Shoulder Mount

Deirdre started this discussion · 1/17/2009

Ok, so I'm not anywhere near being able to do the shoulder mount, but I have been doing "prances" to get myself ready for it. What I've noticed is that my shoulder hurts sooooo bad when I put pressure on it . And it's not the skin or anything that hurts, I feel like my shoulders are so tense that it's just too painful to have the pole press into it that hard. Anyone else have that problem when learning this mount?

14 replies

LittleMissLola · 1/17/2009
Yeah, I found it really difficult to relax my shoulder muscles while pulling with my arms, and that caused me quite a bit of pain initially. I found the princess grip worked far better for me than the double cupped grip and once I had that sorted it was a lot better for me. Experiment with a couple of grips and see if you have any preference. I've found shoulder mount grips to be such a personal preference. My instructor learnt shoulder mounds using chinese forward grip and that one scares the life out of me. Same with the grip I use, some of my friends think it feels so weird and they don't like it. "Prances" are a good way to prep for shoulder mount, but please take it slowly and when you think you are ready try it from sitting on the floor with plenty of mats and preferably a spotter too.
azriel · 1/17/2009
oooooh what's the princess grip??
LittleMissLola · 1/17/2009
The arm of the shoulder on the pole is fully straight and the other arm is bent. There's pictures of each of the grips on the Pole Junkies forum http://www.polejunkies.com/newForum/viewtopic.php?t=1090&highlight=shoulder+grip (direct link to the thread)
Deirdre · 1/19/2009
Interesting advice...I tried doing the princess grip and it felt a lot less uncomfortable which allowed me to get a lot more practice in. Thanks for the tip, I appreciate it!!
azriel · 1/19/2009
thanx misslola!
ducky · 1/19/2009
😛 Testing out the princess grip was great advice, I tried it doing a shoulder dismount from upside down, and I felt more confident and in control of the release. Thank you much!
LittleMissLola · 1/19/2009
Hehe, you're all welcome 😀
ducky · 1/23/2009
😛 Hello everyone, for those of you that are interested in a viewing a variation on the leg styling while you're up in the shoulder mount, here's a link to view it.....the move starts at 9 minutes. I would suggest that you wait until the buffering bar on the video is completed, and then fast forward the current play position to 9 minutes, because the show is pretty bad....but the pole work in the end is good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qklD7ROMTJ4 For those of you who do like the shoulder mount w/the leg styling, a good tip for accomplishing this one is to really get your legs and hips up high and close to the pole, so your body weight or center of gravity is more controlled, and then you can get those legs and hips to switch from side to side. I do this one from a floor shoulder mount due to a space/ceiling issue. I hope you all enjoy the pole moves in this vid!
azriel · 1/25/2009
I got the shoulder mount last night, all thanks to lola! as soon as i could do it with the princess grip, i was immediately able to do it with the standard grip and i get it everytime! so crazy how i went from barely being able to kick off the ground to doing it all the way (i still have to kick though, but practice will make it better). so thanks again lola. Ducky thanks for the link for the leg style variation, i'll have to try it after i've gotten more comfortable with the basic shoulder mount and more strength! xx 🥂
Veena · 1/25/2009
congrats!!! Arziel 🥂
Flosqito · 1/26/2009
OMFG i finally got the shoulder mount! i took a shower and was feeling squirly afterwards so i came out turned on my camera and got it my first try!! i was so excited i did a lil happy dance afterwards!!! then right after that i was able to do the caterpillar and then i did another invert but not sure of the name .. i got it all on camera though so hopefully u guys will see it soon!!!!! 🥂 🥂
Veena · 1/26/2009
WOW I can't wait to see it!! 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍
LittleMissLola · 1/26/2009
Congrats to you both! Glad I could be of help Azriel
pole-twista · 1/28/2009
i have done the shoulder mount but sometimes i cant as can't figure out how to grip with legs/feet my ceiling is so low i can't stretch my legs up much so it can be tough once i get a vid you will be able to see what i mean as its hard to explain i use a diffrent grip than that off the 1 in vid or veena uses i use the grip used in leigh anns or bobbi's videos spilt fingers on top hand can't wait to get better at basic sh. mt so can try these variations thanks for the link 👍