Superman

jleigh started this discussion · 5/8/2009

So I noticed tonight when practing the superman from the floor that I can only comfortably hold the position with my dominant arm (right). However when I try to get into the superman from a gemini its my non dominant arm (left) that ends up trying to hold me in position. Does anyone else have this issue. Any suggestions or should I just continue to practice from the floor trying to use my non dominant (left) arm holding me since I always invert with the pole on my right side.

17 replies

LittleMissLola · 5/8/2009
It's up to you really, I had a similar problem and was inverting on my "wrong side" in order to have my dominant hand on top. However one day I tried it with my non-dominant arm on top and found it a lot more comfortable and have been doing it that way ever since. What works for one person wont work for another, and I know a lot of people who do prefer to invert on their non dominant side to get their dominant arm on top for the superman
Former member · 5/11/2009
Hmmm, have you tried inverting on your weaker side, so that your dominant hand ends up on top?? i hope that made sense, im sick right now so my mind is all messed up...i feel like my brain has been replaced with a bunch of stuffed animals or something lol. i think ive inverted on my weaker side when i was trying to learn the extended butterfly so that my stronger hand would be be in a better position......let us know what happens!! 🙂
jleigh · 5/14/2009
So tonight I finally managed to flip my legs and catch the pole without letting go before actually straightening out because of the pole burn. Yippee. Except now I have a new problem... Instead of staying stationary I start slowly spinning around the pole and then end up falling off cause my top hand can't sustain the hold. I posted a vid tonight with my progress. Any tips would be appreciated.
Fleur · 5/14/2009
Jeng, there is nothing wrong with rotating around the pole in order to get into superman instead of flipping your legs down to get into it. I personally think it hurts less to make your body rotate around the pole until your hips face down rather than turning your leg against the pole (ouch!). Does that make sense? I saw the video, you;re doing great. just keep at it and the pain will get better 🙂 Fleur
Former member · 5/25/2009
Ok, so i finally got the superman from the gemini 😀 😀 😀 BUT, how do you get out of it gracefully??? i keep flopping to the floor after ive gotten it like a limp fish, i cant figure out how to flip out of it (long way off from that), does anyone have any tips on how to get out of that move sexily? (is that a word? did i just make that up? lol) 🤔 🤔
Neke · 5/25/2009
I have yet to figure that out... I started off by just jumping off, which isn't sexy. You can try getting the hang of the dove/figurehead, but I find it hard to reach back and get into that without wriggling my legs around as I'm trying to grab the pole - that also looks ridiculous. You just drop your legs down a bit and grab behind you... My pole is also short, so if i get into a figurehead my feet are pretty much touching the ground - I'm not sure if you'd have the same problem. If you're high enough on the pole you can try the superman fall which I'm sure is easier than it looks - I'm always too low for that too. If you do it slowly you'll see it's not scary. Or you could reach down and try getting into a side v - that's all I've been able to come up with so far!
yogabeachbabe · 6/24/2009
I practice my Superman sporadically. Since it's so frustrating, I don't spend huge blocks of time on it and while I hope to one day get it, I'm not obsessed with it. So I was practicing it yesterday, and just as I was trying to get my hips to swivel (up and over), I got an enormous cramp in my right bum (the one going up and over)! I was laughing so hard I just dropped off the pole. I hardly ever get muscle cramps (except for when I was pregnant and would wake up screaming from the sudden pain of my calf cramping) so it was kind of surprising. What also bothered me was that the cramp didn't let go for what seemed like 5 minutes. Has this ever happened to anyone else?
Gayle · 6/24/2009
I still continue to struggle with the Superman. My biggest problem is flipping my hip over. I feel I have the strength to hold myself, but getting my hips to flip is a huge issue for me. Do you guys have a trick to help with flipping over?
RoxyPink · 6/24/2009
As this is a recently beaten nemisis of mine..here is what I have found...actually learned with a little help from a wonderful dancer...hand placement is super important. my top hand has to be about 1.5 ft above my leg. the bottom hand has to be about 6 in below my bottom leg and my body has to be parallel with the floor (not at an angle) when i go to flip my hips i literaly have to lift my top leg completely off of the pole and bring towards my nose...at the same time my bottom leg I kind of angle it down a little bit to allow the pole to position it's self on my inner thigh vs my upper top thigh (this has been the biggest thing...damn meaty thighs!). Once I am flipped, instead of trying to push my hips down, i have to focus on pulling my feet up..which inturns causes your hips to drop...once my feet are up i can then let go with the bottom hand...I don't know if this will help you..but it helped me! good luck! 😀
