[AliciaPolerina]

I keep a pole journal of things I want to work on in a session.  I write how much I practiced each move I wanted to work on and how I felt about it, progress, if I got it, etc.  Obviously I warm up first and do some conditioning, or ballet barre, then work on tricks, dance, flow, transitions, spins etc, and finally some deep stretching while I'm nice and warm 🙂  sometimes things get cut short due to time, but I try for a little of everything! 

[AliciaPolerina]

Yea Veena's strength and conditioning exercises on here are fantastic!  Learn to do it right and your ribs and shoulders will thank you! 🙂

[AliciaPolerina]

chem- I think thats what's happening to me, once I hit 24 I just started gaining weight like crazy and cannot for the life of me get rid of it unless I quit my job and go spend 3 hours at the gym a day lol. I still eat the same, if not way better, I cut sugar and fatty foods wayy down and still keep gainining 🙁 I definitely have seen a lot of strenght gains in that time period too, but fat gains also. And none of my clothes fit any more! 🙁 ugh it's depressing! Any tips?  🙂

[AliciaPolerina]

Megan12- I think you look great and I’d kill to have your body! I’m the same height as you and weigh a lot more…ahhh I miss the skinny days!

[AliciaPolerina]

@Elektra Vallens, If you are thinking of going to New England Center for Circus art, it's a great place! I took a road trip up there last spring and am going again in February for the intensive silks beginner teacher training program.  All their instructors are wonderful, I had a private lesson wit Bronwyn in trapeze and silks and I learned so much! If you need a buddy to road trip up there with, I'm in! 🙂

[AliciaPolerina]

My aerial coach always has torturous core work for me!
1.) Hollow hold-lay on your back, lift legs up about a foot and a half, then lift shoulders and hold arms over head….hold!
2.) Balance on an exercise ball at your knees and with elbows on the ground. Now round your back and push your butt down….hold! (Ow!!)
3.) Tuck ups-lay on back with arms over head and lift your upper body at the same time you tuck your knees toward you, balance at the top for a second, then lower and repeat as many times as you can in 30-60 seconds.

Hope this helps! And the P90x ab ripper is great too!

[AliciaPolerina]

Yay!!! Be proud of ALL your achievements!!! 🙂

[AliciaPolerina]

I seem to be having all the same problems you too! I can do a flat jade and what helped me with that was to really pull my leg down and think of pulling it across my chest. I also use,my hand on my hip/bum to balance at first which helps, and also to look over the shoulder (on the same side of the leg you are pulling). Hope that helps with jade, now if only I could figure out chopsitcks!

[AliciaPolerina]

I slipped on sweat in a twisted ballerina a few years ago and severely sprained my ribs/ intercostals on my right side. I went a month of thinking I had broken ribs before going to the walk in (booo no health Insurence!) And has to explain how the injury happened. The doctor asked me if people still tip if the stripper falls! I trie to explain that I was at a dance fitness studio, not a club but I could tell he wasnt having it. :/ on the other hand, the 2 nurses knew what I was talking about and thought it was cool! Hopefully they educated him afteri hobbled out!

[AliciaPolerina]

Wow everyones got some great advice here! 🙂

I've been teaching almost 4 years, and had to start completly from scratch and reinvent my syllabus a few times until it is where is now.  So I comletly understand where you are comming from!The first thing I do in class is a good warm up (especially with these cold northern winter days comming!), which is kinda a combination of fitness, dance and pilates.  In the warm up I have them do a few strenghthening exercises right from the get go like an ab circuit and a few push ups that progress to more as they advance.

Second, I spend some time teaching them to walk around the pole and across the floor.  From there I do a progressive transition series which is really 4 transition steps around the pole that end up turning into the framework for half spins, and then spins.  If the students are catching on well, I have them end with a Firemand or Flirty Fireman if they breeze through all the steps.

Then I teach them a short routine.  My routines usually are more dance inspired then anything seeing as I danced for so long 🙂  I have them do it on both sides, then do a 5-10 min cool down stretch.  Sometimes if theres time I'll do a quick demo of some more intermediate/advance moves and combos (sometimes students beg for it!) because they are curious as to what they are capeable of doing.

My only other advice would be to smile, be encouraging (sometimes I over do this and get too excited lol), and always be open to questions and comments.

[AliciaPolerina]

Wow great tips! Definitely something I’ve been wanting to try too. I have a good strong shoulder mount flip onto the pole too, and I remember how terrified I was of that until I just bit the bullet and did it! I’ve also been practicing just the motions from standing, I think the hardest part for me will be the flag mount back up.

[AliciaPolerina]

Filming tonight!!!!! Gahhhhh I’m so excited for this one I dont know how I’m going to make it through work today!!!

[AliciaPolerina]

I can split, but am working on adding height to my oversplits, and really want to work harder on my scorpion. Can I join too? Good luck everyone!:)

[AliciaPolerina]

Thank you, I will do that. My only problem is I’ve never heard it straight from him, just everyone I work with, so I have no proof. But even them saying it to me is making me say I’ve had enough!

[AliciaPolerina]

Wow, I’m glad I came across this thread because I just encountered a similar situation at work 🙁 I’ve been at a new job with a company I worked for for a few years on and off, for about 3 months now. When I first started pole I worked for the same company but at a different location, and would talk about it occasionally. That was when the stripper roumers started. I just laughed it off and wams like yea thats what I do, sure….Now, the boss I had a few years ago told my new boss I’m a stripper!!! Well, I still got the job at least, but I guess they Googled me before my first day and found some of my pics and videos and joked around about how he ”hired a stripper hahaha” Not that the maturity level in my workplace is very high, but lets add insult to injury! The girls I work with now know what I actually do, and think its reallt cool, so now they’re telling me all the horrible things the boss said about me before I even,started! And how before they knew me, they were going to torture me by changing all their ringtones to ”I’m in love with a stripper” and Clorox everything I touched because I’m so ”dirty”. I literally went home crying for a few days. And apparently, when I get out of work at 4, its because I go strip, not teach at a studio. My boss is very immature apparently, and theres so much drama as it is, I feel like I work with children! If I confront him, who knows how much worse it will get, or if ill get hours that I cant work or no hours at all, or worse, I’m terrified of being fired now that I’m finally becoming financially secure. 🙁