[Miraine]

Ah, mine does have one O ring, but since my ceiling height leaves my pole at the top end of it's adjustment range, that's quite a long way below the (adjuster cover) thread.  I figured that was designed to stop the adjuster cover rattling on the bottom section of pole, as it's below the height adjustment thread, rather than to secure it at the top.

I don't see anywhere above the height adjustment thread that an O ring could locate.

I emailed earlier today about dodgy X-joints anyway, so when I get a reply I could ask about that 🙂

[Miraine]

Same happened to me the other day when I learned Reverse Grab .  It's the first spin I've done where a hand has been low enough to touch that, and when I did it right handed, my left hand just unscrewed the adjuster cover completely 'til it dropped down.

There's no O rings on that bit to my knowledge.  It's only the aesthetic bit / to stop you getting grease all over stuff from the screw thread, so no risk of undoing the pole itself, but still, it's a nuisance.

Could be that doing it up tighter would solve the problem, but until the other day, I'd never had trouble with it, so erred on the side of caution in regards to not risking damaging the thread.

[Miraine]

Thanks both,

From your replies, I'm pretty sure I wasn't kicking then, but it's clear that I would benefit from a bit more strength regardless, to add control.  My legs came up so far ok, but then I did have to immediately grab the pole with my feet to prevent gravity from stealing them back from me https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

I really want to go try some core strength stuff right now, but my pole's down due to twisted joints and needing to sort them before they got any worse.  I'm so used to it being there, I could cry every time I suddenly realise it's not!

[Miraine]

Happy birthday Tigger, hope you have a great day! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif

[Miraine]

Oh my, best of luck at the neuro appointments.  That must have been terrifying to watch, I hope she's better soon.

[Miraine]

So sorry to hear this Tarah.  My sympathy.

[Miraine]

Indeed, it's hard to express the sadness felt hearing about such a tragedy.  They were just children on that island.  If feels so ineffectual, but my best wishes to anyone here affected.

[Miraine]

Heya.  Such a lot you're going through at the moment, sorry to hear that.  Just wanted to make one small point though:  You said you're on birth control, and that you're very sensitive to medications.  I'd also say I'm pretty sensitive to things, and found that birth control pill destroyed my libido and caused depression.  I tried all the three main "groups" of birth control pill, same effect from all, in varying degrees.

I know it's one tiny factor in amongst a whole host of troubles you have, but if one of your other medications makes it less effective anyway, might it be worth abandoning that for a few months and using other (non-chemical) means?

It did take a few months for the after effects to let up, I'm afraid to say, so if this is contributing, it's not going to be an instant fix.

[Miraine]

Split grip stuff will run the risk of aggravating it to start with, but so long as she's incredibly careful with that, it should actually help.  What I did was just a tiny bit of split grip stuff on each side every time I poled, and made sure to stretch the various arm muscles out well afterwards, and my wrists are already beginning to improve.

Veena's conditioning exercises for the various rotator muscles are very helpful.

[Miraine]

@bebealles: looks like negotiations are on to find a new time and day for it 🙂

@Gsylass: Yay for your computer being fixed!

I'm free most of the time, to be honest, just started going to some dance classes on Thursdays, but I'll be home from them by 8 anyway.

Hope we can get something organised soon, I need you gusy as my external conscience to prod me into doing my stretching, hehe.

I wonder if perhaps we should start a new thread and drop the "European"?  Reason being, it's middle of the day over in the states then, and there's quite a few ladies who might be free to join in, but I suspect they probably ignore this thread entirely (justifiably so of course 🙂  )

[Miraine]

Argh, pets.  They're awesome, but it's so not fun when they're ill.  My bf just moved his cat in to my flat, and my cat ate his cat's dinner…  Which made him sick.  So now we have to make sure anything his cat leaves gets picked up and covered so mine can't steal it!  Silly cat.

[Miraine]

Aww, typical!  Good luck with the new upload!  Can't count the number of times I've accidentally closed or other wise messed with a vitally important tab or program, hehe.

[Miraine]

Plenty of girls here dance in undies, and I don't think anyone here is the judgemental kind!  I'd say we're all here to see pole progress and support each other in that, not to get bothered over whether someone is wearing the "right" clothing 🙂

If you want to put it up so people can see your moves, go ahead!

[Miraine]

I'm one of the Chronic Fatigue "crowd", so find I struggle with doing things properly from the point of view of warmups: if I do the length of warmup I "ought" before starting to lift myself on the pole, I'd never get any pole moves done, as I'd be too tired by then!

It's a difficult line to tread, between saving energy for poling itself, and risking pulling a cold muscle.

Of course, now I've compounded the situation by being pregnant, and do almost nothing but sleep, hehe.

[Miraine]

Well if it could happen to anyone, it would have to be you Horsecrazy, with your amazing long hair!  I admit, seeing your photos has given me a bit of a twinge of regret for having chopped mine shorter…  But then, mine just looks limp and thin when it's really long.