jleigh · 6/24/2009
I've noticed that since I switched from a 50mm to a 45mm pole I can now do the superman and don't rotate around the pole once I get into position.
Veena · 6/24/2009
Gayle, there is a little vid of Sachapoles and I at the end of the First newsletter vid https://www.studioveena.com/info/2009/06/17/studioveenacom-first-video-newsletter/ I am showing her how to do the superman you could check it out and see if it might help you. Roxy is right about hand placement so be aware of that also you will notice in the vid I bend at the waist so when I'm sideways my chest comes towards my lower body, this will help you flip easier. ☀️
Ritalin · 6/24/2009
I'm also having a bit of trouble with this move... Like Jeng, I can get into it just fine, but once I'm there, I start rotating around the pole so that my hand can't maintain the grip on the pole. This invariably leads to shrieks of despair as I try and prevent myself falling on my face because my hand has slipped off the pole. 😉 Does anyone have any tips on how to stop that spinning effect? Thanks heaps.
Charley · 6/25/2009
I have some random tips on the superman - I can't advise this early in the morning on the spinning part people are talking about because I don't think that was ever a problem for me. But obviously work on superman from the ground first - then as a dismount. The easiest way I have found to get into the superman is from the inverted thigh hold - all you have to do is reach behind you and do a small twist rather than a 180 from gemini. Doing the superman from gemini is pretty painful on the thighs - you'll want to have a good grasp on the move before you move on to doing it that way. make sure you can grip the pole solidly with BOTH hands. I can superman with either arm and I am not sure which I favor. I had to learn to hold it with my sub dom because you can't just superman you must go into it out of a move so certain moves create a situation where you might hold with dom hand or others create a situation to hold with sub dom arm. You can grip the pole with either thumbs up or thumbs down grip. Practice each way to see which way works for you. Personally I found thumbs down much harder but that may not be the same for you. Practice dismount out of the superman separately and ofcourse practice your dismount first. The easiest way to get out of superman is the figurehead - practice doing this first so that you know how to hold it. Once your in figurhead let your whole body slide down and walk out of it - this was the easiest way for me to get out of the superman. Once you advance with your superman you can do the superman fall out of it - you can shouldermount out of it you can do a figurehead slide down to your knees out of it or you can go back and shouldermount up the pole.
pole-twista · 6/25/2009
so i have finally got comfortable with superman and would now like some suggestions on getting out of it ( other than just jumping off the pole) i have seen the superman fall but cant seem to get how to actually do it. how bout getting into dove/figurehead? any tips would be awsome! thanks so much! ☀️
Fleur · 6/25/2009
For superman fall, I think of it as two steps: get into a hip hold, drop the legs into scorpio. Superman to dove is tricky, you have to either get your top arm up the pole or let your legs slide down a bit to be able to reach back (unless you have crazy back flexibility) and the twisting of the arm that reaches around is hard to figure out at first but keep in mind you are not going to reach across yourself with the second hand, it needs to grip the pole by going behind you. I say this because everyone's first instinct is to reach across themselves to get the pole and it's impossible! (Took me a while to get it!) Fleur
Ritalin · 7/1/2009
For the Superman spinners: The spinning seems to be caused by rotation through the shoulders, due to having your hand too low and close to your body, when you're in the superman position. If your hand is too low, and near your butt when you're in position, your shoulder compensates by twisting your upper body back towards the pole... and your body starts spinning! If your hand is higher, you can hold the pole behind you while still having your shoulders pointing forward and this seems to reduce the amount of spinning. That's my current theory anyway - devised last night with Sassafrassle, a couple of other girls, and judicious application of a swiss ball. So! To stop spinning when you're in a superman - make sure your hand is higher on the pole so both your shoulders are facing forward. <3
jleigh · 7/3/2009
I'm finally feeling comfortable with the superman. I'm no longer spinning all the time. The last tip was a good one on how to stop spinning. I find if I do the superman while my pole is not warmed up the when I push my hips down it doesn't hurt where as if I try towards the end of my practice its still quite painful. I'm making good progress on this and now just have to practice dismounts or transitions out of it 🙂