[PippiParnasse]

I tried a Chinese medicine practitioner years ago who came highly recommended-not acupuncture but herbal stuff. I had the same experience with the pulse taking which I thought was fascinating! Unlike in your case I thought his diagnosis sounded accurate. But alas the nasty tea and abstaining from coffee and chocolate for a month did not help me at all.

I have tried MAT and found it promising but prohibitively expensive. On the other hand, Feldenkrais worked for me after 1 session and was cheaper. 🙂 (note that all these visits were for different issues so it’s not a side-by-side comparison!)

[PippiParnasse]

Everyone is right–you can improve your grip strength even if your hands are small. We do some grip exercises in my conditioning class. Aerial silks and rock climbing are great ways to cross-train your grip.

For people with small hands, it can be beneficial to focus on cup grip (for things like handsprings). When you are using cup grip, it doesn’t matter how big the pole is since you’re not trying to wrap your thumb around. So for any move that has a cup grip variation, try learning it. It seems hard at first but once you get used to it it’s fine!

[PippiParnasse]

I’m not competing but I’m volunteering. I’ll be pole cleaning from 2-5!

[PippiParnasse]

I have sickling feet, especially on my right. I find that I can get it to point the right way, but I have to think about it–it’s not my body’s natural movement. I’ve just had to develop the habit over the years of externally rotating that foot when I point it. Because my version of externally rotated is everyone else’s version of normal! And if I’m not concentrating on form, it’s the first thing to go (lots of videos where it looks like my right foot is floppy because it’s sickled). It’s just a matter of awareness at this point!

[PippiParnasse]

I don’t have the sweatiest hands, but I do use gloves occasionally in the winter. They make me feel warm very quickly, which is helpful to get me started when I’m too cold, and they let me grip the cold slick pole without using up my grip aids. I don’t use them in the summer because they make me sweat too much (not just on my hands, all over).

[PippiParnasse]

I don’t know yet if I’m going but I live in the area if anyone wants to meet up. Especially if you want to take a day trip to the best town in America, Salem!!

[PippiParnasse]

Thanks for the input guys! I wish I could go with them…

@Allyson I did a photo shoot at R Bar shortly after they opened. I was going to play there with my band before I moved away, but we ended up booking somewhere else instead (Delancey I think). Would still be fun to play there sometime!

[PippiParnasse]

They also mentioned they wouldn’t mind going to a lesbian strip club. I’m sure if such a thing exists it’s in NY, but for the life of me I have no idea where.

[PippiParnasse]

Teehee, I was narcissistically checking my blog stats and backtracked to here. 🙂 Thanks for sharing my article Robyn, you’re the best!! And thanks for the kind words Amiloo.

[PippiParnasse]

Hi LunaBella, you are very close to me! Did you just move here?

I’ve popped into several studios in the area, and I like to document my experiences…

North Shore Pole Fitness: http://acrobaticpole.blogspot.com/2012/11/studio-review-north-shore-pole-fitness.html

Boston Pole Fitness (they are in Allston, not sure if that’s too close to Boston for you): http://acrobaticpole.blogspot.com/2013/06/studio-review-boston-pole-fitness.html

Gypsy Rose, also in Allston (I occasionally pop in to teach a class): http://acrobaticpole.blogspot.com/2013/07/studio-review-gypsy-rose-exotic-pole.html

SuperShag (in Charleston, probably too close to the city for you): http://acrobaticpole.blogspot.com/2012/12/studio-review-supershag-charlestown-ma.html

There are a number of other studio’s that I’ve popped into as a non-student (for instructor jams, to teach, just passing through). We should get together and I’ll bring you up to speed! 🙂

[PippiParnasse]

I’ve had http://acrobaticpole.blogspot.com for long enough that it’s not going to die. I don’t post every day or week, but I try to keep the posts informative when I do.

[PippiParnasse]

Definitely the cold, also your skin might be drier because of the weather too (I have that problem). You may need to moisturize your legs with something grippy like Corn Husker’s lotion.

[PippiParnasse]

I’ve taken co-ed classes and plenty of co-ed jam sessions. It’s never been an issue, but then again those weren’t sexy classes per se. There is a place around here (I see you’re from MA) that admits men to any class, including sexy stiletto dancing. And apparently they even come to that. Actually, that seems like a good compromise: men can come to pole class only if they wear stilettos! 🙂 🙂 🙂

[PippiParnasse]

I love going to different places, just to see the different styles of studios and teaching. I’ve never been a regular at more than one place–how that would work out probably depends a lot on community politics. Some studios are friendly and happy to share students, others can be a bit of a drama so you might be exposed to some trash talking. (For example, if one studio is losing a lot of students to another studio, they might try to convince you not to go there.) I would try it though–you will end up with a broader perspective than your classmates, and a bigger circle of pole friends. 🙂

[PippiParnasse]

I don’t know of anything pole-specific, but I keep the following on my bookshelf and reference them as needed:
* Stretching Anatomy by Nelson and Kokkonen
* Strength Training Anatomy by Delavier
* Fitness Professionals’ Guide to Musculoskeletal Anatomy and Human Movement by Golding & Golding

I’m working on a handout for my conditioning workshops but it’s going to be extremely basic.

