Weight Lifting with Poling

SissyBuns started this discussion · 7/21/2009

I usually lift weights but since I have gotten my pole a couple of months ago I have not been to the gym, so I haven't had a problem. I'm about to get back into my routine of lifting but now I'm wondering how to combine it with poling which is also strength training to a degree. I usually lift heavy and rest each muscle group for at least a day before working it again and I break my workout down by specific muscle groups usually (Like Bicpes/triceps, calves on Tuesday.....abs/lowerback chest and back on Thursday... for example)so if I work different parts of my body all week, and muscles that I use for poling will almost always be in recovery for the most part..... when the hell do I pole?!I'm also running during the day but that doesn't usually interfere with poling. Does anyone else lift out there? How do you combine it with pole workouts?

19 replies

Former member · 7/21/2009
i think veena would be able to help you, i think she's recommended strength training...i know i definitely need to start strength training though!
SissyBuns · 7/21/2009
Yeah I knew veena could help. I'm just waiting on her to bless me with her wisdom....just waitin.... 😬
Former member · 7/21/2009
i actually have a question; like with weighted hoops- does that increase your core strength?
Veena · 7/21/2009
Ahhh yes, the frustration of fitting pole into a weight training routine. 🤔 You are right, pole is a full body work out. With that in mind you need to decide on what your focus will be. Pole or weights? If you go all out on both, you run the risk of overuse injury and burn out. Depending on how many work outs you have a week you could try poling only 2 times a week, having one of those days on a non lifting day and one on a lifting day, So you would pole before or after your work out, depending on what your goal is. If you focus is on strength do that first, then pole. You could try doing an upper body and lower body split for your weight training. So one day lower and another upper, than the rest of the week is free to pole. Sooo that way you could still do some pole work on your lower body day., leaving only one day of just upper body training to work around. The possibility are endless....so think about what your focus is and go from there. Are you looking to improve your strength for pole or do you just miss going to the gym? I love to lift heavy to and I use to do bi, tri, shoulders,.... back, chest...2x a week and legs 1x a week before I found pole dance. 💪 💪 Make sure to give your whole body at least one full day of rest. I now try to do one full body a week and then pole when I get a chance.
mnwild1 · 7/22/2009
OK. With what Veena said, I get the resting days but.....I teach Spinning 4 days a week and a Step/Resistance class 2 days a week. Two of the days a week I do two-a-days (Monday /Wednesday AM Step, Monday/Wednesday PM Spinning). On those days I am up at 4:15 AM and don't get home until 7. On Thursdays and Fridays I have Spin class in the AM (up at 4:15 but home around 5). I didn't mention I also have a regular full-time desk jockey job- M-F 8-4:30. I just can't figure out when to either get a rest day in or pole.... Today I sould be poling but I am on the forum......relaxing Cheers! mnwild1 (Heather)
SissyBuns · 7/22/2009
Ahhh yes, the frustration of fitting pole into a weight training routine. 🤔 You are right, pole is a full body work out. With that in mind you need to decide on what your focus will be. Pole or weights? If you go all out on both, you run the risk of overuse injury and burn out. Depending on how many work outs you have a week you could try poling only 2 times a week, having one of those days on a non lifting day and one on a lifting day, So you would pole before or after your work out, depending on what your goal is. If you focus is on strength do that first, then pole. You could try doing an upper body and lower body split for your weight training. So one day lower and another upper, than the rest of the week is free to pole. Sooo that way you could still do some pole work on your lower body day., leaving only one day of just upper body training to work around. The possibility are endless....so think about what your focus is and go from there. Are you looking to improve your strength for pole or do you just miss going to the gym? I love to lift heavy to and I use to do bi, tri, shoulders,.... back, chest...2x a week and legs 1x a week before I found pole dance. 💪 💪 Make sure to give your whole body at least one full day of rest. I now try to do one full body a week and then pole when I get a chance. I think my focus is a combination of what you said. I miss the gym and working out and seeing the results but I also want to get stronger for poling. I think what I'll need to do is do full body workouts 2-3 times a week and then pole during my off days. But I'll probably be somewhat sore on those days which could be bad for poling but also good for working off the lactic acid build up of my Strength Training. Or I could workout during the day and then pole later before my soreness kicks in and with enough time between the lifting and poling for my muscles not to be fatigued....hmmm.... 🤔
kasanya · 7/22/2009
How about something like this, SissyBuns? Day 1 - Full Body Str Trng Day 2 - Pole Dancing Day 3 - Rest Day 4 - Pole Dancing Day 5 - Full Body Str Trng Day 6 - Rest Day 7 - Rest Or alternatively you could do a four day rotation, so you'd get 3-4 solid workouts each week: Day 1 - Full Body Str Trng Day 2 - Rest Day 3 - Pole Dancing Day 4 - Rest I guess it all depends where your priority lies. Personally, I'm trying to figure out how to juggle strength training, running, pole dancing, and Pilates... lol... I need more time in a week. 🙁 I figured out a plan to fit it all in! But so far I have been too tired and/or sore to achieve everything in the plan each week. 😕 It will help when I finally manage to pass my fitness test and can drop the running for another year.
