[Cinara]

Hey buddy! I'm a member of the determinedly big thighs club too. The theory goes that wider poles are easier to grip with your legs, but narrower poles are easier to grip with your hands. Personally, I don't feel any difference in leg grip between 50mm, 45mm or even 38mm, although 38mm did take a couple of weeks to adjust. So the good thing about large thighs is that they do give you a grip advantage. 

If you've tried a 45mm and it's more comfortable and you'll look forward to poling more if you have it, just go with that. But I don't think the width should really matter too much. If you're planning on being a big serious competitor go with 50mm, but I guess the point of my rambling is that big thighs are best suited to EVERYTHING! Especially once you strengthen them 🙂

 

[Cinara]

Hey buddy! I'm a member of the determinedly big thighs club too. The theory goes that wider poles are easier to grip with your legs, but narrower poles are easier to grip with your hands. Personally, I don't feel any difference in leg grip between 50mm, 45mm or even 38mm, although 38mm did take a couple of weeks to adjust. So the good thing about large thighs is that they do give you a grip advantage. 

If you've tried a 45mm and it's more comfortable and you'll look forward to poling more if you have it, just go with that. But I don't think the width should really matter too much. If you're planning on being a big serious competitor go with 50mm, but I guess the point of my rambling is that big thighs are best suited to EVERYTHING! Especially once you strengthen them 🙂

 

[Cinara]

I go to Bobbi's and just learnt the wrist sit with both hands above the pole. Bobbi's refers to it as The Violator which I'm not so keen on https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_confused.gif but the most equivavlent move on Wikipole is the Diamond Cut. For this version you definately do have to have the pole off centre on the skin between your butt and leg. In a wrist sit you can do it either way, because of the lower hand. But you might as well go with the off-centre version from the beginning, so that it's easier to move on to the violator/diamond cut later.

[Cinara]

It could be either your core, your quads or your flex, but it's probably a bit of all three. The best way to figure it out is to try to hold your leg up like in a boomerang pose and see what hurts first. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif For me, it was my quads cramping. The reason it could be strength or flexibility is because if you're close to the edge of your flexibility range your muscles will have greater resistance, and you'll need more strength to maintain the pose. You can either make your muscles (in this case hamstrings and thigh adductors) less resistant by improving flex or make the opposing muscles (quads, core) stronger to fight the resistance. I'd do both.

One exercise I used was to stand with one foot on a chair, and leg outstretched. Then try to lift your leg off the chair, keeping your leg straight. You'll probably need to hold onto something to balance, and you need to make sure you have good posture and aren't dipping your chest down. If it's too difficult, put your leg on something lower than the chair. This is really tough!

At the same time, keep stretching your hamstrings and adductors. I had the same problem for a long time, and I'm still working on it. I've gone from just below horizontal to just above horizontal.

[Cinara]

Awesome. I'll give it a go 🙂

[Cinara]

Instead of bringing your legs straight out to the side, point them up towards the ceiling a little and lean back. This takes the pressure off your lower hand a bit, and makes the top hand work harder. The top hand is in a more natural position, so it can take more weight. I'm someone who learns through focussing on the "feel" of a move, so here's how I can best describe it: Despite the name, it shouldn't really feel like you're "sitting" on your lower hand (although it is helping hold you up, of course). It feels more like the feeling when you're just standing facing the pole, and you grab it with one hand and lean back.

I agree with RoseMay that it can also feel safer to release the pole with your legs bent in a froggy position before you extend them, so that your legs are close to the pole to regrasp if necessary.

[Cinara]

Thanks for the tips! I tried grabbing a little higher on the pole tonight and it really helped. It's now only at superman levels of pain which I can live with. I'm still getting a bit stuck and can't quite get my back right against the pole, so I can't reach my foot, but at least I can keep working on it now it's less painful.

Veena, what would be another name for a half hip hold? I'm thinking either a half jade/duchess, or a gemini with the free leg brought in front of your face. I'll have to give that a try too.

[Cinara]

I'm not sure about offline, but what I've always done is just written notes and taken screen captures, and then printed it out and taken it with me to practice. Usually that's enough for me. The only time I've ever watched the lesson and followed along at the same time is with the beginner floor work and dance moves. 

[Cinara]

I tend to have the opposite problem to you in that my legs are really grippy, but my hands slip easily, but here are a few tips I've picked up that might help:

Scorpio – Just a terminology check: this is the outside leg hang, right? It seems like it from your description, but I've heard a few people from the UK who use scorpio for the inside leg hang, so thought I'd check. Invert into an inverted V / chopper first, but keep your chest up, rather than dropping your body back against the pole like you would for a gemini. This will help you get some side grip on the pole. (Make sure you have a bare midriff). I find side grip is just as important as leg grip. Hook your leg with a slight bend, so the pole runs across your thigh. Then, drop your other (free) leg down as far as you can, before finally lowering your body. Once it's lowered you can add some back of armpit grip too, but I find I don't need to. This feels much more secure than the way I first learned it (but is also more painful on my thigh). 

In general, I think the scorpio is under-estimated. It's easy to sort-of do, but surprisingly difficult to do properly.

Allegra – I haven't managed this one yet, so I don't have any great advice. My problem is the opposite of yours: I try to roll my body over and just get my leg fat stuck and my love handle pinched and I'm in too much pain to even get close! And I don't even have that much love handle dammit! Anyway, I think perfecting the scorpio is actually the key to an allegra anyway. (That and keeping your chest up until the pole is running along your back).

