Be careful not to over stretch (relaxin) a hormone, will be with you though out the pregnancy and after for a bit too! Some women find the relaxin really affects them...but for me it was not a problem. To put it simply...If you have strong muscles, tendons, and ligaments this can help reduces the issues with relaxin. Ladies who were strength training before pregnancy tend to have less troubles with relaxin. If your new to pole dance spins can be really tough on your shoulders. Proper form is a MUST!!! Also no matter what form of exercise you chose be sure to avoid over heating..this can be bad for the baby. Drink lots of water and stay cool. 2nd trimester At around 4 months I stopped inverting and climbing. You'll weigh more and your balance will be changing because of a growing belly! 3rd trimester I rarely danced at all maybe 4 or 5 times and I made a video 2 of those times. LOL So again no inverts or climbs and I stopped most spins and had to modify others. So in conclusion to my thoughts on pregnant poling...I wouldn't recommended learning new things.....but you can surely enjoy your pole still. Dance around...do hip rolls feel sexy with your new body! Practice moving in a controlled manner and take this as an opportunity to practice good posture while dancing. Work on breathing, pointing your toes (if you are having leg cramps then avoid pointing toes) and having soft hand while you dance. My movements became even more fluid because thats all I could really work on after the 6th month or so. If you have any questions about pregnancy in general please don't hesitate to email me. Its a fun and scary life change...enjoy it 🌸 🥂
catharsis · 3/30/2009
Thank you Veena! This is very helpful and you are so inspiring!!
yogabeachbabe · 4/3/2009
Congratulations on both your newly discovered love of poling, as well as your good news. Here's my two cents worth: from a yoga point of view, during the first trimester, it's important to allow baby to "take root". We don't encourage anything too strenuous (unless you are seriously conditioned by a daily rigorous practice and have been practicing this way for many years). We don't work on any inversions unless it's Viparita Karani (legs up the wall). We do emphasize building strength and endurance through standing postures. And of course, breathwork and meditation. Your body is going through a lot right now. I know that I was very tired most of the time, even though I was a dedicated Astangi. But my circumstances were very different: I was teaching and practicing Astanga and Vinyasa yoga, extremely active and always on the go. I discovered I was very pregnant (9 1/2 weeks!) and then promptly got into a big scooter accident. The baby was fine, but I was a road-rashed mess. It forced me to slow down, which was probably something I wouldn't have done otherwise. I practiced and taught pre & post natal yoga as well as Vinyasa yoga throughout the rest of my pregnancy and wound up having my baby at home on the bed with my husband and midwife. It was cosmically important that I changed my lifestyle. I had to transform from who I was to who I was going to be. And I probably wouldn't have been able to do this without the universe helping me along (albeit slightly violently). Yes, you certainly should be working on getting stronger but remember to ask yourself if it's for ego, or for the baby and your relationship with him/her. Not trying to lecture but only wanted to share my own experience. Good luck with everything!