Veena · 7/22/2009
If you want to do full body then I would do something like this weights rest pole rest weights rest pole I wouldn't do pole and weights back to back. Let your muscles recover. But.....this schedule is assuming you would be doing inverts and spins, each time you pole. otherwise... If you wanted to do pole on your non weight days instead of rest, you could do transitions, floor work, flexibility. Easy, light, gentle movement is good after a hard work out. 🥂
SissyBuns · 7/22/2009
I like the idea of changing my pole workouts. Maybe not spinning and inverting everytime I pole. Maybe on my lifting rest days I can work on transitions and floor work. That sounds good.....the problem is sticking to it and not trying to spin and stuff when I'm supposed to be taking it easy lol. 😈
Veena · 7/22/2009
Once your body gets use to the demands of pole and weight training you can bump it up a bit by doing pole more often. For now though, I would take it easy, an injury would mean no pole or weights.....trust me that SUCKS. 👎 Listen to your body and give it the rest and nutrition it needs. You will see an improvement in your poling once you start weight training. Have fun.
xoxoHeatherxoxo · 8/6/2009
I've been trying to work this out too, (got alittle off track w/ the kids home for summer vacation) I'm thinking this routine: Mon. Bis,tris, abs at the gym then straight home for some poling. Tues. Legs, glutes and alittle tredmill at gym. Wens. Poling, abs and some deep streching. Thurs. Back, shoulders, chest and tredmill at gym. Fri. Hiking (weather permiting) or legs and glutes at gym. Sat. Poling, abs and deep streching. Sun. rest What do you girls with Personal Training back grounds think?
Sassafrassle · 8/6/2009
Is there a reason why you go for heavier weights rather than lower weight/higher reps? Just curious is all. I do pump classes at the gym (the lower weight/higher reps) twice a week at lunchtimes generally and on one of those days, I also take pole class in the evening and am generally okay with physically managing that (although my shoulders can get a bit tired, depending on how hard pump was on any given day and what I'm doing at pole). I also run and do a yoga-esque class, as well as the weights and twice a week poling and find alternating the cardio with the strength training a pretty good way of managing things. I had in fact been thinking about doing a forum post about what sorts of things people cross train with along with pole but I guess I don't need to now;p!
Veena · 8/6/2009
I've been trying to work this out too, (got alittle off track w/ the kids home for summer vacation) I'm thinking this routine: Mon. Bis,tris, abs at the gym then straight home for some poling. Tues. Legs, glutes and alittle tredmill at gym. Wens. Poling, abs and some deep streching. Thurs. Back, shoulders, chest and tredmill at gym. Fri. Hiking (weather permiting) or legs and glutes at gym. Sat. Poling, abs and deep streching. Sun. rest What do you girls with Personal Training back grounds think? Looks good to me! If you start to feel worn out or you become weak, that is your body telling you to change it up a bit and give it a little more rest. Even taking up to a full week off can be beneficial.
Veena · 8/6/2009
Is there a reason why you go for heavier weights rather than lower weight/higher reps? Just curious is all. I do pump classes at the gym (the lower weight/higher reps) twice a week at lunchtimes generally and on one of those days, I also take pole class in the evening and am generally okay with physically managing that (although my shoulders can get a bit tired, depending on how hard pump was on any given day and what I'm doing at pole). I also run and do a yoga-esque class, as well as the weights and twice a week poling and find alternating the cardio with the strength training a pretty good way of managing things. I had in fact been thinking about doing a forum post about what sorts of things people cross train with along with pole but I guess I don't need to now;p! High reps are good sometimes...The claim is longer leaner muscles, Some fear heavy lifting will make them look bulky, like a man or a bodybuilder 💪 This is false. To get as big as a man you need testosterone, the right body type and TONS of special training and diets...I personally favor the heavy weights, for strength building. Light weights can be good for rehab work and beginners, so they can work on form. Sooo if you are poling, and doing the body pump classes be careful. Because the BP classes are really high rep, you can run the risk of over use injury!! Its fine to do for a bit, but just be aware. If your looking to gain strength, than 8, to no more than 12 reps, is what you should aim for. 2 to 3 sets. If you can do more than 12 reps, up the weight. As far as cross training for pole, I would say things like, pilates, yoga and things of that nature are great and are not to stressful on the joints, if done properly. 🌸
Natalie · 8/6/2009
I've been trying to work out a good balance between weight training and pole - basically I'm doing four days of weight training, one or two of pole right now. I've hit a poling plateau so I'm trying to weight train harder for now so I can be strong enough to learn new moves. Once I get there, I'll up the pole, down the weights a little. Give and take as I work my way up 🙂
Sassafrassle · 8/6/2009
