Charley
Forum Replies Created
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I used to have a 40-45-50mm all set up. I would start on my 40 with a move, take it to 45 then onto 50. I have tiny hands and my fingers only touch on the 40. I think it's best to use all 3 sizes. I can do most everything on 50mm – it's how I started. You do learn to use your body more effectively. I still find the 50 better for most body holds. I struggle with x ankle and advanced plank on a 45 and can barely do them at all on a 40. Hand grips are trickier because I have sweaty hands and even though I can generally work through them on a 45 on a 50 I can't as well. But still it's great to cross train all sizes. If you can do it ona 50 – you can do it on anything (unless your me and your laybacks go away – hahahaha)
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I think spinning pole gives the illusion of fluidity and what I love about spinning pole is that you (can) hold poses longer – giving you more time to prepare for the next transtition. So in that sense I think working with spinning pole can be helpful on static we tend to rush and we are fighting gravity where as on spin the force keeps you on the pole helping you fight that sliding.
I think the best training is to work both modes when you are ready (I tend to always feel like spinning is more advanced and takes more muscle control.) To increase fluidity I suggest doing lots of dancing without tricks – then I like to take sequences or tricks I love and work on in's and outs that make them more fluid (genreally on static.)
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Here's a combo I was working on awhile ago – sm walk up to blahtyblahblah. lol! My apologies its not clean because I decided I don't look in flexed feet and never worked on it again haha.
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TG is more consistant grip wise than brass. Brass tarnishes and needs to be treated every so often with brasso and that does make it slick not matter how well you clean if off. I found if you have sweaty hands brass is the worst of all the materials – I just slip and slide with them. Body grip is usually pretty good – but still weather dependent.
TG is really grippy but better for my hands than most pole materials. I feel like the TG grips more than I would like but if you like a grippy pole then I say TG. It's a great pole finish.
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I don't think I have ever seen the Teddy Drop – can you post a link?
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I can do most all basics on both sides – and almost every single upright pose both sides with the excpetion of sitting (how funny is that? Twisted Ballerina- no problem – sit on the other side what??? lol)
I feel like when I am in class teaching – since I generally teach anything inverted on my bad side – I will actually start getting confused and have found myself achieving ayshas and stuff – then after class I will try to dance and I feel like I forget how to do anything on either side – I will hang there thinking "wait – which is my better side, how do i aysha?" lol
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I *can* sm on my left but it hurts like no other – geez!!!!!!!! Which doesn't make much sense since I tg and have a lot of flexibility on my left side (more so than my right.)
My left hand is always on top for every mount – invert, jamilla, handspring, cartwheel. I'm working on the right arm – I'm a scaredy pants and have a hard time commiting though. I've been working the butterfly and SG aysha from oppostie side as opposed to mounting sg. It's how I teach – you have to be able to hold the pose before doing the mount and I'm not ready for the mount with my right arm up.
I find this really interesting – so many left hand high inverters.
Who was studio trained and who was yt trained? I wonder for myself if I wouldn't be more successful with my right arm as my stablizer since essentially it should be stronger but perhaps learning from YT I "mirrored" what I saw putting me on my left?
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I'm the same as you Sparrow – I like left hand high and right low in inverted repel moves. I've been training both sides on all fronts now and the perk is that when I demo a move on my bad side my students can make fun of me – but I can also slow it down. 🙂
I am right handed and i invert with the pole to my right – so left hand high
Sm – right shoulder
aysha/handspring/etc – all left hand high and right hand low
gemini – left leg
scorpio – right
Interested to see what everyone else says 🙂
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Lilbit – you hit the nail on the head. I think it's less the discussion about certifying as we've all pointed out there are instructors certified in many arts that suck but customer advocacy. I find this to be frustrating. How can we educate people before they start on the right questions to ask? I really wish I knew the answer to this. What I think is the worst deficit of bad instructors in anything is that the customer will never experience how amazing something can be because they quit.
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They are chrome XPert and Stainless PS 🙂
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The above is a repost from Nov 2010 from myself on the topic with a few updates. Sorry for the strong opinions.
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When all of this started it was exotic dancers teaching other exotic dancers – that's very different from how it is today. The women I first noticed were KT Coates, Alena Downs and Pantera – by the time I knew who they were they had been showgirls for a very long time. The need for structure wasn't as necessary because dancers were working in small groups. If you weren't strong enough to do something, you weren't strong enough to do it – there wasn't all of this breaking things down and getting detailed.
