Calf Pain in Knee Holds

StrangeFox started this discussion · 3/18/2019

I've never been able to do moves like Marley, or knee hold because I've always found it puts way too much pressure on my calf - it actually feels kind of like a charley horse and I know from experience if I fight through it I'll end up limping the next day. It's not a "normal" pole pain. Recently, I was trying to do the gargoyle for a pole challenge and I found I was having the same issue. I don't care much about Marley or knee hold but I've always wanted to do gargoyle. Is this a case of "not every move is right for every body" or is this a tight calf issue? I'm really hoping it's the latter. Anyone ever experienced this before and know if there's something I can do to fix it?

2 replies

Veena · 3/19/2019
If you're seeing bruising, then know its a matter of getting use to the move and adjusting to putting weight on the calf. I don't suggest starting off with holding the whole body, do lots of Leg hook side holds and things of that nature, Star and advanced star for a few weeks, then try moves holding your whole body. Make sure you're using the hamstring (back of the thigh) to pull onto the pole and not just ramming the calf into the pole. There should be a lot of contraction going on from the hamstring. You might also be pointing the foot realllly hard while holding, or flexing reallllly hard, this will affect your calf. Some grips take months for the body to adjust to so work up to it. My calves get sore after filming a challenge or lessons with a lot of repetitive knee pit grips so it's not an abnormal thing. Make sure to stretch the calves after training knee pit grips and as long as you don't have bruising foam rolling can be great too.
StrangeFox · 3/21/2019
Thanks Veena! I think it might be placement of the pole, which is being caused by me not pulling enough with the hamstrings. I tried again last night and had great success. I paid really close attention to hamstring activation, and tried on a smaller diameter pole. I was able to twist my body around the pole in gargoyle but lost my nerve when it came time to lift my chest. I have noticed I get the same pain when I get the knee pit hook wrong for brass monkey, too, and it's just recently this move has stopped causing me show-stopping agony. I'm not quite ready to put my full weight on that knee hook due to lack of training (and general lack of trust in my knee pit) but I'll do some conditioning and in a few weeks I might try marley again and see where I'm at. I just figured out baby cupid/star and am working my way up to a full cupid/advanced star. It's so weird that I have no issue with things like hands-free genie and gemini, but baby cupid took me a year to figure out. Bodies are weird things - lol!