lily · 4/3/2009
Congrats on your pregnancy Catharsis! 👍 ITA with Veena that it's the best thing in the world! At least it's best thing in this world I've ever done. 🙂 I don't have any pregnancy pole experience to share, but I've always loved to run and during both my pregnancies I just backed it down to walking and pre-natal yoga. It's really a cool time to be chill and gentle on yourself, though I definitely think staying active is extremely important. If I have another baby I'm sure I'll take this advice from Veena.... Dance around...do hip rolls feel sexy with your new body! Practice moving in a controlled manner and take this as an opportunity to practice good posture while dancing. Work on breathing, pointing your toes (if you are having leg cramps then avoid pointing toes) and having soft hand while you dance. My movements became even more fluid because thats all I could really work on after the 6th month or so. Take care of yourself! ☀️
Veena · 4/4/2009
Yogabeachbabe, I had my last 2 babies at home too!!! My last birth was a water birth I would HIGHLY recommend it should you ever have another! Catharsis, how far along are you now and how have you been feeling? I hope your well 🌸 And like the other girls said, now is a great time to slow down. As I said before....its not a good time to start ANY new strenuous form of exercise. If your worried at all about poling while pregnant don't do it, and don't worry about forgetting everything, trust me your muscle memory will kick in once you start to pole again after baby. I made sure to meditate nothing to fancy just relax... with all my pregnancies and it can really help you get connected with your body, so listen to your body....and don't forget to drink that water! 🌸
Charley · 4/4/2009
A friend of mine is a new mom and she poled a bit during the first trimester, after that she took her pole down. She was fairly ill a lot during her pregnancy though. Everyone is different. I think working on transitions is fine - it's up to you if you'd like to spin. I'd caution against doing anything you haven't already learned. Veena, is pretty much the utmost authority on this issue. We were just discussing her last night at a workshop I did when women were asking if I'd ever had children and if pole was good for loosing baby weight. I had used Veena as an example of someone who was able to get right back to an advanced level in quite a short amount of time. My friend also has been able to get right back to where she was since having her baby. So the muscle memory is there. Also, if you take classes or were looking to, many instructors won't instruct a pregnant woman. I for one will not, because I don't know your level of physical fitness personally and would worry about teaching you something that could be harmful to the baby. WITH THAT BEING SAID - pregnant woman are more than welcome to come to me to work on cardio and pole transtions and perfect and polish the things they already know. I don't see why a pregnant woman couldn't walk around a pole - I mean you still have to walk right? I think pole transitions can be an excellent source of exercise and it's low impact. If I became pregnant I wouldn't stop poling unless I was ill or a high risk pregnancy. But I may be similar to YogaBeachBabe - I might need the universe to tell me to slow down sometimes. 🙂 Good luck with whatever you choose to do.
lily · 4/4/2009
Yogabeachbabe, I had my last 2 babies at home too!!! My last birth was a water birth I would HIGHLY recommend it should you ever have another! 🙂 I had both my children naturally too - my last birth was *almost* a water birth, it was in a birthing center rather than my home but YES I am a big fan of waterbirth and the midwifery care model - I love to talk about it too! 🙂
LaraCroft · 6/24/2010
Awesome tips, this is my first pregnancy, nice to have others out there as guides 😀 Especially the question of what pole activities are good or bad through out pregnancy! HMM... water birth haven't thought of that sounds interesting I am going to definitely look into that. 🐱
jrotach · 12/14/2010
My name is Jillian and I am 6 weeks pregnant! I just found out this weekend! Yay! I have been taking pole dancing classes and really working out strong since April but have always been athletic and fit. I have read all the previous posts and I know I can continue to spin and work out and stretch and that it will help me through out my pregnancy. I am concerned about climbing the pole and about getting winded during a routine. Is it safe to pull up your weight? Any extra info you can offer would be great! Thank you!
Veena · 12/14/2010
Always talk with your DR or Midwife when you have questions because they know you best. There are many women who still continue their jogging routines and do aerobics and such throughout their pregnancy.... But you just have to be aware of how YOU are feeling. You don't want your heart rate to get too high and you don't want to be dripping with sweat, its important to not overheat. Pregnancy is not the time to try to break records or have new fitness goals. 😀 For a normal pregnancy there is usually no danger in using the muscles of the upper body. But again you need to ask your DR...make sure they understand what a pole climb is, you could compare it to a pull up or chin up exercise.