Today in Pole studios instructors are faced with students of all ages, fitness/health and backgrounds. I think it's very important to know what you're doing! Does that mean a POLE certification? Yes, IF YOU DON'T HAVE MUCH EXPERIENCE TEACHING FITNESS OR DANCING. Can someone with gymnastics or dance qualifications teach pole dancing effectively and safely? YES. IF they understand the apparatus. Can a personal trainer teach great pole? Yes. IF they have the knowledge about HOW to pole dance. Although there are many (fitness professionals before pole dancers) out there who raped great pole instructors for their knowledge and now pass it off as their own.
I've known personal trainers teaching pole before and to be honest – some of them don't know squat about pole dance or how to break down moves, know how to effectively teach students move or even have a clue about what moves students should be learning and when. So, IF a personal trainer with little to no pole training wants to teach pole – should they be able to teach just because she's a personal trainer? NO. Should someone who has pole danced for 10 years in a club be able to teach because she's taught some other exotic dancers a fe w tricks? NO! Why? First of all the PT – just because you can lead a group fitness class or motivated people and guide them to lift weights and exercise does not translate into you know how to pole dance or how to teach complex things that require coordinationg your body to spin, lift and invert. Spinning, lifting and inverting are special skills that take time to develop and must be taught properly in the beginning to save injury. So you really had better KNOW the basics and what to look for when others are performing the things you are giving them to do…the best ans quickest way to learn this? POLE specefic training. Now, our dancer who's been dancing for 10 years in a club…she might be an awesome performer but that doesn't mean she has the patience to deal with slow learners or that she knows the major muscles groups and basic health/fitness knowledge which is important when training OTHER bodies. Much less may she have the scope of moves out there and the proper = safe progression of moves.
Does ANY kind of certification = great trainers? NO. There are a ton of personal trainers, pilates instructors, yoga instructors and what have you teachers out there that suck and most of them have a certification. There are a ton of fitness and dance instructors that are out there are great instructors without certification – but you know what it tells me if you don't have some kind of qualification (and there are MANY to choose from I don't care if you're degree is in fitness, certified PT, dance major, etc. etc. etc.)that maybe you don't know as much as someone else who IS certified in SOMETHING and that I am not sure I want to trust my body to you.
Teaching yourself is different than teaching others. I have had a very long journey from a self taught dancer to becoming an instructor. I had never taken a pole class when I taught my own and you know what….that was extremely scary and only because of a long list of circumstances did I end up teaching…but the main thing I did was I sat down with a personal trainer and showed her all of my moves and we picked each others brain until I came up with a syllabus that would be simple and effective…and to be honest – that syllabus SUCKED. The way I taught SUCKED. It took a long time to become a good instructor. By the time I got certified I had been tried by fire and when I read the manuals all I could think was why didn't I do this sooner? Why couldn't I have seen the value in this a year ago? I have no idea just how good I could be NOW, had I spent the money sooner and taken a certification course. Certification was easy for me because by then I had learned so much in my own research and time and hours spent – that time would have been better spent with a book in front of me with all the information. Did I end up being a pretty good teacher before my certification? YES…but it wasn't without a lot of work and research. Did I have anyway to prove to anyone at face value that I was a good teacher? NO. Does having a certification help aleviate my new students fears? Yes. So to me, it was so worth it.
As pole grows so do the standards. I think whether you have been trained by a studio to teach right and proper, a pole dancing certification, other related certifications – I think those types of training and important to ensure proper instruction. I do believe that our standards need to be higher if we want to expand – and this is coming from someone who has learned from youtube, spent time with amazing instructors with NO credentials, spent time with amazing instructors WITH credentials and spent time training lousy instructors WITH credentials.
We're not just teaching someone how to do a trick for their next set anymore. It's more, the moves are bigger now, more dangerous so I think we should take a moment to ponder what we'd like to see this turn into. Even arts like ballet, tap and jazz have programs to train teachers….doing and teaching are 2 different things…
I am one of the few who wishes this was more standard and wishes we could rid of unsafe instructors who want to teach pole dance "because it's the only fitness class you can charge that much for" That is a real quote btw. Don't you hope that's not your instructor?
I'd also like to add that Veena is one of the few, I mean few, PT's I have ever come in contact with who UNDERSTANDS pole dancing, studies it and breaks it down clearly. I also understand the HOURS put into lessons and development on this site to bring the BEST, SAFEST breakdown and progression of moves available. Everyone else, should be asking questions of their instructors.
So does everyone need to be certified? No, maybe not. There exists a small cross section of trainers who do not need pole specific training…how do you know if you are one of them? That's why I continue teacher training and certifying.
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Randy sells a pole that goes 9-11 feet. Not sure if it's on the site or not but I have seen them in studios – it's the same design as the 8 foot one with the slider tube.
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Truly an incredible achievement for pole!
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Love these! I was just teaching them the other day!