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Pole Width – What works best for petite ladies?
Hey guys – I got a lot of helpful replies with my first post so I thought I’d ask another question. 🙂 I know I’m pretty new to this but I’d like to buy a pole so I can practice at home. I don’t have the option of practicing anywhere else, and I find my lessons are fantastic but they go by too quick! I’m looking at purchasing an x-pole through the studio I’m learning at, and I’m curious about what the best pole width would be for me.
45mm looks like it’s standard, but I have very tiny hands(I have trouble buying rings and gloves) and feet, and I’m petite and short (5’1″, 152 cms) with muscular legs. I haven’t had an issue with the poles in the studio, and my grip is actually decent if a bit on the sticky side. Should I go for the standard size, or the slimmer 40mm? I hear it’s harder to do leg holds on the 40mm but I read somewhere it’s easier for shorter/petite women to learn on a slimmer pole. My concern with a slimmer pole is that I’m worried I might not be able to pole on a standard pole, or I might cheat myself out of strength building. Any advice would be great!
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14 Replies
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I have a 45mm TG pole and i love the width, studios usually have 45mm sometimes 50mm i have heard. I don’t think the width will have impact cause your petite cause I have seen some petite and larger ladies do all kinds of tricks on any diameter pole, its all about preference.
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Thanks for the advice, Mystical! My first instinct was to get the 45mm, but then I started thinking I should go for the 40mm. I’m worried if I get used to 40mm I won’t be able to do anything in class. I think I’m going to stick with the 45mm. Hopefully, as I build strength it won’t matter how small my hands are! 🙂
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I love my 40! I find anything that uses hand grips the 40 really is nice, so it may be a good option for home use since it’s always important to feel secure. You really shouldn’t have too much problem switching between the studio 45 and home 40, it might be nice to be able to use both. I have all sizes and 40 is my fav, but it’s nice to use the 45 too from time to time.
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Thanks Veena!! Yeah, I wish I could try the 40mm before I buy! I guess it really is just a preference thing. It might be nice to feel more secure at home while I’m doing holds because I won’t always have a spotter. 🙂
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Just wanted to chime in, I’m below 5ft and really tiny kid like hands. I used the 38mm in my old studio, but I bought the 40mm xpole brass at home which helped me strength train. But now at my new studio I go to, i do hop onto the 45mm stainless steel but I can’t perform some tricks due to hand grips..it makes a difference!
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Thanks missyjac! Would you recommend sticking with the standard 45mm then? 🙂
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Personally I’d go with the 40mm because I’m used to training and doing tricks with it and I’d use 45 now to do extra strength work when I’m in the studio, so up to your preference as to where you’d prefer to do your strength work vs seamless pole play (but I think u would love the 40)! FYI recently I fell off the 45mm cos I couldn’t fully wrap my hands around it to hold – both baseball and cup grip! Ouchies
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@missyjac, hope you are fine now. Wish you good health.
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Yikes! Hope you didn’t injure yourself, missyjac! Thanks so much for the info! Maybe some day I’ll get both widths! 🙂
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I am also petite with small hands and I thought I’d build up strength over time and be able to master the 45mm. I had a 45mm for a long time and wasn’t progressing as much as I wanted. veena talked me into a brass 40mm and I am SO GLAD I bought it. Definitely has helped me a lot! The studio I go to has 45mm and I can still use them but at home I can feel a lot more confident with my 40mm.
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Thanks so much! How do you find climbing, inversions and leg hangs on the 40mm? I was told they might be harder to learn on a thinner pole. I was also told one of the reasons it was taking me longer to get my spins was because my hands were tiny (they cannot wrap all the way around a 45mm pole) and it was going to take time to get confident and learn what grip worked best.
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I have seen no impact in leg hangs and climbing. My inverts are actually better because I am more confident in my grip. I can see doing like a layback might be tough if you have skinny thighs but mine are chunky enough to get good grip.
My poor grip made my progression SO SLOW and half of my problem was that I never felt confident with my hand grip to do a lot of the fun tricks or spins. Now that I have a skinnier pole (and a brass one which has great grippiness too) I can pole more often at home with less fear and therefore can progress at a normal pace! If at this point in your poling you know that 45mm is too big, get the 40. I first bought a 50 because I got it on eBay but that was terrible. Then I bought a 45 and told myself this was fine because the studio I went to used it, and then I realized that I was never going to get better if I was scared my hand grip wasn’t strong enough for inverted tricks, so I finally got my 40mm (after like 2 years!).
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I’m glad the pole is working for you Moniqua08!!! I love my 40 brass.
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Thanks for your input everyone! I just bought a pole today and I’m going to be getting it sometime next week. I went with the brass 40mm. I really feel like having a thinner pole might help me learn and build strength a little quicker. I have large enough legs that I should be able to grip on when I get to doing leg holds. I think having a thinner pole might help me with some of my “death grip” issues when I’m spinning, too. I can’t wait to be able to practice at home!
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