What "goes" in your poling sessions?

MissChiefNYC started this discussion · 10/9/2010

Hey wonderful people! Understanding that for everyone it's different, but please share with me what you do in a traditional poling session? For tat hour or two, do you work on moves, routines, lessons, strength, what does a pole work out look like for you? Do you work on a move continuously until exhaustion? I'm still figuring out what my sessions look like, presently, I have done some stretching before hand, afterward it's a lot of prancing around and trying to makeup cohesive movement. Thank you...

7 replies

Stacy · 10/9/2010
Are you just starting out? I start out with a warm up, usually a dance, but I get a better response from warming up from head to toe with traditional non dance movements and lifts. After that the dance movements, and routines come in with climbs to warm up the deeper muscle tissue. I actually have a list of moves that I work on to stay focused on muscle memory and development for more fluidity. Mid workout I start the first deep stretches for flexibility with a lot of yoga, then continue on the pole. I unfortunately don't have either the time or energy to pole more than twice a week, and I prefer strength training to pole in terms of advancing quicker, flexibility and safety. I usually pole at night once my son is in bed because it clears my head from the mental clutter that builds up during the day, and the total pole training is usually an hour and a half to two hours if I'm lucky. Good luck with your future pole success!
polebunny · 10/10/2010
i warm up with a little dancing, for a song or so, there are some good warmup dances on youtube u can follow. then i work on moves im trying to get, then i'll put it all together in a dance to a whole song. but lately ive just been going over my routine for a show im doing tom. at the end is when i stretch, i'd recommend not doing it right at the beginning bc your muscles won't be warm yet and you could get a tear. 😳
mizvix · 10/11/2010
i take classes. We warm up for about 25-30mins then (usually) we would work up to a full routine every 8 week session. Each session you will learn a new moves then recap and practice your routine so far. the studio i go to works a lot on dance and performance so floormoves, continuity and fluidity are a big part of the lesson. At home i would practice the spins each day, just to practice and improve (i'm not a spinny person but i'm getting better!) More recently the session i'm in has become less formal (there are about 3 of us at a more advanced level) we decide the moves we want to work towards and our challenge is to put them into a sequence - for example there was a thread here about Bras Monkey into.... I read through it then went to my instructor and explained what i wanted and we worked on it! i try to practice other moves each session too - it's amazing how quickly you forget your moves! Our instructor advises us to work on sequences and transitions rather than individual moves, and i have to say i get much more satisfaction from sequences!! 🥂
Danielle Tillie · 10/11/2010
My warm up kinda ends up blending in with the rest of my practice. I do, however, make sure to roll out my ankles, wrists, and shoulders, to make sure they're nice and loose. I also *gently* stretch my hamstrings, calves, and quads. As a "warm-up", I practice pirouettes, pole walks, simple transitions and floor work. This is then followed by adding regular spins, followed by combo spins. After that I'm very warm, so I'll start doing whatever comes to mind as far as tricks are concerned. I don't usually just try to do the same trick over and over unless I'm trying to get a new one. I chose my workout music carefully, so that I want to be a bit dancey. This keeps me doing transitions between moves, adding tricks to make combos, and always putting the "finishing touches" on my trick work. As a warm down I usually go back to just doing spins and transitions, and then finish with a 30 minute stretching session. I don't dance continuously... I will stop to wipe down the pole, have a drink of water, etc. And... that's about it! 🙂
calipolepixie · 10/11/2010
I warm up with shoulder rolls, wrist rolls, neck rolls push ups, jumping jacks, a little leg streching, ankle and foot rolls. Then I start slow with a little around the pole stuff like pole walks, pole turns, back bends and things of that nature, then slowly work my way into pole poses. Then I focus on the things I am having trouble with for a little while, then just play on the pole--spinning, poses etc until I'm spent. Some days when I am feeling particularily ambitious, I will also throw in working on floor or leg work practice.
JBStarryEyedGirl · 10/12/2010
I take classes, teach class, and I pole on my own =) In my classes we do a quick warm up 3-4 songs, stretches, hip circles, dance moves, etc. Then we learn and do a full routine (we change out every 3 weeks) for about 35 min. Then we do 3-4 songs of ab work. Followed by a mere 15 min on the pole, (sometimes we just do tricks, some instructors do a short routine)! Then we do a quick stretch. And I typically stay after class for 30 min to do more tricks, especially climbs and inverts. We only have fitness classes, so a lot of the pole work is on my own. In my typical on my own workout, I again start with a quick warm up and stretch. I usually start with my harder moves, or if I have something I really want to try. I throw in some dance routines, and do many tricks! It really depends on my mood and if I have a song I want to jam too.
Spinderells · 10/12/2010
I take a pole class on Sundays, and then I pole at home & do strength training workouts on Wednesdays & Fridays. At home, I warm-up using Jamilla DeVille's warm-up routine, and then I work on the tricks that I am trying to get from her DVD's or that the instructor was trying to teach me in pole class for 1-2 hours. I use Jamilla's cool-down routine to increase flexibility.