[Natalie]

I’ve been stretching after all my exercise sessions (pole and otherwise) and it will seem like I’m making no progress for a week or two, then all of a sudden I’ll go to stretch and find myself going several inches further into them then before! Its kind of weird. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

[Natalie]

Well here’s my story about back ordered poles: When I ordered mine from here I got an e-mail saying they would be out of stock for three weeks =( It made me sad. But then two days later… I got an e-mail saying it was on its way, and I had it within a week! Still not sure how this happened but it was a fun surprise. But make sure to tell your friend that if one site is back ordered, others might be too. The e-mail I got said that all poles ship from one factory in America, so all orders end up there and they either have poles or not. I guess Veena can tell us if that’s the way it works?

[Natalie]

I’ve also been pretty open about my self inflicted wounds. I carry scars that make me very self-conscious. They have procedures to fix them. Some people may look down on this as well by saying "well you shouldn’t have done that to yourself in the first place". There have been many events in my life that brought me to that extreme. I was only 9 the first time I did it. I feel that chapter of my life is over and I have a constant reminder of each of the moments in my life that I was completely out of control. It can be a reminder of how far I’ve come, but each one has it’s own terrible story of pain behind it. Imagine carrying around with you an open book of your pain for everyone to see. I want to put all those memories behind me and move forward, yet every time I look down there it is. I plan to get them fixed one day as well.

I actually just had the second of my treatments for scar removal for the same thing. I have self inflicted wounds from when I was younger all over my left arm, wrist to elbow, and I had the same thoughts of "its over, I don’t want to be reminded", as well as the fact I hate everyone asking about it, or judging me – especially since its so far in the past. Luckily my dad has a good friend who is a dermatologist, so he is doing all my treatments. It basically involves a laser being run several times over the area, burning tiny holes just about a millimeter deep into the skin. As the tiny holes heal, the skin is stretched out, so over time the scars are pulled out, broken up, and start to fade. After two treatments I can already see a difference, but it will take several more before they are near gone – and I won’t lie, its a pretty painful procedure. Even with topical anesthetic you can feel some burn of the laser, and it feels like a sunburn for a day or two after. IMO its worth it though, I just really want the scars gone.

[Natalie]

When I took classes I used to get that – it was mostly being able to watch the other people around me do it so I could get a better visual of what I was doing. At home I’m on my own unless I pull up a video on the computer =P Also having the ceiling so much closer was kind of daunting for me, especially inverting. It may be 8 feet but I still feel like I’m going to hit it, just because I got so used to the great high ceilings at the studio!

[Natalie]

Thanks for the advice – I do notice they feel less tight if I walk around for awhile (when I first stand up I can barely walk!). My day-of-rest schedule so far has been that I do a gym/pole workout no more than every other day, then some of the alternate days do yoga. I do have a couple days a week of complete rest though. I’ll grab some Epsom salts though, a bath sounds nice to me! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

[Natalie]

I get those sometimes, I always call them "flutters" https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_razz.gif I’ve been told that upping your potassium intake can help reduce muscle flutters after a workout – so when I feel it I usually just grab a banana!

[Natalie]

I don’t get scared of any particular moves per se – the fear I can’t get over is trying to invert in heels! No matter how low they are, even just trying a basic invert I just can’t bring myself to throw those sharp things around https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_razz.gif I start and then halfway up just get hit with a mental wall. I always feel like a high heel could take out my eye or something if I fling it around too much. I can spin in them just fine though, and climb, and sit. Just no heels above the waist I guess https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

[Natalie]

I have to agree with So Hott by Kid Rock for sure! Other than that, my 10 are (in no particular order):

Liar (medical mix by Angel Spit) – Emilie Autumn
Stripper – The Soho Dolls
Everybody Wants You – Billy Squier
Crazy B*tch – Buckcherry
Until Eternity – Yendri
Le Disko – Shiny Toy Guns
O… Saya – A.R. Rahman and M.I.A
Get Stoned – Hinder
Temptation – Arash
Angel on my Shoulder – Kaskade

Kind of an interesting blend here, I listen to a great variety of styles of music https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif I particularly enjoy music with different global sounds to it.

[Natalie]

I’m lucky enough to have a shoe smith in the next town over from me that does fabulous work on anything you can bring in https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif As for boot sizes, anything from Pleaser (or any dancing heels or boots in generally actually!) I usually buy a full size down from my street shoe size or else I find its so loose my foot just slides forward. Its always best to try them on though of course. Maybe a store near you carries Pleasers so you can find your size in what they have, then order what you want online?

[Natalie]

One of the best shows ever for sure! I’ve watched it since season 1. It always inspires me to push myself when I see such great dancers performing https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

[Natalie]

I’ve bought shoes from snaz75.com and found their prices to be reasonable, and free shipping on orders over $75 so its a pretty good deal. They arrive in good time. Take a look there, they have shoes from several different companies https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif That’s where I always look first.

[Natalie]

I can’t do splits, but doing yoga has helped my flexibility a lot, and since I started poling I’ve been stretching daily after my workouts. I can get pretty far down though, maybe a foot and a half off the ground. Hopefully someday I’ll get into a full split https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

[Natalie]

Ok, I tried out both my pairs of weight gloves on the pole in spinning and static mode. Here are my findings:

The Harbinger Pro gloves (which I have in size medium) worked better than the GoFit women’s glove (pink nylon sort of things with grippy bumps on the palm). I didn’t like doing spins with them in static mode as the feeling of my fingers sticking to the metal more than my palms was very disconcerting to me, but for just holding on and for climbing/inverting, the Harbingers were only slightly less grippy than my hands, and I found the grip from my fingers and the grip of the suede palm was plenty to hold me up safely. The gloves didn’t feel like they were loose or coming off either. The GoFit gloves felt more like they would slip off my hand, especially while trying to spin, as the rubber bumps stuck to the pole when my hand kept moving.

Hope this helps https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif If the Harbinger Pro don’t work for you they make several other "models" of glove, all of which I have heard good things about. I just prefer the minimalist coverage and soft leather on the pro model.

[Natalie]

I’ve never tried gloves for poling, but for weight lifting and such these are the gloves I use:

http://www.harbingerfitness.com/cgi-bin/6fyd-xxe5x.cgi?149&&sku

I find they fit nice and close with no slipping and are very comfortable. If you like I could grab them and give them a test drive on a pole and let you know how they hold up https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif I bought mine at Dick’s Sports and they weren’t too expensive.

[Natalie]

Thanks everyone, it is really exciting! I still need to do a lot of work getting my movements under control, working on my ab and arm strength, etc., but the progress of just getting the moves at all is so encouraging! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif And tomorrow my X-Pole should be arriving! YAY! So hopefully the pole height won’t be a problem much longer!