High reps are good sometimes...The claim is longer leaner muscles, Some fear heavy lifting will make them look bulky, like a man or a bodybuilder 💪 This is false. To get as big as a man you need testosterone, the right body type and TONS of special training and diets...I personally favor the heavy weights, for strength building. Light weights can be good for rehab work and beginners, so they can work on form. Sooo if you are poling, and doing the body pump classes be careful. Because the BP classes are really high rep, you can run the risk of over use injury!! Its fine to do for a bit, but just be aware. If your looking to gain strength, than 8, to no more than 12 reps, is what you should aim for. 2 to 3 sets. If you can do more than 12 reps, up the weight. Hm interesting. I'm not one of those "delicate flowers" who worry about bulking up - I've been doing pump regularly for the past 6 or so years 'cos I felt like I was getting better all around toning and strength from classes than I was from doing my own weights at the gym (and noone could ever mistake me for a newb when looking at the weights I use). As I train for running events though (and work fulltime etc etc), it gets increasingly hard to fit in two classes a week as well as running and poling though so I've been trying to do some "make up" sessions, fitting in biceps, triceps, and chest here and there when I can't get to a second class. I'm wondering if maybe I should permanently sub in some heavier weights/lower reps for the second class and hope that this helps with pole too...of course, then I mustn't forget to still strength train for my legs/running as well as upper body and core...so much to do! If only I could work out instead of working 😂
Fleur · 8/7/2009
A little more info for all the ladies out there who are afraid of "bulking up" because of strength training: From Physiology of Sport and Exercise, 4th ed. (an excellent book if you want to learn more about exercise physiology) "For many years, strength gains were assumed to result directly from increases in muscle size (hypertrophy)...women experience similar, or even greater, percentage increases in strength compared with men who participate in the same training program, but women do not experience as much hypertrophy...neural factors make their greatest contribution during the first 8-10 weeks of training. Hypertrophy contributes little during the initial weeks of training..." What I'm trying to say is you don't need to worry that you will ever be as big as a man. Your muscles will probably gain strength and tone and a bit of size but they tend to hit a limit beyond which you will get stronger but not bigger. Personally, I saw my biggest change in muscle size in the first 3 months of pole dancing but after that I did not get bigger despite continuing to get stronger. Also, don't worry about building bulk if you are using a 15lb weights! That is not a heavy weight (despite it feeling heavy 😉 )! I'm sharing this information because I used to be afraid of this same thing until I learned a bit more about it 😉 Fleur
JiGsAwChIcK13 · 8/20/2009
You can never go wrong with lifting weights, and I wouldn't replace one activity for another. I lift weights and pole on the same day the majority of the time and I have not had any strength issues (ie being too tired or something). I found that it makes a great deal of difference to be strong and more difficult moves come so much easier to me than most girls in the classes I take. Poling will also help cut your muscles up and give you that nice definition because it's resistance training that will get your heart pumping. 🙂
SissyBuns · 8/20/2009
A little more info for all the ladies out there who are afraid of "bulking up" because of strength training: From Physiology of Sport and Exercise, 4th ed. (an excellent book if you want to learn more about exercise physiology) "For many years, strength gains were assumed to result directly from increases in muscle size (hypertrophy)...women experience similar, or even greater, percentage increases in strength compared with men who participate in the same training program, but women do not experience as much hypertrophy...neural factors make their greatest contribution during the first 8-10 weeks of training. Hypertrophy contributes little during the initial weeks of training..." What I'm trying to say is you don't need to worry that you will ever be as big as a man. Your muscles will probably gain strength and tone and a bit of size but they tend to hit a limit beyond which you will get stronger but not bigger. Personally, I saw my biggest change in muscle size in the first 3 months of pole dancing but after that I did not get bigger despite continuing to get stronger. Also, don't worry about building bulk if you are using a 15lb weights! That is not a heavy weight (despite it feeling heavy 😉 )! I'm sharing this information because I used to be afraid of this same thing until I learned a bit more about it 😉 Fleur I hate when women bring up that looking like a man to me stuff LOL. The other day at the store I was chatting with the cashier as she was ringing up my stuff and she scans my muscle milk (I love that stuff!) then looks at me and says "Who drinks this? You?" I say, "Yeah, it's a good source of protein. I like to drink them after I lift weights". She says "I lift weights too and my husband is always telling me I should try it. I tell him, No thanks. I don't wanna look like a man." I said. "Well I drink them all the time. If I start looking like a man, you let me know." 😉 She quickly changed the subject after that. I am always telling ladies that they won't look like one of those lady body builders you see on TV just from lifting heavy or adding extra protein to their diet. The best proof of this I can give them is myself, LOL. I like to think that I still look very feminine.....I do right?! 😕 😮 LOL!!!! I've been back in the gym now for about a month and I am able to lift and pole on the same days without a problem. I'm also back to running now (training for the Army ten miler in October) so I'm keeping very active and it feels good. I was ina real lul after my seperation ended and it feels good to be fit again.