lily · 12/15/2010
My name is Jillian and I am 6 weeks pregnant! I just found out this weekend! Yay! I have been taking pole dancing classes and really working out strong since April but have always been athletic and fit. I have read all the previous posts and I know I can continue to spin and work out and stretch and that it will help me through out my pregnancy. I am concerned about climbing the pole and about getting winded during a routine. Is it safe to pull up your weight? Any extra info you can offer would be great! Thank you! Congratulations Jillian! I recently pole-danced my way through a twin pregnancy, my best advice is to just listen to your body. I read everything Veena had to say about it, and stopped inverting at around 3 months...it just started to feel wrong. I continued climbing moves until 20 weeks, and then after that it was pretty quick to where holding my body weight just put too much pressure on my belly so I stayed totally grounded and just did walks, turns, pivots and gentle strengthening and flexibility exercises. Becoming so big and bulky is a great opportunity to work on balance, body awareness and grace. 🙂 Pregnancy is SO amazing, enjoy it and be active and be gentle with yourself! Definitely be careful of getting too winded, a little exercise can go a long way when you're doing the hard work of carrying a baby. And I just gotta put it out there, please consider birthing in a gentle and natural way - it's so SO good for you and your baby! ☀️
AubFolts · 12/22/2010
I am also pregnant. I am 10 weeks and due in July. I have been moderately working with my pole when I feel I can. Most of the time so far I have been too sick to do anything.. I have not been doing any inverts or otherwise so as to not fall.. I did do a cross ankle release a while ago but I am really comfortable with that move. Congratulations Jillian on your pregnancy.. I am going to try and keep my fitness levels up.
MrsNaughtywed · 12/22/2010
Thanks for posting this info. Children might be in the near future for me and I always wondered what I could and not do while poleling. 😀
jrotach · 1/11/2011
Thank you everyone for your wishes and all the info!!!!! It has been very helpful!
monary · 1/11/2011
I don't have experience poling and being pregnant. I do have experience being pregnant and continuing with my beloved interest which is rock climbing. I am five months pregnant and continue to climb at a climbing gym. My two points are that pregnant women do not have to mellow out completely, and confine themselves to prenatal yoga, walking and swimming. . I've continued with not only my climbing but also my strength conditioning. The more pregnant I get the more I will modify my strength circuit to accomodate my pregnancy. For this I highly recommend a video called the perfect pregnancy workout: sculpting. It is a 40 minute video, with options for beginners, intermediates, and advanced exercisers for each excerise. I did a lot of research when choosing a pregnancy workout video, and this is the one I chose. I am very happy with it. Also the general public often has an image of pregnancy as a time for a woman to take it easy, you may encounter this attitude as a judgement or the passing on of pregnancy myths. So just make sure to do your research about what is safe, so that you can do it, and feel good about it. If you are active, I think it is healthier to stay active (with accomodations) than it is to let inactivity to become the prevailing mode of your pregnancy. Ramona
spoongirl · 5/15/2012
@monary That DVD sounds interesting. Can you give a bit more detail eg intructors name. I live in the uk and can't seem to find it. SG x
spoongirl · 5/15/2012
@monary That DVD sounds interesting. Can you give a bit more detail eg intructors name. I live in the uk and can't seem to find it. SG x
kasanya · 5/15/2012
Looks like it's this video: http://www.amazon.com/The-Perfect-Pregnancy-Workout-vol/dp/B000BLKJ5E/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1337131995&sr=1-1
amazon.comAmazonAmazon
spoongirl · 5/16/2012
Thank you x SG
spoongirl · 5/16/2012
Thank you x SG
Joalex · 7/6/2012
I just looked up this thread after recently finding out I'm about 5 weeks pregnant. I told my pole teacher today and although she said I could still come to class up to 12 weeks, she strongly advised me not to do any pole at all from now on, not even spins as they still use a lot of core strength. She also mentioned that she had lost 2 pregnancies, and often wonders if pole was the cause, so I can understand that as a friend and a business-woman she wouldn't want to be responsible if anything bad happened. I think I'll still continue to do spins and moves that I know I can do easily, like I did last time. Even though I'm happy to be pregnant, I'd be so sad to give up pole completely, it would leave a huge void in my life! Does that sound selfish of me?!
Joalex · 7/7/2012
Does anyone know - Is there any danger in doing moves that use core strength, and also things like stomach crunches? Surely your uterus and your abs are 2 different things?
