Knee pits and pole

iani started this discussion · 11/28/2014

Hello beautiful people =) I am having a huge world of trouble doing anything that requires using the back of the knee as a point of contact. Side climbs, side sits... impossible for me. I am getting other moves with relative ease, but these are totally impossible for me, so I am thinking maybe I don't understand the correct placement or something. I checked the lessons but no big EUREKA moment came. Anyone has any suggestion? I am placing the pole right in the knee pit. If I don't squeeze super hard, it does not hold me. If I squeeze super hard, it hurts the skin (which I guess is normal), it hurts my kneecap and the ligament (which I guess is superbad so I did not try for very long), and it STILL feels like it won't hold me. Tried positioning pole a bit lower but then there's no grip at all. Help! T_T

7 replies

Wcox · 11/28/2014
It took me a while to get the holds and it does take some conditioning as well. Since its winter where I live, I need to use men's shaving cream to help me stick a little more right now, might be worth a try as well :) good luck
I polekat I · 11/28/2014
Not sure if this will help but my friend gave me a good tip for knee hold stuff - stand beside your pole and hook one knee on about hip height, as though you are about to start side climb, or kamikaze spin. Then, maintaining contact with the pole with the back of your knee, straight your leg and then bend it back into the hold. It gives u a much stronger lock, you can really feel the difference! I guess it might not work so well higher up on the pole, but it might help to give u a bit of muscle memory with a good tight lock =] let me know if it's not clear ill post a vid showing u what I mean. also, u are probably already doing this but just practice practice practice knee hold stuff ! I only really discovered when trying to learn a cupid flip into Gemini that my knee hold was rubbish and painful and I could not rely on it at all! I thought it was fine cos i was comfortable in Gemini and Scorpio , i hadn't really realised that whenever I did them that I did the sort of 'open' version where the whole length of my calf was resting on the pole rather than with a bent leg knee pit hold. So I started trying the 'closed' versions much more , really painful at first but now a few months later it is sooo much better and a funny thing - I've noticed in my recent videos that often I will do closed leg hangs naturally more often than the open ones without even thinking about it haha ! =D and i am feeling more secure in my knee grip in other stuff like climbing and sits etc. So my advice is to keep drilling knee hangs even though it might be painful now, it will get better =] I think it helps working your knee hold 'down' in hangs etc it's a bit easier than working it 'up' in climbs etc. Hope this makes sense ! Sorry for the huge reply I talk a lot hahaa.. !
Veena · 11/28/2014
Are your legs and pole super warm? If the legs are too hot and sweaty grip is difficult, if the legs are cool and your pole is not warm you will have issues with knee pit grips to. Just something else to consider. This is why I love powered coated poles, I can grip so much better in almost all types of weather. Technique wise keep in mind that you need to lock into place by driving the foot down towards the floor and not just hooking and keeping the foot reaching towards the butt. You need an angle of the lower leg. There are several lessons with knee pit grips and some of the tips are different depending on what you are working on. If you have video of yourself trying that would be helpful for us too. :)
feliciajean186018 · 11/30/2014
I am having this same problem. I hate knee pit grips and I need to work on them. Ugh. Tip and tricks are great.
iani · 12/1/2014
Was sick all weekend and doubly frustrated cause I wanna try this stuff out =) Hopefully tonight... in the meanwhile huge thanks for the help and tips!
iani · 12/4/2014
The good news: I tried all advice and am doing a lot better, on my "weak" side. The bad: after feeling around my knees looking for a reason why my right side hurt so much, it turns out I have a cyst the size of a cherry in my right knee pit, which will probably need surgery, and the pain I felt was the cyst pressing into the pole on pone side and my knee on the other. I have no clue yet how long that will mean no pole for me though :( But yay!, at least I get how knee holds should work!
Veena · 12/4/2014
That's great it clicked for you!! Sucks about the cyst, maybe it will go way on its own! My husband had one on his foot and was told surgery was needed, but it went away on its own!! 💜