Glad neither of you ripped any out in your accidents!  I lost a huge chunk of my hair to a doorhandle whilst running around as a kid, so I can tell you it's not a pleasant experience https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_eek.gif

I'll be watching out for this when I get round to trying spinny…  Hehe.

[Miraine]

Fingers crossed that they'll figure it out soon and be able to start treating him.

Glad you've found the pole therapeutic, I know it really helps to have something to help clear your head with during stuff like this.

[Miraine]

Hey Runemist,

Some of this sounds pretty familiar to me.  I struggle with motivation and procrastination a lot.  I find even if I've managed to keep up a routine for quite a few weeks (eating sensibly, exercise, whatever), it only takes missing *one* day, and that's it, all the good work of trying to establish the good habit is undone.  That missed day just seems so symbolic of me having failed to stick to it, that I just get overwhelmed by that.

I guess we need to let go of the missed days / weeks / months, not beat ourselves up over them, and just… get back to things to the best of our abilities!

I think a lot of my procrastination is because I want to do interesting things, but I have a bunch of boring stuff that "needs" doing, so I don't let myself do the fun stuff out of guilt over the more important things…   But lack of doing fun things gets you down and leaves you hating the prospect of those necessary things!  I've no idea if this is at all how you feel, but I think there's a lot of value to just accepting that the boring stuff just isn't going to get done sometimes, so you might as well do something you *want* to do, rather than waste the whole day 🙂

[Miraine]

I get tendonitis really easily/often myself, I'm hoping that pole training will actually eliminate that in the long term.

"Split Grip" pole moves are likely to be too much of a strain on your lower wrist to start with, until the conditioning and strength improvement from other moves starts to make a difference, so avoid them at the beginning, then add them cautiously as you go on, would be my advice  🙂

Good luck.

[Miraine]

Crikey, hard to imagine that so many of you live in an area where this is even a faint possibility, let alone something you need to keep a survival kit ready for.  Good job ignoring the teasing and making sure you were prepared Mechie, and yay for you all (cat included) being ok!

A few strokes of luck there, like the pole, but to be honest, that mostly looks like it was good sense on your part, not really random chance, hehe.

[Miraine]

So sorry to hear you're going through this.  My best wishes to your husband, hope the tests go well.

[Miraine]

No idea about food, but I've heard nicotine reduces elasticity so would make you less flexible (hence why it causes wrinkles too).

 

After a fairly vigorous flexibility training session, it's totally normal to lose a little ground for a day or two afterwards, because intense stretching does cause a little damage to the muscles (in the same way that weight training causes "damage": it's necessary because this is what stimulates further growth).  Once you've let yourself recover, you should find that you've improved a little, although it can often be very hard to see due to the variation in flexibility caused by how warm your muscles are, what you've done in the day so far movement wise, and even what time of day you stretch!  (Most people are at their most flexible in the afternoon, 2pm or so).

 

I'm no expert, but my "research" on the matter (and practical experience) seem to indicate that you're best off only doing very intensive flexibiliity training every other day, or at least, not until the muscle group stops being tender.  Of course, you could alternate training different parts of the body if you'd rather do something every day, and still do gentle (passive) stretching on the "off" days.

[Miraine]

Yay! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif

See, this makes perfect sense: now you'll actually have had a chance to play on and get used to the new pole by your birthday, which means that you can enjoy a birthday poling session on the day itself, rather than wasting time on figuring out how to put it up etc..

And just imagine how sad it would have been on the rare chance that there had been a bit missing when it arrived!

I love that you have (or had) a "cat room", hehe.  Poor displaced cat!

[Miraine]

I'm with you on the death-grip inability to slide down from Inverted Crucifix.  Well, I can slide, but it's a slow and painful process!  Loosening the grip on what's keeping your head from smacking into the floor is a hard one to convince your body of, hehe.

Perhaps practicing letting yourself slide (because it's a matter of controlling the pressure you're putting on the pole: you have the strength to stay up, you need to moderate it to slip but not fall) down from a "reverse handstand" inverted crucifix would be a less stressful way of getting the hang of it?

From a reverse handstand, your hands would be in range of the floor the whole time, so you could just lift them up a bit, safe in the knowledge that you can just put them down again if you panic.

 

[Miraine]

I've relatives in Trawsfynnydd, if there was a Wales pole jam, I could maybe combine it with a trip to visit them. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

[Miraine]

Oh yes, you're absolutely right of course.  I guess what it'd be really nice if we could "educate" people that:

1) Pole dancing isn't stripping, it doesn't have to be "sexy".

2) However, there's nothing wrong with it being sexy (or part of stripping), when it is!

I guess the polers with the "anti-stripper" attitude are just trying to be respected as athletes, and sometimes it's easier to be taken seriously if you outwardly agree with the masses on the totally set views like "strippers are bad", and push an easier agenda like "ok, but pole isn't stripping".