Portland · 7/7/2012
I stumbled upon this vid the other day and wanted to share it in case you were interested. It’ s a video of prenatal hooping. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91tw408Zafc I noticed quite a few people are posting about being pregnant recently; I just want to say congratulations to you all! Hooping isn’t pole or crunches, but I know quite a lot of pole dancers enjoy hooping and it is a form of abdominal workout. I would have thought a hoop rolling around your belly couldn’t be good for the baby, but I guess some drs have approved it and they even teach prenatal hooping classes in some places. As always I’d ask your Dr. or midwife before starting any new exercises. If they give it the ok be sure to listen to your body as well. I’ve seen lots of prenatal workouts lately, like yoga, ext. I just thought this one was interesting and if I was pregnant it would be something id enjoy. I am a fairly cautious person though so I’d do a bit more research before I started, as well as be sure to ask a Dr.. Even if you don’t get the ok to pole, if you look around and get a little you creative, I’m sure you can find a fun and beneficial to your pregnancy. I just wanted to share the links because I thought maybe some of you would be looking for more creative, nontraditional workouts to do during pregnancy may be interested. A link to pregnancy fitness hoops: http://www.hoopnotica.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=vmj_naru.tpl&product_id=37&category_id=12&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2 It says “Pregnancy Hoop is a specially designed hoop that's perfect for hooping during development. It's lighter in weight (about 1 lb-so as to be gentler on the body, about 40", and of course it's gorgeous, just like all Hoopnotica Hoops! This hoop is decorated with prism reflective laser tape and your choice of hot pink, teal or dark blue, or neon green accent tape!” The pregnancy hoops come with a ebooklet on the process as well. Or you can buy the eBook alone ( or download a brochure about it) here: http://www.hoopnotica.com/dvds-cds-and-books.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=vmj_naru.tpl&product_id=88&category_id=2
Veena · 7/7/2012
A good rule to follow, if you were very active before you became pregnant, you can stay active. Pregnancy isn't a good time to take up a new workout activity though. Always talk with your midwife or Doctor! With my first 3 pregnancies I continued my weight training and I did abdominal work. I was not a pole dancer at this time. With my last pregnancy, I continued pole dancing and modified when needed. My personal rule for pole dancing while pregnant was..... 1 No inverts after the first trimester (keep in mind I was super comfortable with my pole abilities and stayed within them always) Instead I Worked on transitions, and creating beautiful lines and motion around the pole...no crazy tricks needed. 🥂 Be aware of spins, your body is producing relaxin and this could cause too much strain on the shoulders and wrists. For women who are fairly strong the relaxin can be LESS of a problem. I didn't have any troubles. So be careful when stretching too! Don't get over heated. Abdominal work will not hurt the baby.....however, you need to be aware of the possibility for worsening Diastasis recti (abdominal separation). Some Abdominal separation is normal, but if you haven't learned how to contract the transverse abdomis when doing ab work, you could worsen the separation. This lesson will show you how to activate these muscles. https://www.studioveena.com/lessons/view/4df4be6f-3160-46c9-9e73-67a10ac37250 ; There are some great abdominal exercise out there that do not require you to lay flat on the back (you shouldn't lay on your back after the 1st trimester.) Using your core is good, you'll need it to push the baby out!! 🌸 Here is a video of myself at 30 weeks....take note of how I modified by not tucking the legs to my waist during spins. This took pressure off the belly :) https://www.studioveena.com/videos/view/b9b36b30-b880-11df-856f-001b214581be PS don't forget to do your kegals 😉
Mindy4pole · 7/7/2012
Veena has said most everything I would. I did my home water birth, in part, due to her recommendation! Plus, my pole was an AWESOME labor aid. I could lean and pull on it all I wanted, and it never got tired or had to go potty. I definitely got lots of comments from other polers (some negative), but bottom line is that this is your child. What ever choices you make, YOU are the one who has to live with them. Listen to your body. I posted a video of me poling the day before my son was born. He was 2 1/2 weeks late, so I was doing ANYTHING to try to start labor!! =D He is such and awesome and physically capable baby, too.

Load more replies (page 2 of 2)