Climbing - Mental Block

jacelynmarie2210 started this discussion · 8/10/2014

Hi all! I was hoping for some advice. I've been going to pole at a local studio for a few months and I'm in love. I only have one problem. I can't get past my initial climb! I can get the initial climb into crucifix and hold it all day long. I'm struggling to get my body to climb any further up the pole! I only did it once with my instructor pushing my behind up lol. I feel like it's a mental block issue, so do my instructors, since I'm able to do a lot of other challenging moves. I really want to get past this so I can move up to the next level at our studio!

6 replies

marithim · 8/10/2014
Is it because you feel your hands slipping, or because you feel like when your legs are moving up to get the knees to the chest to push out you are holding only from your hands now? I don't really know how to help. I know I still have problems climbing the pole using the ways everyone teaches. I can get up the pole easily, but I kind of frog my way up (hard to describe) and it's not the way the teachers want me to do it. However, knowing that I can get up if I needed to is good to make it so I keep trying to get the actual pole climb correctly. You may find you need to adjust slightly to feel secure when you move your legs, so you don't worry about falling off the pole.
Anzia · 8/10/2014
Could it be a strength thing with your arms? I ask because I used to find the same thing. For the first climb you have the floor to push on as well as your arms to pull with. And then your legs (which for many people are stronger than their arms) can grip on the pole to take your body weight. But a second climb, and all the ones after that, rely much more on arm strength to pull up. And if you don't get the lower arm quite right, your body dangles against the pole instead of slightly out from it, making it really hard to get a quick and strong knee grip to push up with. You're left trying to grip and push with your thighs which can leave your body weight still dangling mostly on your arms again. If that might be what it is, what I did was: - Pole holds and pole tucks (in Veena's lessons) to build arm strength. - Checked my arm position for best lower arm placement to keep my body slightly out from the pole as I pull up (i.e. lower arm's forearm pressed into the pole). - Kept practising even if for every climb after the first one I wasn't going anywhere or even sliding down the pole! I just kept doing the movement anyway on the grounds that even if I wasn't successfully climbing, I was still building strength and movement memory. - Sometimes it's sheer repetition. I could not side climb, not even one step. It was my nemesis move because I was taking my studio's novice medal in 4 days and had to do 3 side climb steps to pass. I tried 15 times on end in one practice session, telling myself I was going to do it, stopping was not an option, and managed my 3 steps on both sides. That was definitely a mental 'just do it' breakthrough! If you post a video, people on here might be able to see what could help? Good luck :)
Allgold78 · 8/10/2014
I would suggest the arm strength too. The first push is always the easy bit, it's dragging yourself the rest of the way that's the hard bit. Work on your arm strength and then even if you lose your leg position you can still hang on to correct yourself. Also, check your leg position. My biggest hurdle when learning was that the pole would end up between my upper thighs and then I was too close to the pole to even try to push up again. I had to consciously push my backside back away from the pole and get my knees back around the pole before I could push up on to the next one. Now it's ingrained in my brain but it was something I had to make a conscious effort to correct for quite a while.
Veena · 8/10/2014
Have you been working on Pole Holds in class? If not these can be really helpful for climbs because you learn how to anchor yourself allowing you to remove the legs. Here is the Pole Climb lesson if you have a subscription https://www.studioveena.com/lessons/view/233115a0-b889-11df-856f-001b214581be You'll see below the main player a list of 7 other moves you can work on to help you achieve the goal of a climb. :)
Cuwoody · 8/11/2014
At our studio we use the performance climb, the forearm against the pole. It is harder to learn initially but help a lot with later moves and conserving energy. Though arm strength is a part of it, with the performance climb you should be using your legs to push you up the pole. We teach to bring your knees in and up like a tuck and push body up with the legs. Doing so splits the work between your legs and arms.
jacelynmarie2210 · 8/13/2014
Hey all! Thank you everyone for the advice. I actually climbed today.. to the top! I was especially frustrated because I did my invert not my climb... So I figured out 2 things. 1. the performance climb/bracket/forearm made it 100x easier and 2. I figured out I wasn't engaging my shoulders enough and actually trying to pull my arms up (fail). I nailed it once I focused on just the legs :D. Thanks yall for some fantastic advice!!