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Spinning without getting sick – advice from pro-skaters
I know the subject of spinny pole sickness comes up on this site often so I thought I’d post this. I found it interesting. It was on a Yahoo sports blog in reference to Olympic Figure Skating.
"Joe Rosato Jr. at NBCWashington.com talked to a former pro skater, who keyed him into the secret:
Former National skating champion Shane Douglas said the key to getting over dizziness is to keep skating. "What we tell our students is keep spinning," said Douglas. "The more you do, the less dizzy you get." Douglas said it could take skaters about a year to get used to the dizziness.
So, skaters initially get dizzy, but then it becomes second nature. That’s how we felt when we first got our monocle.
Techniques for initially dealing with the dizziness include staring at a fixed point, closing your eyes, and concentrating on something else."
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10 Replies
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fyi, "spotting"– keeping your eyes on a fixed point during a spin– doesn’t work when you’re on a spinny pole because it requires being able to swivel your head in teh same direction as the spin… https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_l.gif
sucks to hear "it gets better eventually" but my friend has recommended taking motino sickness drugs before class and THOSE make me fall asleep! haha. oh well, spinny and i are not destined to be!
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Angel, I read the same thing with interest today!
Amy, I totally get motion sick. I actually have a spin tutorial lesson with a friend tomorrow who used to teach at Bobbi’s and is good friends with Allegra. I want to start to try to learn how to overcome this before Allegra’s workshop. So, I plan to wear the acupressure wrist bands that I use when I get pukey in the car. Have you tried them? They sell them in the drugstore right by the dramamine and they definitely work in other places–we’ll see about the pole! I’ll let you know how it goes. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_r.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_l.gif -
Angel, I read the same thing with interest today!
Amy, I totally get motion sick. I actually have a spin tutorial lesson with a friend tomorrow who used to teach at Bobbi’s and is good friends with Allegra. I want to start to try to learn how to overcome this before Allegra’s workshop. So, I plan to wear the acupressure wrist bands that I use when I get pukey in the car. Have you tried them? They sell them in the drugstore right by the dramamine and they definitely work in other places–we’ll see about the pole! I’ll let you know how it goes. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_r.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_l.gifi haven’t, but i’m a big lamer. my mom is where i inherited this seasick/motion sick thing from, and they do not work at all on her. let me know how it goes, i may just drag my butt into a store and actually try them!
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As a figure skater for 17 years I can attest to the fact that it does go away…spotting a point on a wall DOES NOT help and can make it worse and can cause you to lose your balance!! You really have to think of a line that goes vertically through your body and you have to learn to balance your weight between both sides. I know that probably dosen’t make sense. Closing your eyes can work only if you have a really good propreoceptive awareness. I personally do a fixed gaze out to nowhere! lol Literally I fix my gaze out infront of me at nothing imparticular….when I don’t do this I get crazy dizzy! Also keeping your whole body strong during the spin will help keep even blood flow through your body therefore reducing dizzyness….but really practice makes perfect!! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif
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ginger chews help that initial nausea till your body get used to it. Just pop one in after you’re done (or while you’re doing it if you won’t choak on it).
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I find spotting helps with pole pirouettes but its not helpful on spin mode, unless your upright and spinning slowly…..for me, anyway. I acclimate myself to spinny by doing a few session of up right moves ONLY then slowly add the inverted. Just keep at it. And I only do a few moves on spin then something else, then back to spin I’m a static lover myself anyway https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif
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I’m glad to hear that it does go away. The only thing that actually works for me is to keep moving some when I’m dizzy, if I close my eyes or stop and fixate my eyes, I totally want to vom.
(Also, I have been waiting for the day when I could use these little puking pac-men in a thread!!) https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_r.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_l.gif (YEEESS!) -
I am allergic to motion sickness meds so I use homeopathic ones that do not make you sleepy.
VeritgoHeel I had to order online and Hylands motion sickness med I found at the local health food store.
Both work very well at the headache, dizziness and preventing nausea.
You can build up resistance to it but the worse your motion sickness the longer it take to build the resistance. You also can lose that resistance very quickly if you stop practicing spinny mode. Last time I took about 2 months of almost daily pratice to build resistance….stopped for a week and was getting sick all over again!
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We teach on spinny poles here at the studio I instruct at, and I tell students to spot something moving WITH them, i.e. their fingers on the pole, their foot, etc. and not focus on the world spinning around them. This trick has helped me overcome the dizzyness and I have had other students tell me that it has helped them as well. Since this thread started by referencing ice skaters, I also tell my students that your speed on spinny pole is in relation to your body posture and distance from the pole. Like an ice skater doing really fast pirouettes on the pole, when they let their arms and legs out, they slow down and when they bring the arms and legs into their body, they speed up. Same with your body on spinny pole. If your body is close to the pole as you spin, you will go very fast, but if your body is away from the pole, you wont spin as fast. I give a demo on this by doing the regular fireman spin and pull my torso in and out from the pole to show the difference in speed. It’s a personal thing that people just have to experiment with themselves, but those two tips I give seem to get a good response from my students.
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Gator Girl, I do the same exact thing in class. How funny!
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