Superman – This one seems to just take lots and lots of repetition. Can you do it by inverting, going into a handstand, sliding your legs down until they're parallel to the floor and then reaching back with your hand? Anyway, from the gemini, make sure you drop your lower hand a fair way below your body. It's okay if your legs grip the pole at mid-thigh instead of right at the top, as long as they grip. The way I finally got it was to grip the pole mid-thigh. Plus, it means you don't need as much back flex to get into a figurehead.

CAR – Not sure if you've heard all of this, but here goes. No, it doesn't matter which leg is on top, so just stick with whatever's comfortable. As well as squeezing your legs together, roll your knees inwards slightly (this is one of Veena's tips which helped me). The other thing that works for me is to tilt your legs up towards the roof before you let go with your hands. So you kind of drop in 2 parts. 1) legs point to ceiling; 2) head points to floor. What this does is  makes the point of contact run the whole length of your thigh, as opposed to in a plank (legs parallel to floor) where only 50mm of thigh skin is in contact with the pole.

In general, try rubbing some shaving gel or shaving foam into your legs (no water) just before poling. Just make sure you then wash your hands with soap and water, because it doesn't seem to work as well on hands.

Finally, I would seriously recommend Veena's lessons if you can swing it (I'm not being paid to say this, honest!) Even if it's just for a month, it's great for covering any gaps in your knowledge. It really helped me with so many of my skills, both in getting them in the first place and improving form. So if you have a spare $20…

[Cinara]

Runemist, I had the same problem when I first started filming and I still know I'm not as smooth or fluid or strong or sexy as so many people here. I still cringe when I see myself going into weird wrist-flicky gymnastics hands. But anyway, these are a few things that help me.

1. Don't worry about the camera for new moves because they'll look awkward, and it's important for you to learn the feel of them. Filming is best for moves you're confident with to improve your lines and smoothness. So film stuff you can already do confidently.

2. Start by filming a short combo, watch it back, and then delete it. Try to find one thing to improve for the next time. For me this is usually the aforementioned wrist flicking, but it could be pointed toes, more/less hip turnout, not pulling a face, etc. Then film the combo again, see if you improved that thing and delete. You can keep deleting until you get something you're happy with.

3. That said, if you can stand to keep a few early attempts they can be useful to look back on and see how far you've come. If you keep filming you can really notice your improvement.

4. Every time you film, find at least one thing that you think you did well, or better than last time. Say what it was out loud, even if there's no-one around to hear.

5. This is a bit of a mean one, so keep it to yourself! When you look at other videos, look for the mistakes or flaws in them. If you look hard enough they're always there because nobody is perfect. I've even spotted Felix slip a little. But even though that person made a mistake their video is still awesome, right? And yours is too. It's just that when you look at yourself you're looking at the flaws only. So remember that flaws don't stop you from being awesome.

With the trouble-shooting, it's understandable that you can't always figure out what you're doing wrong because it takes years of experience. It's probably better to ask someone more experienced.

Plus, it makes perfect sense from a motor learning perspective to go "That looks too slow, let's do it faster" and then just try to be faster without worrying about the specifics of how.

If it helps, my split grip is super slow too. I think the only thing I can do is get enough strength to do it on spinny.

[Cinara]

Well done! Knee hold is such a tricky one, and it's still eluding me. Any insights or tips on how you finally got it? Or did you just do it by not concentrating (talking to your friend)? I love how sometimes you just accidentally get a move. That's how I first got a split grip aysha: I got confused and thought I was in twisted grip! And I second pictures 🙂

[Cinara]

Ah, fair enough. Luckily, if you work on your hamstring flexibility you won't need more than about a foot anyway. I think I would have the same problem with my shoudlers if not for my hyperextended elbows. I'm a side-sleeper too. Good luck with the deep tissue massage, and keep stretching. 

[Cinara]

Try clasping your hands together behind your back before reaching them up to the pole. When I first started learning the iguana mount I had a lot of trouble getting my hands to come into contact with the pole, but once I clasped them together I could reach the pole, Once I had a good grip on it, the position wasn't even uncomfortable. For me it wasn't a lack of flexibility in the end position, but just a problem moving my arms towards the midline when they're behind me. It's worth giving it a go if you haven't already.

[Cinara]

Strangely enough, I grip stainless better than any other finish (though I've never used titanium). I agree that it's a good idea to practice without grip aids at first, and with skills your familiar with, but I think everyone has different skin, and different levels of sweat, so as you get more used to the pole, not requiring grip aids doesn't necessarily make you a better poler, perhaps just a luckier one.

For instance, I have very slippery hands, knee pits, shoulders and sides, and while I can improve the grip strength in my hands to counter the sweat, its not like I can really improve the grip strength of my sides. But I have very grippy thighs and will never need grip aids there. 

So, once you get used to the pole, what I find useful on stainless is a little bit of tite grip applied directly to the pole in the bits where you really need it. It saves you having to reapply it  to yourself for awhile too.

[Cinara]

I was taught a cradle with a split grip as a beginner move, and a split grip boomerang spin after about 8 weeks. These were easy for my instructor, I think because she's very tiny and lightweight, but for us more average to heavy people it takes more strength than you can get without a lot of training. (I am not overweight by any measure, so I really do mean average!)

At first my forearms were fine, because I have hyperextended elbows which bizarrely reduced pressure on my forearms. But of course, it put pressure on my elbows and I started getting tendonitis. So I watched that my elbows were not hyperextended and that strained my forearms badly, and they're still not entirely recovered after 9 months!

A lot of tricks are only advanced because they require more spatial awareness, or are more dangerous if you were to fall out of them. I agree with you, Veena that a lot of spins are very, advanced, even though some people assume they are easier than inversions. I am more scared of one handed spins than some drop moves! There are plenty of spins I don't even attempt yet.