[PippiParnasse]

FYI royalties are owed on cover songs as well. Because when we're talking about rights to a song, there are actually 2 different products: the recording of the song, and the songwriting. (You can think of this as sheet music, like you would play on piano or guitar, but even if there is no sheet music published the person who wrote the song still owns it.) So if you are a band and you play a cover song, even if you're indie and don't care if people broadcast your recording for free, you still have to play the songwriter for that.

For example, if Neil Diamond wrote a song, and Metallica covered it (haha I know), and local indie band was like "We're gonna cover this awesome Metallica song," they would still owe money to Neil Diamond, not Metallica.

That was a long explanation to say that publishing cover songs without paying is still stealing from the songwriter.

[PippiParnasse]

Don't worry, there's totally a way around this! Here's a great little hack I learned from some friends in the biz. All you have to do is write a really great song, arrange all the instrumental parts yourself (if you want to be sure you don't have to share songwriting credit), hire professional musicians to rehearse it, find and pay for a recording studio, a producer, and sound engineers–if you're only recording one song you should only need them for a few days–hopefully you can do the recording itself in a day but it might take more depending on how well-rehearsed everyone is and how many overdubs you want to record (and don't forget you're still paying the musicians through all of this), then hire an engineer to master the recording. It'll cost you a few grand, but that's way less than the original musicians had to pay (in the form of recouping their expenses to their label) to create the recording you're using now. Of course, they'll never be able to pay that money back anyways since people keep publishing their music without paying for it (as opposed to stealing it, which is obviously different), so who's keeping track?

Sorry for the sarcasm, as an ex-musician I couldn't help myself. 😉 I do understand your frustration though, it is aggravating when they keep changing the licensing contracts around so we don't know what to expect. What's fine one day can get taken down the next if they renegotiate, and it's hard to navigate without a degree in intellectual property law (which I totally don't have–just an artist who's gotten burned by the devaluation of music).

[PippiParnasse]

The first one no. The 10th one after that yes. That's the point. 🙂

[PippiParnasse]

I'm @PippiPole (same username on Twitter), though I don't use Instagram a ton yet.

[PippiParnasse]

All the ankle weights I've ever bought have been adjustable. They usually have 5 little pockets, and each pocket has a 1-pound weight in it, so you each side can range from 1-5 pounds. I think I've seen the same thing in 2-pound increments (up to 10 lbs each side), but 5 should be enough for most people.

[PippiParnasse]

Does your studio have open pole or other supervised time when students are allowed to jam out? Tell them to save it for then!

[PippiParnasse]

You’re saying 7 weeks of training could be a waste of time and effort, but if you truly love to pole than it’s not wasted at all, it’s fun and rewarding! The journey, not the destination, you know?

As for worrying that you’ll “fail,” what does failing or succeeding mean to you? In my opinion, no one should be going into their first competition expecting to win. You might even say no one should be going into any competition expecting to win, even if it’s their 1000th. Dreaming big is good but, sorry to sound like our moms, “it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it’s how you play the game!”

If you think you’ll enjoy the process of training and performing in a competition environment, that’s what should inform your decision. 🙂

[PippiParnasse]

Elektra that’s exactly what I do! Of course I’m not bendy AT ALL so I have no hopes of actually bridging it but I like the hip flexor stretch. 🙂

[PippiParnasse]

I'm hesitant to talk about my fave shoulder exercises if your range of motion is still so limited. When I had shoulder surgery, one of the first exercises my physical therapist had me to was to walk my fingers all the way up the wall and all the way back down. It's a good way to work on range of motion with active muscles yet supported at the same time. It's not the kind of exercise that makes you break a sweat, but at this point you want your range of motion back GENTLY and your muscles engaged to get you there.

[PippiParnasse]

5 days in a row isn't unreasonable, but if you're working the same muscles/feeling your muscle soreness compound, you need a day off at least.

I haven't blogged in awhile but I dug up this post on overtraining I wrote awhile back. It's more about training at home than taking a ton of classes, but the principles are the same.

Happy training 🙂

http://acrobaticpole.blogspot.com/2012/01/are-you-overtraining.html